Gender a výzkum / Gender and Research 2012, 13 (1): 12-23

The Impasse of the institution of hired domestic care

Zuzana Uhde

The article focuses on analyzing the institution of hired domestic care in the context of global connections of social relations and changing social forms of care. In the first part, the author introduces the social context in which the market model of care and transnational care practices partake in forming the process of distorted emancipation. In the second part, she focuses on feminist contentions about the meaning and possibilities of transformation of the institution of hired domestic care. In the third part, a systematic analysis of this institution is presented, examining forms of relationships between the domestic worker and the employer with a reference to institutional conditions and employers' attitudes. With respect to the dimensions of personal/impersonal relationships and the degree of formalization of the relationship between the domestic worker and the employer, the author differentiates four major forms of relationships: paternalistic/maternalistic relationship, instrumental relationship, the relationship of contractual professionalization, and the relationship of personalism. These forms of relationships are connected with four possible attitudes towards domestic workers: subordination, fictive reification, valuation of achievement, and respect. On the basis of her analysis the author identifies drawbacks of the professionalization of hired domestic work and care as a solution to gender and social injustice emerging from this institution. At the end, the author outlines a public model of care as a starting point for a future exploration.

Published: March 1, 2012Show citation