‘They call me a housekeeper, but I do everything.’ Who are domestic workers today in Italy and what do they do?

Abstract

This article explores a number of aspects of paid domestic work in contemporary Italy and recent changes in that sector. The first section presents the distinguishing characteristics of paid domestic workers, showing that the image of a non-Italian woman, originally from an underdeveloped country, actually distorts a more complex and differentiated reality. The subsequent section analyzes the way that paid domestic work is organized, and in particular it explores the differences between live-in and live-out domestic service, demonstrating that live-in domestic service is a fundamental component of the new paid domestic service, but that its extension is relatively modest. Finally, the article provides a reconstruction of the emotional content of the services demanded from paid domestic workers. Domestic service appears today as a combination of traditional duties and new duties. Among the new duties, there also emerges an immaterial aspect to the service, consisting of providing emotional involvement and interaction, caring and emotional commitment, which are all areas deserving further study.