Ethnicisation and Domesticisation

This book explores the interconnection of care, gender and migration regimes and their impact on ‘migrant domestic work’ in Europe, in a comparative perspective. The research presented in this book aims to understand the reasons not only of the increased concentration of migrants in the domestic and care sector, but also of the significant differences between European countries. Care, gender and migration regimes are first operationalised in the form of three typologies. Then, the three typologies are used to investigate the ethnicisation of the domestic sector (the proportion of migrants in the domestic sector, compared to natives) and the domesticisation of migrants (the proportion of migrants in the domestic sector, compared to other sectors). The findings suggest that the three regimes have an effect and that this effect is greater when they are taken into account simultaneously. 

Chiara Giordano currently works at the Group for Research on Ethnic Relations, Migration and Equality (GERME) of the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. Her research interests include female migration, domestic and care work and intersectionality.