Towards a model of externalisation and denationalisation of care? The role of female migrant care workers for dependent older people in Spain

Abstract

Focusing on the Spanish case, this article aims to contribute to the debate on the transformations affecting the so-called new model of eldercare.1 It outlines the transition towards a care provision model characterised by externalisation and denationalisation, which means the transference of care tasks to women from outside the family group who are mostly foreign. It draws primarily upon the connection established between the Welfare State, the feminisation of migrations and global care chains. The article notes the limitations of the public system of protection of elders, as well as those of formal care services, making eldercare reliant upon family involvement. Since the high cost of private companies’ services cannot be met by all family budgets, resorting to migrant carers emerges as a strategy/solution to the problem. We argue that the conditions in which the equation dependent elders-migrant carers is formulated favor the (re)production of social inequalities related to gender, class and nationality. Consequently, migrant care workers become a new potential ‘group’ for social work practice.