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Latin American Domestic Workers Abroad: Perspectives from Spain

  • Chapter
Cross-Border Migration among Latin Americans

Part of the book series: Studies of the Americas ((STAM))

Abstract

Latin America has a long history of servitude and a more recent record of paid domestic and care work, both inside the region and overseas. While some continuity in the sector between periods and locations can be observed, other features of the activity have been changing over the years, affecting the national and international dynamics of the sector as well as the social processes linked to them. In this chapter, we analyze the presence of Latin American domestic workers abroad, with a focus on Spain. This country has been a main destination for Latin American domestic workers since the late 1980s. A combination of historical conditions with more recent push and pull factors has shaped this migration corridor. In the following sections, we outline a profile of Latin American domestic workers, emphasizing their diversity in origins and trajectories. The characteristics of the context of labor incorporation are also addressed, including a typology of job modalities, the legislative framework, and the working and living conditions often related with them. Specific points are highlighted in relation to the relevance of the care market for the elderly, taking into account both live-in and live-out domestic employment in which Latin Americans concentrate.

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Authors
  1. Ángeles Escrivá
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  2. Magdalena Díaz-Gorfinkiel
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of London, UK

    Cathy McIlwaine (Reader in Human Geography at Queen Mary) (Reader in Human Geography at Queen Mary)

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© 2011 Cathy McIlwaine

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Escrivá, Á., Díaz-Gorfinkiel, M. (2011). Latin American Domestic Workers Abroad: Perspectives from Spain. In: McIlwaine, C. (eds) Cross-Border Migration among Latin Americans. Studies of the Americas. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137001887_5

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