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Freedom or money? The dilemma of migrant live‐in elderly carers in times of COVID‐19
Author(s) -
Giordano Chiara
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
gender, work and organization
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.159
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1468-0432
pISSN - 0968-6673
DOI - 10.1111/gwao.12509
Subject(s) - dilemma , safeguarding , intersectionality , oppression , government (linguistics) , covid-19 , position (finance) , perspective (graphical) , political science , sociology , gender studies , medicine , nursing , law , business , philosophy , linguistics , disease , epistemology , pathology , finance , artificial intelligence , politics , computer science , infectious disease (medical specialty)
As a consequence of the lockdown measures imposed by the Belgian government to fight against COVID‐19, migrant live‐in elderly carers had to choose between safeguarding their job — at the detriment of their personal freedom, their health and their working conditions — and safeguarding their freedom but losing their job — at the detriment of their economic survival and that of their families. This article explores this dilemma from an intersectionality perspective. In order to understand their experience in times of COVID‐19 and their response to this dilemma, I analyse their position as women, as migrants, as elderly care workers, as family breadwinners and as ‘quasi‐family members’ in the families of their employer — which correspond to five interlocking systems of oppression.