Abstract
This chapter explores the experiences of skilled Mexican women who provide childcare in private homes in the United States of America (USA) through a program called Au Pair. These experiences illustrate how the neoliberal migration industry focuses on migrant domestic workers to reduce costs, therefore, expanding the gender gap in the care labor market. The Au Pair program focuses on cultural exchange with participants holding J-1 Visas for the USA. Contemporary migration regimes have enhanced the value of skills and education, which opens up opportunities for mobility. However, mobility does not in itself transfer cultural capital, as becomes evident in this specific Au Pair program, because the agencies present it not as an educational exchange but an affordable childcare option for USA families. Thus, the participants find themselves in a complicated position. They expect to be in a more symmetrical relationship, but instead, they are treated by the families, in most cases, like cheap labor and associated with cultural and gendered stereotypes. I present, from a qualitatively orientated research project, the narratives of skilled Mexican participants in the Au Pair program and explore how they experience for one side a dislocation in terms of class and for the other side, a reaffirmation of traditional gender role as a caregiver. I focus on how labor conditions from the Au Pair program have resulted in a political response, how participants are fighting to improve labor practices, and how some labor rights organizations have offered support. This chapter and the previous one, share a number of contexts, including the participation of women from Mexico and problematic class and gender stereotypes about women in labor markets. Through both chapters, while we explore different angles, we still make a significant contribution to understanding gender and class relationships, in particular, how it is necessary to transform labor markets to close the gender gap.
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Notes
- 1.
The Exchange Visitor Visa (J-1) is a non-immigrant visa issued by the U.S. Department of State that enables foreign nationals to come to the United States to teach, study, conduct research, demonstrate special skills or receive on the job training for periods ranging from a few weeks to several years. It was developed to expose individuals from around the world to the culture and institutions of the United States and to foster a better understanding between nations on a variety of issues through educational and cultural exchange programs (Exchange Visitor Program 2020).
- 2.
Domestic work may include tasks such as cleaning the house, cooking, washing and ironing clothes, taking care of children, or elderly or sick members of a family, gardening, guarding the house, driving for the family, and even taking care of household pets. A domestic worker may work on a full-time or part-time basis; may be employed by a single household or by multiple employers; may be residing in the household of the employer (live-in worker), or may be living in his or her own residence (live-out) (ILO 2018a).
- 3.
Care work is broadly defined as consisting of activities and relations involved in meeting the physical, psychological, and emotional needs of adults and children, old and young, frail, and able-bodied (ILO 2018a).
- 4.
Au pair means as “an equal” in French.
- 5.
Delaboration is defined as the ability of companies to evade workers’ rights using labor intermediation and subcontracting through which an employment relationship becomes a sale of services as regulated by civil law (Celis and Valencia Olivero 2011).
- 6.
The term “cat” is a pejorative way to refer to domestic workers in Mexico.
- 7.
Centro de los Derechos del Migrante (CDM) is a binational migrant workers’ rights organization. CDM supports Mexico-based migrant workers to defend and protect their rights as they move between their home communities in Mexico and their workplaces in the United States. CDM is strategically located in the United States and Mexico to provide migrant worker communities with access to the necessary educational, legal, and policy resources to defend their rights (Centro de los Derechos del Migrante 2020).
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Appendix 1: Overview of Mexican Participants from the Au Pair Program
Appendix 1: Overview of Mexican Participants from the Au Pair Program
Pseudonym | Age | Education | Mexican state origin | US state of program | Au Pair program year |
Penélope | 30 | Psychology B.A. | Guanajuato | Maryland (x2) | 2011–2013 |
MT Girl | 30 | Agroindustrial Engineering | Puebla | Virginia (x2) | 2011–2013 |
Belén | 26 | Law B.A. | Coahuila | California | 2013 |
Upis | 26 | Tourism Student | Guanajuato | Maryland | 2012–2013 |
Frida | 33 | Ph.D. Student | Aguascalientes | Ilinois | 2007–2008 |
Tita | 27 | Chemistry B.A. | Chihuahua | Washington | 2013 |
Valeria | 27 | Financial administration B.A. | Monterrey | New York | 2013 |
Verónica | 28 | Gastronomy B.A. | Ciudad de México | New Jersey | 2012–2013 |
Adriana | 28 | Financial administration B.A. | Estado de México | Virginia | 2012–2013 |
Miranda | 27 | Biology Student | Ciudad de México | New York | 2012–2013 |
Laura | 27 | Tourism Student | Torreón | New York | 2013 |
Lu | 25 | Child care Studies Student | Monterrey | NewYork | 2013 |
Liz | 25 | Psychology B.A. | Puebla | Washington DC | 2015–2017 |
Circe | 25 | Sociology Student | Puebla | New Jersey | 2015–2016 |
Clara | 26 | Administration B.A. | Puebla | Washington DC | 2015–2017 |
Pamela | 29 | Image Consultant | Puebla | New York | 2014–2016 |
Diana | 25 | Nurse | Puebla | Maryland | 2017 |
Lenu | 29 | Graphic Design B.A. | Puebla | New York | 2014 |
Tina | 27 | Software Engineering Student | Puebla | Phoenix | 2012–2014 |
Susana | 23 | Student | Puebla | Washington DC | 2016–2018 |
Lidia | 25 | English Language B.A. | Puebla | Boston | 2017 |
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Aguilar-Pérez, M. (2021). Aspirational Mobilities and the Gender Gap: The Experiences of Skilled Mexican Women in a Childcare-Based Cultural Exchange. In: Fitzgerald, A. (eds) Women’s Lived Experiences of the Gender Gap. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1174-2_3
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