Saudi mothers' experiences of caregiving within the care economy: a care diamond analysis.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to explore Saudi mothers' caregiving experiences with particular attention to the activities, responsibilities, and emotional labor involved in maintaining family health and wellbeing. Using Razavi's care diamond framework, the study examines how these experiences are shaped by interactions across the family, state, market, and community sectors.

METHODS

An exploratory qualitative design was employed. Data were collected through six focus groups and four semi-structured individual interviews with 21 Saudi mothers recruited via purposive maximum variation sampling to capture diverse socioeconomic, caregiving, and geographical circumstances across Saudi Arabia. Sessions were conducted in Arabic, audio-recorded, and transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed using deductive thematic analysis guided by the four sectors of the care diamond framework.

RESULTS

Six themes were identified: (1) mothers' caregiving work as activities and responsibilities; (2) caregiving, maternal meaning, and challenges to physical wellbeing; (3) gaps between state support and mothers' caregiving needs; (4) beyond the state: market and community role in caregiving; (5) the role of other caregivers in supporting mothers' caregiving; and (6) monetary valuation, recognition, and integration of unpaid care within the national economy. The care system was found to be income-stratified, shifting between semi-shared and near-unshared arrangements according to households' access to market-based services, with uneven support and limited coordination across sectors leaving caregiving concentrated within families and falling disproportionately on mothers.

CONCLUSION

Saudi mothers function as de facto care coordinators within an income-stratified care system that shifts between semi-shared and near-unshared arrangements, where inconsistent, poorly coordinated support leaves unpaid caregiving labor unrecognized and concentrated within families, particularly on mothers. Policies should formally recognize, redistribute, and support unpaid care work in alignment with Vision 2030 goals.