Migrancy, Gender and Social Class in Domestic Labour and Social Care in Italy: An Intersectional Analysis of Demand

Abstract

Since the 1980s, welfare provision in Italy has been dramatically transformed, due to demographic changes, changes in gender orders and, most importantly, the increased employment of migrants for domestic and care work. Drawing first on statistical data, I explore how the intersections of ‘migrancy’ and gender configure in the domestic-work and social-care sector in Italy. I conclude that, even though gender remains the most important stratifying factor in this field, migrancy is almost as important. I then explore the demand for domestic work and the different forms of care work through in-depth interviews with Neapolitan employers in Naples. I posit that the demand for housekeepers is a class-specific phenomenon related to a particular life-style, including the traditional gendered division of labour and a symbolic hierarchy of household tasks according to which certain jobs are deemed too ‘dirty’ for the ‘madams’, or female employers. The demand for childcarers, on the other hand, is more connected to Italian women's increasing labour participation and men's absence from caring responsibilities. However, here, too, social class is not irrelevant. It affects the demand for elderly care in a slightly different way: the availability of an inexpensive migrant labour force, combined with state subventions, has made it possible for families from lower social strata to employ home carers.