The Home and the World: Domestic Service and International Networks of Caring Labor

Abstract

The employment of immigrant domestic workers is a valuable entry point for examining the construction of class and racial-ethnic differences among women in a global economy. It also reveals the complex ways that social reproduction, like production, is shaped by international connections and flows. This article draws on interviews with thirty-two immigrant domestic workers and twenty-nine employers of domestic workers in San Diego to examine the organization of caring labor in the two sets of households. The interview data show that employers of domestic workers rely on paid service workers to supply additional labor, while domestic workers rely on the unpaid labor of family members. Neither group relies primarily on government support, although differences in citizenship status influence the strategies of the two groups. The article draws on the interviews to make two related points. First, it argues that social reproduction has come, in some places, to involve networks that cross international borders. Second, it argues that the interrelated strategies the two groups of women use to access caring labor are informed by and contribute to class and racial-ethnic differences among women and their households, and that citizenship is of particular importance in constructing and solidifying these differences.

The impact of migration and remittances on natural resources in Tajikistan

“…The dispersal of families does not mean that everyone shares equally in the capital and assets that circulate (Tiemoko 2004). Hierarchies and power dynamics across generations, genders and legal statuses frequently disturb equitable or desired remittance allocations (Chant 1998;Mattingly 2001). For instance, notions of masculinity are reinforced in the 'rite of passage' that migration from Mexico to the USA entails (Goldring 2001), while women face patriarchal restrictions that seek to maintain appropriate femininity norms (Kanaiaupuni 2000).…”

‘Generationing’ Development

“…Mattingly's (2001) research, for instance, highlights how economic globalisation produces transnational networks delivering commodified domestic work.…”

The employment relationship in the domestic workspace in South Africa: beyond the apartheid legacy

“…A review of international studies into this phenomenon shows that there are common prejudices, idioms, attitudes and behaviours in domestic employment relationships across the globe, in both developing and developed countries (Hansen 1990, 1992, Bakan and Stasiulis 1995, Stiell and England 1997, Romero 1998, Anderson 2001a, b, 2007, Hongagneu-Sotelo 2001, Mattingly 2001, Howell 2002, Lutz 2002, Qayum and Ray 2003, Hess and Puckhaber 2004, Muttarak 2004, Maher and Staab 2005, Mantouvalou 2006, Platzer 2006, Colombo 2007, Deguili 2007, Rodriquez 2007, Das Gupta 2008, Blofield 2009). Thus, for example, in a study of domestic workers in Thailand, Raya Muttarak (2004) found similar exploitation and abuse of domestic workers (themselves largely Thai) to that described in South Africa, with unpaid wages, physical abuse and insufficient food being common experiences for domestic workers.…”