Der Privathaushalt als Weltmarkt für weibliche Arbeitskräfte

Abstract

This article deals with a recent phenomenon: over the last decades a new global labor market for female migrants has been established. Women from Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe come to work in the households of affluent countries, among them German ones. Domestic work is not only a site of the feminization of migration, but also a part of the reconstruction of social inequalities on a global scale. Starting by discussing the factors promoting the feminization of migration in connection with the demand for domestic workers in German households, the article then describes the character of the work area and the differences between domestic work and other work sectors. After discussing the state of double illegality which forces many domestic workers to live a life in the twilight zone, the concept of transnational migration is connected to the transnational biographies of these workers. The main argument of the article is that domestic work can be understood as a paradigm for the new structure of relations of dependency in global perspective and on a global scale.