Helma Lutz - Migration and domestic work; A European perspective on a global theme (2008).jpg

This rich and diverse collection of studies illuminates the varieties of experiences hidden behind the single label of domestic worker, and probes the varieties of types of semi-shifting gender orders where "other" women are being drawn into home-based labor to facilitate middle class women''s out-of-home careers. This is a book for everyone who wants to understand gendered states, women''s labor migrations, and family change. Myra Marx Ferree, University of Wisconsin-Madison , USA The increasing presence of migrant domestic workers in European homes and societies has received surprisingly little research attention. This collection is invaluable in addressing that absence. It provides illuminating overviews of global care chains and case studies of the intimate relationships produced. It is essential reading for those interested in migration movements, care work or gender regimes, but anyone wanting to understand European societies will find fascinating insights here. Professor Ann Phoenix, University of London, UK Domestic work has become highly relevant on a local and global scale. Until a decade ago, domestic workers were rare in European households; today they can be found working for middle-class families and single people, for double or single parents as well as for the elderly. Performing the three C''s - cleaning, caring and cooking - domestic workers offer their woman power on a global market which Europe has become part of. This global market is now considered the largest labor market for women world wide and it has triggered the feminization of migration. This volume brings together contributions by European and US based researchers to look at the connection between migration and domestic work on an empirical and theoretical level. The contributors elaborate on the phenomenon of ''domestic work'' in late modern societies by discussing different methodological and theoretical approaches in an interdisciplinary setting. The volume also looks at the gendered aspects of domestic work; it asks why the re-introduction of domestic workers in European households have become so popular and will argue that this phenomenon is challenging gender theories. This is a timely book and is of interest to academics and students in migration, gender and European studies.