Gender, transnational female migration and domestic work in Greece

Abstract

In global labour markets, migrant workers are mainly found in precarious, low-status/low-wage occupations in undeclared work and the underground/informal sector of the economy which demands a low paid, uninsured, mobile, temporary and flexible workforce. This article argues that migrant women are mostly employed as domestic workers in various countries that demand precarious, low-status/low-wage service workers and personal services. Feminist scholarship on migration underlines, that social constructions of gender and racial stereotypes drive men and women into specific roles and therefore dictate their experiences. Social constructions of gender cannot be considered separate from social constructions of class, gender, race, ethnicity, and sexuality; female migrants are disassociated from family relationships, community associations, solidarity networks, and become susceptible to discrimination based on race and ethnicity, class and gender in the reception countries. This article provides an intersectional review of research on domestic work, healthcare and community networks in Greece (1990-2018). Intersectionality produces assumptions set in women’s race and ethnicity, projecting unequal labour rights among sexes in Greece. Gender, race and ethnicity subject women to obedience, susceptibility and exploitation, confining them to domestic work, and low-paid jobs without social rights. Last but not least, this article suggests that ethnic background and unstable legal residence status works as a mechanism of control and suppression, which in turn force female migrants to accept low wages, refrain from demanding healthcare services and from seeking support from migrant community associations. Employers confiscate their documents, monitor them and threaten to report them to the authorities, thus institutionalising exploitation, leading to forceful application of discipline, consent, subordination, obedience and dependency of domestic workers.