Gender, migration and labour market: the transnational redistribution of domestic work in Spain and the limits for social integration

This article analyses the complex interrelation between the discriminatory situation of women in the labour market, the increasing demand for domestic work for households, and the integration process of migrant women in Spain. In relative terms, Spain is one of the European countries with the highest percentage of domestic workers and the rise in the demand for household services in the last decade has been stimulated in part by the migration policies. The profile of workers is characterised by highly feminised rates, which are over 90%, as well as by the rise of foreign workers, who represent almost 60% of the declared domestic workers. Moreover, this sector is characterised by traditional and servility-related features like tolerance of undeclared work, a high proportion of live-in domestic workers and the absence of written contracts. In addition, domestic workers’ rights and basic welfare benefits are inferior to those of other categories of wage-earning workers. This study explores the way in which the structural patterns of the labour market in Spain have an impact on migrant women’s economic Integration