<alinea/> Since 1989, Bruno LAUTIER has been professor of development sociology at the Institute of Development Studies of University Paris I/Panthéon-Sorbonne (IEDES). He has first focussed his research work on the theoretical status of labour force and on domestic labour. Then, since the mid-1980?s,...

In Italy, as in other countries, a significant number of migrants are employed as domestic workers, baby-sitters or carers of elderly people in Italian families (Parreñas 2001). Many of them begin as irregular migrants, but they manage to accede to a regular status: Italy is the EU country that...

Rural women who migrate from the Bolivian Andes to Santa Cruz and find a job as a domestic worker in the city have to learn their way in a new social and professional context and master the techniques of their new condition. These Indian women, coming from Quechua or Aymara communities, are...

The recent International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers (Domestic Workers Convention 2011) offers an opportunity to finally address the longstanding issue of the protection of the human and labour rights of migrant domestic workers. This NTS...

Since the 1970s in particular, the countries of Western Asia and those of the Asia-Pacific region have been closely linked to each other through highly extensive movements of people. Opportunities created by the rapid development of the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), but also...

The paper provides an assessment of poverty and inequality on the basis of the data gathered from the most recent surveys. The vision of state and nonstate actors as well as the challenges to be met by 2015 was outlined; the paper also summarizes the major areas of work decided upon by the...

Recently, researchers and activists in India have been calling for attention towards the rising numbers of women entering the labour force as domestic workers, who have remained at the rock-bottom of the working-class hierarchy here. SEWA Kerala’s union displays marked differences from...

Based on a survey we conducted among domestic workers in Tunisia, we find that slightly more than half are younger than 18 years old. Most live with their employer and have their wages remitted directly to their parents. We define such remittances as compulsory as opposed to voluntary, and...

The title workshop 'Narratives of the Servant' suggests major shifts both in the perception of historical discourse and in methodological perspectives of the history of domestic service. Narrative as a common denominator of all papers encompasses the problematique of historical discourse in...