The mobility pathways of migrant domestic workers

Parreñas, Rhacel Salazar

doi:10.1080/1369183x.2020.1744837

Cited by 30 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 49 publications

(43 reference statements)

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“…It pays off, independently of the educational level migrants have and of their social class. This finding contributes to the analysis of the role played by multiple migration among migrants located "in the middle" (Salamońska, 2017, p. 19), confirming the finding that mobility-related capital is not a privilege of highly skilled migrants but rather an asset that other types of migrants also use in order to maintain or upgrade their social standing (Moret, 2017;Parrenas, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 71%

“…Some leave their country of origin and settle directly in another country, while others have experienced multiple migration as well as settlement in several countries. While a strand of research centres its attention either on the least privileged migrants, highlighting the link between different mobility pathways and socio-economic mobility (on Filipino domestic workers see Parrenas, 2020) or the role of the 'work culture' assigned by the majority to a specific group (on Polish construction workers see Friberg, 2012), another strand of work focuses on highly skilled migrants, some of them being more privileged in their options to move (Favell, 2008) but not always in social positions at destination that correspond to their level of qualification (Weiss, 2005). Some authors have highlighted the status paradox some migrants experience when they gain prestige in the origin country by being looked at as successful migrants and, at the same time, loose social standing as immigrants in the destination country (on Ghanaian migrants see Nieswand, 2011).…”

Section: State Of the Art And Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One dominant pattern of the studies based on quantitative data is their interest in explaining outcomes such as labour market participation, looking at the effect of different migrants' characteristics. A more qualitative strand of research pays particular attention to the trajectories of migrants of a specific origin, their lives between 'here and there' (e.g., Nieswand, 2011;Nowicka, 2013) and their social position, but many single out only one part of the social hierarchy in which migrants are positioned at destination, i.e., the least privileged migrants in specific sectors of the labour market (e.g., Friberg, 2012;Parrenas, 2020) or highly skilled migrants (e.g., Favell, 2008;Weiss, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exploring the Nexus between Migration and Social Positions using a Mixed Methods Approach

Tucci

Fröhlich

Stock

2021

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Using a mixed methods approach, this article analyses the nexus between migration and social positions drawing on recent survey data on migrants who have arrived in Germany after 1994 from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), as well as qualitative interviews with 26 respondents to the survey. Drawing on a Bourdieusian forms of capital approach (Bourdieu, 1986) and applying the method of Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) to the SOEP survey data, we highlight two dimensions structuring the nexus between migration and social positions in Germany: (1) capital related to legal status and multiple migration and (2) (trans)national cultural capital. Through a cluster analysis based on the MCA results, we then identify and describe four profiles of migrants characterised by distinct configurations of cultural capital (social class background, education and linguistic skills before and after settlement), legal status (citizenship and status at migration), experiences of multiple cross-border movements and social positions: the ‘foreign working-class,’ the ‘foreign middle class,’ the ‘adapted German migrants,’ and the ‘young highly educated urbans.’ The complementary analysis of the qualitative data allows us to go further in understanding some of the factors that may play a role in shaping migrants’ social position(ing) in the four clusters. In particular, we show that resources such as determination and perseverance can be crucial for some migrants to counter structural constraints related to their legal status in transferring or accessing cultural capital, and that linguistic skills are also used by some migrants as a marker of social distinction.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 71%

Section: State Of the Art And Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exploring the Nexus between Migration and Social Positions using a Mixed Methods Approach

Tucci

Fröhlich

Stock

2021

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“…For some deskilling is a temporary situation either in relation to social mobility within the country of destination or their social status in the country of origin; for others it represents a long-term entrapment. Loss of employment may also lead to onward migration for some through free movement in the European Union (Ortensi & Barbiano di Belgiojoso, 2018) and to complex mobility pathways (Parreñas, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gendered Labour

Christou

Kofman

2022

IMISCOE Research Series

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As we saw in Chap. 10.1007/978-3-030-91971-9_1, the gendered transfer of labour globally and within Europe has been the focus of attention and the core of the discourse concerning the feminization of migration. Whilst gendered labour migrations are not new, their composition, extent, and how we analyse them, theoretically and methodologically, have evolved. As data show, migrants and especially females, are heavily concentrated within certain sectors producing not just a migrant division of labour (Wills et al., 2010) but a gendered migrant division of labour. Some sectors such as household services (domestic work and care) or social reproductive labour are not only predominantly female but, especially in Southern Europe, overwhelmingly filled by migrant women. Although this type of work has attracted much attention in studies of female labour migration, other sectors, both lesser skilled and more skilled, have also relied heavily on female migrant labour but have been much less studied. Mirjana Morokvasic (2011) questioned the basis of our preoccupation about migrant women as subaltern and victims, exclusively filling low skilled sectors. Thus domestic and care workers have become the emblematic figures of globalised migrations in stark contrast to the easily mobile male IT worker (Kofman, 2013). This is not to deny that domestic and care work globally employ more migrant women than any other sector, and that demand has not grown in response to the inadequacies of public provision across different welfare regimes, leading to the search for cheap solutions to fulfil reproductive needs by using migrant workers, including men. However it does raise issues around our lack of attention to other low skilled sectors such as hospitality and contract and commercial cleaning in hospitals, offices and public spaces, which also employ large numbers of migrants. Skilled labour, especially in welfare sectors, such as education, health and social work is also sourced globally to make good shortfalls in professional reproductive labour (Kofman & Raghuram, 2015). Thus at all skill levels migrant women are employed disproportionately in diverse sectors of social reproduction in sustaining the wellbeing of the household and of society more generally.

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“…Two participants in Italy had reunited with their families. In the other three countries, family reunification is not possible for the research participants as they do not have the right to sponsor dependents to come to the country of migration (Parreñas 2021;Constable 2017;Lan 2006). Two of the participants in Kuwait have started new families there, but they each have a child from a previous relationship who is left in the Philippines.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Caregivers Need Care, Too: Conceptualising Spiritual Care for Migrant Caregivers-Transnational Mothers

Reyes-Espiritu

2022

Religions

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Growing research revolving around the plight of (Philippine) migrant domestic workers is noteworthy. However, the focus is largely on their role, capacity and identity as caregivers, meaning as labour migrants and transnational mothers engaged in both paid and unpaid care work. Building on the “care circulation” framework of Baldassar and Merla that conceptualises care as given and received in varying degrees by all family members across time and distance, this paper takes up the task of recognising migrant domestic workers as care receivers. In a particular way, this paper conceptualises care for migrant caregivers-transnational mothers that is based on a qualitative empirical study on the lived realities of Philippine migrant workers, who are also transnational mothers. An analysis of the participants’ narratives using the constructivist grounded theory approach reveals that their experience of God’s presence is central to how they navigate transnational mothering as labour migrants. This paper then proposes that their faith stories, significant as they are, be taken as a resource in providing them with spiritual care that takes their concerns into account.

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The mobility pathways of migrant domestic workers

Cited by 30 publications

References 49 publications

Exploring the Nexus between Migration and Social Positions using a Mixed Methods Approach

Exploring the Nexus between Migration and Social Positions using a Mixed Methods Approach

Gendered Labour

Caregivers Need Care, Too: Conceptualising Spiritual Care for Migrant Caregivers-Transnational Mothers

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