Topic of your thesis: The impact of care, gender and migration regimes on migrant domestic work: a quantitative analysis at the European level
Abstract of the thesis: In my PhD research, I have investigated the impact of the care, gender and migration regimes on migrant domestic work in Europe. Based on the findings of the literature on paid domestic work – which includes both housework and care work – the growing ethnicisation of the domestic sector is among the most important trends in Europe. However, great differences exist among European countries with respect to the proportion of the migrant labour force in the domestic sector, and this represents one of the most puzzling features of contemporary domestic work. In order to understand the reasons not only of the increased concentration of migrants in paid domestic work, but also of the significant differences among European countries, I have analysed three macro factors that are thought to have an impact on this phenomenon. In particular, the analyses conducted in this research draw from the theory elaborated by Helma Lutz (2008, 2010), according to whom, in order to understand the phenomenon of migrant domestic work, the care, gender and migration regimes have to be taken into consideration simultaneously. The main objective of the research was to empirically test this theory, through a quantitative comparative analysis among European member states, which was carried out in three phases. First, a descriptive analysis of the main features of contemporary paid domestic work in Europe was carried out, with a focus on the concentration of migrants in the domestic sector. Second, a composite indicator for each regime was built, allowing to classify countries according to three typologies – one for each regime under study. The objective was to identify typologies of countries that behave similarly with respect to each regime. Third, the typologies that result from the second step of the analysis were used to measure the impact of the three regimes on the concentration of migrants in the domestic sector. The main findings of the research can be summarized as follows. First of all, according to the analyses and based on the available data, the three regimes under study are found to have an impact on migrant domestic work. Not only the impact of the three regimes is statistically significant, but the three typologies used to measure the three regimes proved to be powerful instruments for investigating migrant domestic work – almost at the level of countries. A second important finding is that the three typologies – which correspond to the three regimes – are more powerful at predicting the ethnicisation of the domestic sector when they are taken into consideration in their interactions. In particular, the interaction between the gender and the migration regimes proved to be the factor with the highest explanatory power, compared to all factors included in the analysis.
Research interests: gender, migration, domestic work, care work, social inequalities
Graduated from: Universita' degli Studi di Torino, Universita' Statale di Milano
Degrees obtained: MA in Foreign Languages and Literatures(Russian/English) Università degli Studi di Torino and Master after master in Equal Opportunities and Gender Studies Università Statale di Milano.
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-ESLS STUDENT CHIARA GIORDANO AWARDED TWO PRIZES FROM BELGIAN FOUNDATIONS FOR HER RESEARCH-
Nasp is proud to announce that Chiara Giordano (ESLS PhD Program, 30th Cohort) on the 30th of June 2017 was awarded a prize of 5.000 Euros by the Fondation Jaumotte-Demoulin et Fonds David et Alice Van Buuren for completing her research.
On the 27th of October 2017 she was awarded a second prize of 4.190 Euros by the Fondation Demeurs-François as a reward for her merit in research.