Abstract
The care of persons is now an important source of employment in most Western countries. Particularly, sociodemographic changes have led long-term care for the elderly to become a growing niche. This paper presents the results of the project, Geographies of Care Work, the implications of its privatization on employment creation, funded by the Spanish RDI National Plan and based on qualitative research conducted in Andalusia (Spain). The paper analyses how the implementation of the Promotion of Personal Autonomy and Care of Dependent Persons (2006) has contributed to the professionalization of care work in private households in Andalusia. It discusses how the effects of the economic crisis of 2007/08 have challenged the implementation of this policy. This context, as the paper argues, has limited the aims of this policy to professionalize care work and recognize the working rights of care workers.
Zusammenfassung
Personenbetreuung ist eine bedeutende Ressource für Beschäftigung in den meisten westlichen Ländern. Insbesondere der soziodemographische Wandel hat die Langzeitpflege zu einer wachsenden Nische werden lassen. Der Aufsatz präsentiert Ergebnisse des Projekts „Geographien der Sorgearbeit, die Implikationen ihrer Privatisierung für die Schaffung von Beschäftigung betreffend“, das vom Spanischen Nationalplan für Forschung, Entwicklung und Innovation gefördert wurde und auf qualitativer Forschung in Andalusien (Spanien) basiert. Der Aufsatz analysiert, wie das Gesetz zur Förderung personeller Autonomie und der Abhängigensorge (2006) zur Professionalisierung von Sorgearbeit in privaten Haushalten in Andalusien beigetragen hat. Er diskutiert, wie die Auswirkungen der ökonomischen Krise von 2007/8 die Implementierung dieser Politik herausgefordert haben. Dieser Kontext, so argumentiert der Aufsatz, hat das politische Ziel, Sorgearbeit zu professionalisieren und die Arbeitsrechte von SorgearbeiterInnen anzuerkennen, eingeschränkt.
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Notes
Manager, Agency of Social Services and Dependency (E17); Manager, Office of Teleassistance, Regional Government of Andalusia (E21); Dependent Care Office. Seville (E10); Social worker, Dependency Agency. Seville (E2); Social worker, Council. Seville (E3); Social health worker. Seville (E11); Manager of private home help company. Cadiz (E23).
Manager, Residence. Granada (E15); Social worker. Residence, Granada (E18); Departmental head, Home help company. Seville (E8); Social services coordinator, Home help company. Seville (E9); Manager, Retirement home, Santistebandel Puerto, Jaen (E12); Manager, Day centre. Almería (E14).
Female domestic carer. Seville (E4); Female immigrant domestic carer (Peru). Seville (E6); Female domestic carer. Almeria (E13); Female immigrant domestic carer (Bolivia). Seville (E22); Auxiliary, Day centre. Almeria (E7); Physiotherapist, Residential home. Granada (E16); Female domestic carer. Granada (E19); Female family carer, Jaen (E24). Carer, Public home help company. Jaén (E25).
Lawyer, Social Development Office. Seville (E1); Workers Commissions (CCOO) trade union representative. Seville (E20); Female domestic employees association. Seville (E5).
According to the EDAD Survey in 2008, 98% of domestic carers employed in Spain are women and 71% are foreign, a figure that rises to 94% in the case of live-in employees (INE 2008).
The administrative situation, having papers or not, influences the conditions and forms of employability, live-in domestic work caring for the elderly being an almost obligatory stopover before regularising residency (Caixeta et al. 2004; Marcu, Coppola, and Rogero 2012; Briones et al. 2014). Accordingly, while it is not a subject to be addressed here, it should be noted that Spain’s increasingly restrictive aliens legislation with regard to the conditions for legal residence has impacted considerablyon the situation of female migrant workers who work in the domestic sector (Gil Araujo and González-Fernández 2014).
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Encarnación Gutiérrez Rodríguez, Brigitte Aulenbacher and Brigitte Liebig for the invitation to participate in this monographic issue. We are also indebted to the anonymous reviewers for their careful reading of this text and their suggestions; however, the final text is exclusively the responsibility of its authors.
Translation from Spanish: Stephen Mackey. We would like to thank the Section of Women and Gender Studies in the German Sociology Association (DGS) for enabling the translation from Spanish into English of this article.
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This paper has been prepared within the framework of the Project CSO2012-32901 entitled Geographies of care work. Implications of its privatization for job creation (“Geografías del trabajo de cuidados.Implicaciones de su privatización para la creación de empleo”), financed by the National RDI Plan of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, during the period 2013–2016.
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Martín Palomo, M.T., Olid González, E., Muñoz Terrón, J.M. et al. Challenges in the professionalization of care work in Andalusia. Österreich Z Soziol 43, 31–47 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11614-018-0293-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11614-018-0293-y