La Strada Documentation Center

The Invisible Carers: Framing Domestic Work(ers) in Gender Equality Policies in Spain

Document number
1527
Date
2007
Title
The Invisible Carers: Framing Domestic Work(ers) in Gender Equality Policies in Spain
Author/publisher
Elin Peterson, European Journal of Women's Studies 2007; 14; 265
Availability
View/save PDF version of this document
Document type(s)
Research/Study/Analysis,
Keywords
DOI: 10.1177/1350506807079014, Domestic workers, Gender equality, Spain, Irregular Migration, Feminization of migration, Economic migration, Labour migration, Free movement, Undocumented migrants; Undocumented labour; Women's rights; Women; Control and regulation of prostitution, Protection, Punishable forms of prostitution,
Summary
This article explores how paid domestic work is framed in state policies and discourses, drawing upon theoretical discussions on gender, welfare and global care chains. Based on a case study of the political debate on the ‘reconciliation of personal, family and work life’ in Spain, the author argues that dominant policy frames relate gender inequality to women’s unpaid domestic work and care, while domestic workers are essentially the invisible ‘other’. Empowering and disempowering frames are discussed; domestic workers are mainly constructed as a solution to the care problem and only marginally as subjects and rights-holders. The overall aim is to examine how public policies legitimize and (re)produce social inequalities related to gender, class and nationality.
Related documents