Migrant Women in Times of Crisis: Vulnerability and Agency Among Domestic Workers

Due to a lack of professional recognition and an often precarious legal status, migrant domestic workers were especially impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. Many faced job losses and financial hardships almost overnight. Moreover, support measures were not adapted to their needs and reinforced the longstanding failure to acknowledge the work performed by these women. Most domestic workers had to cope on their own with this additional vulnerabilization during the crisis.

In Switzerland and other European countries, private households serve as precarious workplaces for migrant women. Because domestic work lacks professional recognition, it offers workers little protection, whether on the job or in the form of insurance and pension programs. At the same time, as more and more households struggle to achieve work-life balance, they increasingly hire non-family members to perform domestic chores, such as cleaning or taking care of children as well as the elderly.

Migrant Workers in Precarious Conditions

Domestic work is often performed by women from the Global South, many of whom are undocumented. The Federal Council (2020) estimates that half of the 58,000 to 105,000 undocumented migrants living in Switzerland work in private households under informal work arrangements. It is precisely their lack of legal status that makes undocumented women a “cheap” and “compliant” source of domestic labor (Bloch & Chimienti, 2012). It forces them to accept precarious working conditions in a sector already defined by low pay, a lack of job security, and few social benefits (Borges et al., 2024, Griffiths & Santos Rodriguez, 2022). The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 highlighted the vulnerability of migrant domestic workers (MDWs). Those without legal status were hit particularly hard. Fearful of the virus, private employers became reluctant to allow non-family members into their homes. As a result, many domestic workers lost their jobs overnight or had to renegotiate the terms of their employment within an already unequal power relationship.

Context of the Research Project

As part of an ongoing research project, we are exploring the impact of the pandemic on MDWs in Switzerland. In particular, we are looking at their ability to access support measures and the strategies they developed to navigate the COVID-19 crisis. Running from 2023 to 2026, the project includes case studies in four cantons (Bern, Fribourg, Geneva, and Zurich). To date, we have conducted 56 interviews with public representatives and civil society actors who were involved in designing and implementing support measures, as well as 49 interviews with migrant domestic workers. More interviews are planned for 2025. Furthermore, our participatory approach involves annual meetings with expert committees in each canton. These committees are made up of domestic workers along with representatives of public institutions and community associations. We also organize World Cafés, where we discuss our research findings with interested members of the public.

Limited Impact of Pandemic Support Measures

Our preliminary results show that support measures introduced during the pandemic were ambivalent and of limited benefit to MDWs (Mittmasser et al., forthcoming). For instance, the federal government’s flagship measure was a seemingly generous “reduced-time working allowance.” However, only individuals employed by a company were eligible.

Although domestic workers often find employment through an agency, they are not necessarily agency employees. Rather, they are simply matched with a private household that acts as their employer. Meanwhile, many domestic workers, especially undocumented migrants who need to keep their work arrangements as informal as possible, avoid using employment agencies altogether. As a result, the federal “reduced-time working allowance” simply reinforced the longstanding failure on the part of public officials to acknowledge the domestic work performed by migrant women.

The pandemic measures introduced by cantonal and municipal authorities, on the other hand, were more attuned to the needs of migrant domestic workers in theory. Some financial assistance programs, like those introduced in Geneva and Zurich, were specifically designed to fill the gaps left by federal measures. However, means testing and a general mistrust of the authorities meant that many domestic workers were reluctant to apply for this support. In particular, women without legal status tried to stay off the radar of the authorities for fear of losing their jobs or being deported. In any case, the measures in question reflected a charity-based approach, offering limited-time support for basic needs. They were by no means a long-term solution to the challenges faced by domestic workers.

Beyond Victimization: Structural Change Needed

The precarious situation of migrant domestic workers during the pandemic attracted considerable media attention. Images of migrant women lining up to collect food from NGOs raised public awareness of their vulnerability. However, such images also tended to portray MDWs as destitute and dependent. By contrast, our research findings show that they were by no means passive victims. Despite setbacks, these women mobilized a diverse range of resources and strategies to cope with the crisis and provide for their families (Carbajal et al., forthcoming).

During the focus group meetings, organized as part of our research project, migrant domestic workers argued strongly in favor of greater recognition of their contributions to society. They expressed frustration that, while their work fills key gaps in Switzerland’s care infrastructure, they find themselves stuck in precarious jobs where their work is undervalued. Structural changes, especially ones that would make it easier to secure legal status and formalize working conditions, have the potential to mitigate the adverse impacts of future crises on these women’s quality of life.

This post is based on the preliminary results of the following SNSF-funded project, conducted as part of the “Covid-19 in Society” research program.

Emma Gauttier is a PhD Student at the HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts School of social work Fribourg and the University of Geneva (Switzerland). She is completing her thesis within the above mentioned research project on domestic workers.

Christina Mittmasser is a post-doctoral researcher at the HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts School of social work Geneva (Switzerland) and lecturer at the University of Geneva.

Myrian Carbajal is a full professor at the HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, and co-leader of the mentioned research project.

Milena Chimienti is a full professor at HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (CH) and is co-leader of the mentioned research project.

References:

–Bloch, A. & Chimienti, M. (2012). Irregular Migrants: Policy, Politics, Motives and Everyday Lives. London: Routledge.
–Borges, A., Greve, M., & Massoudi, K. (2024). An Investigation of Work Precarity Among Paid Domestic Cleaning Workers in Switzerland. Journal of Career Assessment, 1–23.
–Federal Council (2020). Gesamthafte Prüfung der Problematik der Sans-Papiers. Bericht des Bundesrats in Erfüllung des Postulats der Staatspolitischen Kommission des Nationalrats vom 12 April 2018 (18.3381). Bern: Der Bundesrat.
–Carbajal, M., Gauttier, E., Mittmasser, C., Chimienti, M. (Forthcoming). “Migrant Domestic Workers During the Pandemic: Countering Media Portrayals of Destitution with Recognition of Women’s Agency.”
–Griffiths, M., & Santos Rodriguez, V. (2022). Reclaiming Agency through the Politics of the In_Visible Body: Illegalized Migration and Self-Representation of Women Domestic Workers in Switzerland. The Open Journal for the Study of Culture 13.
–Mittmasser, C., Chimienti, M., Gauttier, E., Carbajal, M. (Forthcoming). “Governing Vulnerability through Ambivalence: Support Measures for Migrant Domestic Workers In and Beyond Crises”.

This article is part of a series on “Vulnerabilization of migrant workers during crises.”