Migration and Care Work in Spain: The Domestic Sector Revisited

2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margarita León
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Elderly Care ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Household Sector ◽  
Mass Migration ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Employment Rights ◽  
Female Migrant ◽  
Migration Regimes ◽  
The Eu

This paper explores the increasing significance of domestic workers in Spain, a country that has the highest figures of registered household employees in the EU, many of them female migrant workers. The paper focuses on how the domestic sector has grown in recent years along with mass migration flows. The growth of the household sector in Spain is situated within the context of the welfare and migration regimes. The household sector in Spain is currently absorbing a large part of the demand for childcare and elderly care provision. Although the domestic sector in Spain is more regulated than in many other countries, greater efforts to formalise and improve the labour and employment rights of household employees are needed to counterbalance occupational segregation and social inequality.

scholarly journals THE ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION OF FOREIGN SEASONAL WORKERS: DID THE CORONAVIRUS EMERGENCY WORSEN ALREADY PRECARIOUS WORKING CONDITIONS IN THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karla Kotulovski ◽  
Sandra Laleta
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Seasonal Workers ◽  
Market Needs ◽  
Employment Rights ◽  
The Eu

Seasonal workers are increasingly important in some Member States as a means to fill the labour market needs. Preferred due to their lower salaries, greater docility and the evasion of administrative and social security obligations, migrant workers are often treated less favourably than domestic workers in terms of employment rights, benefits and access to adequate housing. The agricultural sector of employment is particularly at risk of labour exploitation during harvest seasons and thus associated with atypical or informal forms of employment and precarious working conditions. The COVID-19 pandemic gave visibility to the new risks the seasonal workers are exposed to. In addition, it showed that in some cases such problems can lead to the further spreading of infectious diseases and increase the risk of COVID-19 clusters. The consequences of of the pandemic can be observed in Croatia too. This paper primarily covers the position of third-country nationals who enter and reside in Croatia for the purpose of agricultural seasonal work within the framework of the Seasonal Workers Directive (Directive 2014/36/EU). Significant challenges facing the Croatian labour market have been addressed by means of a comparative approach in order to present the current situation on the EU labour market and suggest potential legal solutions applicable in regard to the national circumstances.

scholarly journals THE ENDURING VULNERABILITY OF MIGRANT DOMESTIC WORKERS IN EUROPE

2013 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 599-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clíodhna Murphy
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Employment Law ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Regulatory Frameworks ◽  
Labour Standards ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Migration Law ◽  
Migrant Domestic Workers

AbstractWhile the rights of domestic workers are expanding in international law, including through the adoption of the ILO Domestic Workers Convention in 2011, migrant domestic workers remain particularly vulnerable to employment-related abuse and exploitation. This article explores the intersection of the employment law and migration law regimes applicable to migrant domestic workers in the United Kingdom, France and Ireland. The article suggests that the precarious immigration status of many migrant domestic workers renders employment protections, such as they exist in each jurisdiction, largely illusory in practice for this group of workers. The labour standards contained in the Domestic Workers Convention, together with the recommendations of the UN Committee on Migrant Workers on the features of an appropriate immigration regime for migrant domestic workers, are identified as providing an alternative normative model for national regulatory frameworks.

Raspail, racism, and migration: Implications for radicalization in a polarizing world

2020 ◽  
pp. 136346152093092
Author(s):  
G. E. Jarvis
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Know How ◽  
Mass Migration ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
To Come ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Europe Today ◽  
The Eu

Jean Raspail’s controversial 1973 novel The camp of the saints predicts mass migration to Europe that will destroy European civilization. Decades later, the book has accurately predicted the hundreds of thousands of refugees arriving in Europe annually, prompting a continent-wide crisis. From Lesbos and Lampedusa to the Canary Islands and Calais, no one seems to know how to stem the flow of humanity. Borders are being resurrected, despite Schengen and European Union (EU) agreements, in an effort to control the movement of populations. European governments disagree on how to proceed and some are suggesting that the EU could be torn apart by differing approaches to the problem. But does this have to be the response to the migration crisis? This paper compares the predictions of The camp of the saints to events in Europe today and critiques the book’s conclusions with regard to what is an ancient phenomenon: movements of migrants from surplus to deficit labor settings. The paper will also evaluate the response to migrants in the United States under its populist president, Donald Trump, and will review related issues in other parts of the world: Turkey, Russia, and Canada. Contrary to Raspail’s predictions, world leaders will need to accept what has already become a de facto reality: large scale admission of migrants and refugees to the EU and North America, as full citizens, will be the only realistic way to preserve prosperity in the years to come.

Intimate Counter‐Spaces of Migrant Domestic Workers in Lebanon1

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 780-808 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amrita Pande
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
Paradoxical Effects ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Politics Of Resistance ◽  
And Gender ◽  
State Restrictions ◽  
Female Migrant ◽  
Migrant Domestic Workers

This article examines new nodes of migrants' desire to disrupt the heteronormative focus on married mothers in the literature on migration and gender and the reification of normative notions of both gender and sexuality. It demonstrates that in the presence of intense raced and gendered surveillance of both private and public spaces in Lebanon, migrant domestic workers (MDWs) use public “counter‐spaces” to forge intimate and sexual ties. It offers the frame of intimate counter‐spaces to understand the wider politics of resistance mobilized by MDWs in their everyday lives. Intimate counter‐spaces complicate debates around public/private, sacred/sexual, and confront state restrictions on migrant workers' sexuality. Despite their subversive power, such spaces can also reinforce the hypersexualization of the female migrant and highlight the paradoxical effects of everyday subversive practices used by migrant workers, not just in Middle East and Asia, but also across the world.

scholarly journals The Case of Female Migrant Domestic Workers in Europe: Human Rights Violations and Forward Looking Strategies

2017 ◽  
pp. 67
Author(s):  
Veronica Pavlou
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Private Life ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
Life Issues ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Female Migrant ◽  
Forward Looking ◽  
Migrant Domestic Workers

<p>Female migrant domestic workers constitute one of the most vulnerable groups of workers in the international labour market as they are frequently found working and living in conditions that put their human rights at stake. They can be subjected to multiple and intersecting discriminations deriving from their gender, their status as migrants and their occupation. The aim of this article is to explore the issue of female migrant domestic workers through its human rights dimension. It first analyses the phenomenon by discussing aspects such as gender, ethnicity and migration. Secondly, it provides for an account of the International and European framework for the human rights protection of this group of migrant women. Then, some of the most important human rights concerns that the issue of female migrant domestic workers entails, such as the exploitative terms of work, the problematic living conditions and private life issues, are discussed. Finally, the article, examines suggestions that could improve the living and working conditions and the general status of female migrant domestic workers. The forward looking strategies presented are grouped in three core categories; how to prepare female migrant domestic workers for their entry to the destination country, how to protect them through migration policies and labour regulations and finally, how to empower them allowing them to develop skills and capacities for better civic participation.</p><p><strong>Published online</strong>: 11 December 2017</p>

scholarly journals Labour Brokers in Migration: Understanding Historical and Contemporary Transnational Migration Regimes in Malaya/Malaysia

2012 ◽  
Vol 57 (S20) ◽  
pp. 225-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amarjit Kaur
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Transnational Migration ◽  
Labour Migration ◽  
South East Asia ◽  
Regulatory Standards ◽  
Recent Debate ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The Times ◽  
Migration Regimes

SummaryLabour brokerage and its salient role in the mobility of workers across borders in Asia has been the subject of recent debate on the continuing usefulness of intermediaries in labour mobility and migration processes. Some researchers believe that labour brokerage will decline with the expansion of migrant networks, resulting in reduced transaction costs and a better deal for migrant workers. From an economic standpoint, however, reliance on brokers does not appear to have a “use-by date” in south-east Asia. Labour brokers have played an important role in organizing and facilitating officially authorized migration, particularly during the contemporary period. They undertake marketing and recruitment tasks, finance migrant workers’ travel, and enable transnational labour migration to take place. Consequently, both sending and destination states have been able to concentrate on their role as regulatory “agencies”, managing migration and ensuring compliance with state regulatory standards and providing labour protection. Private recruitment firms have simultaneously focused on handling the actual recruitment and placement of migrant workers. Notwithstanding this, the division of responsibilities in the migration regimes has also led to uncontrolled migration and necessitated intervention by the state during both periods. These interventions mirror the ethos of the times and are essential for understanding past and present political environments and transnational labour migration in south-east Asia.

Regulation and Resistance: Strategies of Migrant Domestic Workers in Canada and Internationally

1997 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daiva K. Stasiulis ◽  
Abigail B. Bakan
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Migrant Worker ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Worker Rights ◽  
Resistance Strategies ◽  
Household Workers ◽  
Foreign Domestic Workers ◽  
And Migration ◽  
International Conventions ◽  
Migrant Domestic Workers

While the Canadian program for migrant domestic workers offers among the best conditions internationally, it shares two features in common with worldwide policies and treatment of foreign household workers. These are: 1) the inherent asymmetry in citizenship statuses and rights of employers and their domestic employees; and 2) the expectation that employees will ‘live in’ their employers' homes. Enforcement of rights of foreign domestics is also complicated by shared, yet ambiguous jurisdiction over foreign domestics of the federal and provincial governments. These conditions render foreign domestic workers vulnerable to all forms of abuse. They have not been eliminated despite impressive organizing and advocacy among these migrant workers and their allies. The challenges of finding adequate protection against abuse by domestic workers in Canada and elsewhere are explored by examining the policies of labor sending and labor receiving countries, and international conventions. A significant development in domestic workers organizations is the linking of campaigns for migrant worker rights to global efforts to address the causes of unemployment and migration.

Introduction: Domestic and Care Work at the Intersection of Welfare, Gender and Migration Regimes: Some European Experiences

2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 379-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Majella Kilkey ◽  
Helma Lutz ◽  
Ewa Palenga-Möllenbeck
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Private Households ◽  
Gender And Migration ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Global North ◽  
Household Cleaning ◽  
Niche Formation ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Migration Regimes

Research over the last decade and more, has documented a resurgence of paid domestic and care labour (that is, work performed for pay in private households, such as household cleaning and maintenance and care for elders/disabled/children) across the Global North.1Much of the research has revealed the increasing reliance onmigrant, as opposed to home-state, domestic workers, and it has been suggested (Lutz, 2007: 4) that domestic and care work has contributed more than any other sector of the labour market to one of the key features of the ‘age of migration’ (Castles and Miller, 2009) – its feminisation. At the same time though, as Linton's (2002) research on immigrant-niche formation in the USA suggests, the availability of immigrants in itself, has probably contributed to the growth of the sector.

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