Migration and care work

Migration patterns are intimately tied to social organization of care through an “international transfer of caretaking” or “global care chains” linking migrant women from one part of the world to care for children and elders in another part of the world – often at the expense of their ability to be with their own children. Migration patterns are linked to patterns of globalization and urbanization that exacerbate inequality at the global level. COVID19 has disrupted international travel and migration, and the consequences for migrant workers is particularly acute.

Key resources:

Hondagneu-Sotelo, Pierrette.  2007. Domestica: Immigrant Workers Cleaning and Caring in the Shadows of Affluence.  Berkeley: University of California Press.

Michel, Sonya and Ito Peng, Eds. 2017. Gender, Migration, and the Work of Care; A Multi-Scalar Approach to the Pacific Rim. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillian.

Parrenas, Rhacel Salazar. 2015. Servants of Globalization: Women, Migration, and Domestic Work, Second Edition. CA: Stanford University Press.