Doctoral Dissertation Research: Domestic Work Escalation in Europe

University Of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI

Investigators

Abstract

DOCTORAL DISSERTATION RESEARCH: DOMESTIC WORK ESCALATION IN EUROPE ABSTRACT The paid domestic work sector is dramatically increasing in the EU, particularly in Spain. This project addresses three main questions about social inequality through a mixed methodology design that includes documental, survey and interview data. First, this research examines how public policy debates framed the change in this economic sector in relation to issues of gender equality and shifts in immigration across the EU and in Spain. Second, the study investigates the relationship between employing paid domestic workers and the gender division of paid and unpaid work within households. Finally, the project analyzes the societal-level implications of increases in paid domestic work for changes in inequality between families over time. This research seeks to make a theoretical and empirical contribution by connecting the dynamics of pay domestic work sector to changes in the effects of gender, ethnicity and class on stratification and the meaning of social inequality in the EU. Broader impacts The escalation of paid domestic work is taking place in different places around the world under similar circumstances. This study provides a framework to understand the implications of this economic sector for the broader structure of inequality, which could be used to contrast with other countries. Current policy debates, especially at the European Union level, legitimate the growth of this economic sector and propose to professionalize and formalize it. This research aims to inform this debate by providing more information about the actual implications of such proposals and making visible some of the ways in which inequalities based on gender, class and ethnicized citizenship may not only be reinforced but also possibly enhanced. This analysis is also crucial to understand the meanings and implications of current policy debates about fertility, migration and women's employment broadly understood. The results may be of interest to policy makers, domestic workers rights' advocates, feminist organizations and other organizations working on related social justice areas.