Au Pairs' Lives in Global Context: Sisters or Servants?

ISBN-13: 9781137377470 / Angielski / Twarda / 2014 / 273 str.

Rosie Cox

Opis

Au pairs have traditionally been thought of as middle-class young women from Northern Europe, who are having a fun gap year in a foreign country. This collection, the first dedicated to examining the lives of au pairs, reveals that this is far from the whole story. Au pairing is now a global phenomenon and au pairs are just as likely to come from Asia and Latin America as from Sweden or France. They are an increasingly important form of very low waged, often unregulated, childcare and domestic labour enabling tens of thousands of families to meet the demands of both work and home life. Despite the importance of the work that they do, au pairs are not recognized as workers and are often excluded from even the most basic protections, such as a minimum wage. As young migrants living inside their employers' homes they are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.

Spis treści

1. Introduction; Rosie Cox PART I: AU PAIRS IN THE UK 2. 'Pink Slave' or the 'Modern Young Woman'? A History of the Au Pair in Britain; Eleni Liarou 3. 'Good Families' and the Shadows of Servitude: Au Pair Gossip and Norms of Au Pair Employment; Zuzana Burikova 4. When Work Doesn't Pay: Outcomes of a Deregulated Childcare Market and Au Pair Policy Vacuum in the UK; Nicky Busch 5. Migrant Domestic Workers, the National Minimum Wage and the 'Family Worker' Concept; Jenny Moss PART II: AU PAIRS IN THE NORDIC COUNTRIES 6. In a Minefield of Transnational Social Relations: Filipino Au Pairs between Moral Obligations and Personal Ambitions; Mariya Bikova 7. Bane and Boon; Gains and Pains; Dos and Don'ts...: Moral Economy and Female Bodies in Au Pair Migration; Helle Stenum 8. 'It's Not Much': Affective (Boundary) Work in the Au Pair Scheme; Elisabeth Stubberud 9. Au Pairs in Norway: Experiences from an Outreach Rroject; Lene Lovdal PART III: THE AU PAIR EXPERIENCE IN THE REST OF EUROPE 10. Ethnicity and the Au Pair Experience: Latin American Au Pairs in Marseille, France; Severine Durin 11. Part of the Family? Experiences of Au Pairs in Ireland; Aoife Smith PART IV: AU PAIRS IN THE NEW WORLD 12. Hiding in Plain Sight: Au Pairs in Australia; Laurie Berg 13. The Cosmopolitan Dilemma: Fantasy, Work and the Experiences of Mexican Au Pairs in the USA; Mirza Aguilar Perez 14. 'She Doesn't Think it Will Work Out': Why Au Pairs in the USA Leave Their Host Family Early; Christine Geserick 15. Conclusion: When is a Worker not Worker?: Tackling the Contradictions of Au Pairing; Rosie Cox

O autorze

Laurie Berg, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia Mariya Bikova, University of Bergen, Norway Zuzana Sekeráková Búriková, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic Nicky Busch, Birkbeck, University of London, UK Rosie Cox, Birkbeck, University of London, UK Severine Durin, Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, Mexico Eleni Liarou, Birkbeck, University of London, UK Lene Løvdal, Norwegian Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud, Norway Jenny Moss, Justice for Domestic Workers, UK Mirza Aguilar Pérez, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Xochimilco, Mexico Aoife Smith, Migrant Rights Centre Ireland, Republic of Ireland Helle Stenum, Roskilde University, Denmark Elisabeth Stubberud, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway