Abstract
Defamilialization represented an effective response to the corpus of gender-blind concepts in social policy as it placed women’s interest and their corresponding welfare needs at the forefront. But the concept faces new challenges. First, defamilialization as implemented in European countries relies on important flows of migrant care workers. Still it is not fully accessible to migrant care workers themselves. Second, defamilialization, usually in terms of access to paid work and to public support for care, does not sufficiently take into account the specific situation of migrant workers who continue to assume care responsibilities for geographically distant relatives whose care needs are shaped within highly familialistic regimes of the ‘South’. By crossing the literatures on transnational caregiving and on the emancipating potential of welfare states, this chapter brings forward defamilialization from the side of migrant carers and advocates for a more substantive approach in order to reflect their multi-situated and complex trajectories.
We would like to thank Majella Kilkey and Anna Safuta for their insightful comments on previous versions of this chapter. This chapter is based on the research project “Care regimes on the move. Comparing home care to dependent older people in Belgium, England, Italy and Germany” coordinated by Florence Degavre and Marthe Nyssens and financed by MIRE/DREES (for details on the consortium see https://www.uclouvain.be/cirtes.html), and two research projects conducted by Laura Merla : “Transnational care practices of working class Latin American migrants living in Australia and Europe: a comparative perspective” financed by a Marie Curie OIF (MOIF-CT-2006-039076 Transnational care) and the TRANSFAM research project financed by a Marie Curie CIG (P7-PEOPLE-2011-CIG-293461 Transfam)—www.uclouvain.be/transfam.). This chapter reflects the researchers’ point of view only. The sponsors cannot be held responsible for the interpretations made in this chapter.
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Notes
- 1.
That is, migrants who are not European Union (EU) citizens.
- 2.
‘Care circulation’ is defined as ‘the reciprocal, multidirectional and asymmetrical exchange of care that fluctuates over the life course within transnational family networks subject to the political, economic, cultural and social contexts of both sending and receiving societies’ (Baldassar and Merla 2014a: 22). In this chapter, we systematically talk about the transnational circulation of care, in order to reflect our focus on the transnational dimensions of these care flows.
- 3.
In the formal sector, the monthly wage (minimum amount without experience on a full-time basis) is around USD2000 in the voucher system and USD 2100 for professional home care worker. However, full-time work is very uncommon in both sectors: http://www.cne-gnc.be/cmsfiles/file/NON%20MARCHAND/AIDE%20FAMILIALE/20130101_baremes_318_01_RW.pdf.
- 4.
See, for instance, Commission. (2007). On circular migration and mobility partnerships between the EU and Third Countries COM (2007) 248 final.
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Degavre, F., Merla, L. (2016). Defamilialization of Whom? Re-Thinking Defamilialization in the Light of Global Care Chains and the Transnational Circulation of Care. In: Kilkey, M., Palenga-Möllenbeck, E. (eds) Family Life in an Age of Migration and Mobility. Migration, Diasporas and Citizenship. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52099-9_13
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