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A Struggle for Recognition: Work Life Reform in the Domestic Services Industry

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  • Gabrielle Meagher

    (University of Sydney)

Abstract

Feminist social scientists around the advanced industrial world have given anxious attention in recent years to the possibility of the 'return of servants': that is, an increase in household purchase of domestic labour services. Feminists have been rightly concerned about the social and economic status of paid household workers. However, they have focused largely on domestic workers' individual responses to problems in their working lives. This article examines solidarity-based strategies directed at challenging economic insecurity and cultural undervaluation of paid domestic and caring work in both private households, and non-domestic settings. It thereby expands the repertoire of strategies included in the debate about paid household work, and its relationship to women's caring and quasi-domestic labour across the labour market.

Suggested Citation

  • Gabrielle Meagher, 2000. "A Struggle for Recognition: Work Life Reform in the Domestic Services Industry," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 21(1), pages 9-37, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:21:y:2000:i:1:p:9-37
    DOI: 10.1177/0143831X00211002
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jennifer Curtin & Winton Higgins, 1998. "Feminism and Unionism in Sweden," Politics & Society, , vol. 26(1), pages 69-93, March.
    2. Winton Higgins, 1996. "The Swedish Municipal Workers' Union A Study in the New Political Unionism," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 17(2), pages 167-197, May.
    3. Gabrielle Meagher, 1997. "Recreating ''Domestic Service'': Institutional Cultures and the Evolution of Paid Household Work," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(2), pages 1-27.
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    Cited by:

    1. María Alejandra Inostroza‐Correa & Paula Miranda & Leonardo Alonso Araya Arcos, 2025. "Feminist economy and care cooperatives from a gender perspective: The experience of three Latin American countries," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 96(4), pages 731-748, December.

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