Temporary Service? A Global Perspective on Domestic Work and the Life Cycle from Pre-Industrial Times to the Present

Summary

In recent years, labor history has taken a “global turn”, increasingly focusing on labor relations in the non-Western world. This article aims to challenge existing perceptions of the history of domestic work in Europe from a global labor history perspective by comparing them with the histories of domestic workers the world over. It seeks to discern continuities and discontinuities in the life cycles of domestic workers around the world over a long period of time. The profound influence of globalization and women’s emancipation on the contemporary international division of labor may make it seem quite new, but it remains rooted in older patterns of migration, colonial relations, and gender and ethnic stereotypes.