Studying intersectionality using ideological dilemmas: The case of paid domestic labour.

Intersectionality has gained a great deal of academic purchase within the social sciences but there is still a need for further conceptual and methodological innovation and clarity. As such, this study uses paid domestic labour as a case study to apply Billig et al.'s (Ideological dilemmas: A social psychology of everyday thinking, 1988) notion of ideological dilemmas to explore the common sense that paid domestic workers draw on to position themselves as women and workers. The analysis highlights how participants use (often contradictory) themes of common sense when speaking about their place in the household through dilemmas of servitude, belonging, and intimacy. Speakers draw on gendered ideology, not as a fixed set of ideas, but rather as a mobile discursive resource that can be deployed in situ, allowing them to justify, subvert, and evaluate social positions of domestic womanhood. The study provides both a conceptual window and a robust method for studying nonessentialist intersectionality through ideological dilemmas.

Migrant Women's Health and Safety: Why Do Ethiopian Women Choose Irregular Migration to the Middle East for Domestic Work?

BACKGROUND: Low-wage labour migration is an increasing determinant of global health, associated with risks of exploitation, abuse, and unsafe conditions. Despite efforts to prevent irregular migration and initiatives to warn individuals of the risks of trafficking, many migrants still opt for irregular channels, particularly women seeking jobs as domestic workers. Ethiopia is one of the largest source countries for female migrants entering the domestic labour market in the Middle East. This qualitative study explored migration decision making by Ethiopian women traveling to the Middle East for domestic labour, focusing on the use of irregular channels. METHODS: We conducted semistructured interviews with policy stakeholders, migration recruiters, and returnee domestic workers. RESULTS: We identified three main themes that help explain decision making by female migrants and their communities. First, women were not always clear whether they were using legally approved processes, particularly because of the range of individuals involved in arranging migration plans. Second, irregular migration was seen to be quicker and easier than regular migration procedures. Third, study participants believed the risks between irregular and regular migration were similar. CONCLUSION: Our study highlights challenges associated with antitrafficking initiatives that discourage irregular migration and suggests new perspectives to address the health risks linked to labour migration.

Everyday dehumanization: Negative contact, humiliation, and the lived experience of being treated as 'less than human'.

Developing work on the nature and consequences of negative intergroup contact, this study explores its potential role in sustaining everyday experiences of dehumanization; that is, experiences in which participants report feeling deprived of full human status. As a case study, we explore domestic service relations in a neighbourhood of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, analysing interviews (n = 22) conducted with Black domestic workers and their families (n = 64 participants in total) about their day-to-day interactions with Indian employers. Drawing on thematic analysis of accounts of paid domestic labour and food-sharing practices, we argue that negative contact experiences may cumulatively engender a sense of dehumanization and associated feelings of humiliation: a response marked by intertwined constructions of shame and injustice. Implications for understanding wider problems of intergroup conflict and political solidarity are discussed and avenues for future research proposed.

Gendered Division of Domestic Labour and Childbearing Intentions in Tehran, Iran.

Objective: Changes in the gendered division of domestic labour are often assumed to influence childbearing intention, but existing evidence is varied and less examined in the Asian context. This paper aims to investigate the association between the gendered division of domestic labour and the intention to have another child. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Tehran on 455 married women aged 18-40 years who were selected through a multi-stage cluster sampling. Results: Domestic labour is still a feminine role and the majority of women are satisfied with the division of domestic labour. Women's satisfaction with the division of domestic labour is a predictor of their tendency to have another child, but the actual division of domestic labour has not a significant effect on women's desire to childbearing, in the multivariate model. Conclusion: Women's desire for having another child is positively impacted by their satisfaction with the gendered division of labour in their household. To achieve more fertility, gender equality in the family and identifying the factors affecting women's satisfaction with the division of domestic labour is suggested.

Idosos e mulheres imigrantes à margem: o caso das badanti na Itália / Vieux et femmes immigrees en marge: le cas des "badanti" en Italie / Old persons and immigrated women marginalization: the case of "badanti" in Italy

Na Itália, há alguns anos, uma nova profissão nasceu como resposta adaptativa ao envelhecimento da população: a das badanti. Esse termo popular designa as mulheres imigrantes trabalhadoras no domicílio de pessoas idosas. Esse fenômeno de sociedade diz respeito a quatro milhões de pessoas, contando os assistidos e as trabalhadoras. Essas pessoas se encontram à margem da sociedade e são desconsideradas. A desqualificação é implícita, inscrita na própria denominação. Badanti vem do verbo "badare", que significa "vigiar de perto", "guardar": a empatia inscrita no termo "care" ou "ajuda" não está presente. Esse welfare feito em casa, que se revelou um recurso diante da carência de serviços públicos, fez explodir as numerosas contradições que constituirão o objeto de nossa análise. A crônica dos jornais diários sobre incidentes fez vir à tona delitos, abandonos e litígios no momento de heranças, e também contradições nos grupos intermediários. O sindicato, por exemplo, é levado a gerir as guerras entre pobres: as badanti e os idosos aposentados. Todavia, a contradição mais saliente se encontra no cerne da atividade. A profissão apresenta várias facetas e, ao lado da identificação da badante com o assistido, encontramos a humilhação e o ressentimento que resultam das condições de exercício da atividade: a "domesticidade" e a "servidão".(AU)

En Italie, depuis quelques années, un nouveau métier est né en tant que réponse adaptative au vieillissement de la population: celui des "badanti". Ce terme populaire désigne les femmes immigrées travaillant au domicile des personnes âgées. Ce phénomène de société concerne quatre millions de personnes, en comptant les assistés et les travailleuses. Ces personnes se trouvent en marge de la société et sont déconsidérées. La disqualification est implicite, inscrite dans la dénomination même. "Badanti" vient du verbe "badare", qui signifie "surveiller de près", "garder": l'empathie inscrite dans le terme "care" ou "aide" n'est pas présente. Ce "welfare" fait maison, qui s'est révélé une ressource face à la carence de services publics, a fait exploser les nombreuses contradictions qui feront l'objet de notre analyse. La chronique des faits divers a fait émerger des délits, des abandons, des litiges lors des successions et aussi des contradictions dans les corps intermédiaires. Par exemple, le syndicat, est amené à gérer des guerres entre pauvres: les "badanti" et les vieux retraités. Toutefois, la contradiction la plus saillante se trouve au cœur de l'activité. Le métier présente plusieurs facettes et à coté de l'identification de la "badante" avec l'assisté, nous trouvons l'humiliation et le ressentiment qui résultent des conditions d'exercice de l'activité: la "domesticité" et la "servitude".(AU)

During the last years a new trade appeared in Italy as an adaptive answer to the problems arising from the ageing process of population: that of "badanti". This popular term designates the immigrated women working at old persons homes. This social phenomenon concerns four million people, including workers and assisted. These persons are marginalized and discredited. Discredit is implicit in the denomination itself. "Badanti" comes from the verb "badare" that means "to strictly survey", "to control": the empathy inscribed in the words "care" or "help" is not present. This contribution will analyze this homemade welfare, that, even if it is allowing to face the lack of public services, is disclosing several contradictions. Newspapers are reporting crimes, abandons, arguments for successions, and even contradictions inside mediation organizations. Trade unions have to manage, for example, wars between poor people: "badanti" and old-age pensioners. Anyways, the most sensible contradiction is at the core of the activity. The trade presents several faces and, besides the identification of the "badante" with the assisted person, we find the humiliation and resentment, which result from the conditions of domestic labour and servitude.(AU)

Idosos e mulheres imigrantes à margem: o caso das badanti na Itália / Vieux et femmes immigrees en marge: le cas des "badanti" en Italie / Old persons and immigrated women marginalization: the case of "badanti" in Italy

Na Itália, há alguns anos, uma nova profissão nasceu como resposta adaptativa ao envelhecimento da população: a das badanti. Esse termo popular designa as mulheres imigrantes trabalhadoras no domicílio de pessoas idosas. Esse fenômeno de sociedade diz respeito a quatro milhões de pessoas, contando os assistidos e as trabalhadoras. Essas pessoas se encontram à margem da sociedade e são desconsideradas. A desqualificação é implícita, inscrita na própria denominação. Badanti vem do verbo "badare", que significa "vigiar de perto", "guardar": a empatia inscrita no termo "care" ou "ajuda" não está presente. Esse welfare feito em casa, que se revelou um recurso diante da carência de serviços públicos, fez explodir as numerosas contradições que constituirão o objeto de nossa análise. A crônica dos jornais diários sobre incidentes fez vir à tona delitos, abandonos e litígios no momento de heranças, e também contradições nos grupos intermediários. O sindicato, por exemplo, é levado a gerir as guerras entre pobres: as badanti e os idosos aposentados. Todavia, a contradição mais saliente se encontra no cerne da atividade. A profissão apresenta várias facetas e, ao lado da identificação da badante com o assistido, encontramos a humilhação e o ressentimento que resultam das condições de exercício da atividade: a "domesticidade" e a "servidão"...

En Italie, depuis quelques années, un nouveau métier est né en tant que réponse adaptative au vieillissement de la population: celui des "badanti". Ce terme populaire désigne les femmes immigrées travaillant au domicile des personnes âgées. Ce phénomène de société concerne quatre millions de personnes, en comptant les assistés et les travailleuses. Ces personnes se trouvent en marge de la société et sont déconsidérées. La disqualification est implicite, inscrite dans la dénomination même. "Badanti" vient du verbe "badare", qui signifie "surveiller de près", "garder": l'empathie inscrite dans le terme "care" ou "aide" n'est pas présente. Ce "welfare" fait maison, qui s'est révélé une ressource face à la carence de services publics, a fait exploser les nombreuses contradictions qui feront l'objet de notre analyse. La chronique des faits divers a fait émerger des délits, des abandons, des litiges lors des successions et aussi des contradictions dans les corps intermédiaires. Par exemple, le syndicat, est amené à gérer des guerres entre pauvres: les "badanti" et les vieux retraités. Toutefois, la contradiction la plus saillante se trouve au cœur de l'activité. Le métier présente plusieurs facettes et à coté de l'identification de la "badante" avec l'assisté, nous trouvons l'humiliation et le ressentiment qui résultent des conditions d'exercice de l'activité: la "domesticité" et la "servitude"...

During the last years a new trade appeared in Italy as an adaptive answer to the problems arising from the ageing process of population: that of "badanti". This popular term designates the immigrated women working at old persons homes. This social phenomenon concerns four million people, including workers and assisted. These persons are marginalized and discredited. Discredit is implicit in the denomination itself. "Badanti" comes from the verb "badare" that means "to strictly survey", "to control": the empathy inscribed in the words "care" or "help" is not present. This contribution will analyze this homemade welfare, that, even if it is allowing to face the lack of public services, is disclosing several contradictions. Newspapers are reporting crimes, abandons, arguments for successions, and even contradictions inside mediation organizations. Trade unions have to manage, for example, wars between poor people: "badanti" and old-age pensioners. Anyways, the most sensible contradiction is at the core of the activity. The trade presents several faces and, besides the identification of the "badante" with the assisted person, we find the humiliation and resentment, which result from the conditions of domestic labour and servitude...