Μετανάστριες οικιακές βοηθοί και “διεθνική” οικογένεια

In this paper, there is an effort to make a classifi cation of the family relations of the immigrant women who come to Greece from Eastern Europe and the Balkans to work as domestic workers. First, we have a presentation of the state of research about ‘transnational’ families and of the relevant terminology. Then, from a biographical research on these women and on the basis of their testimonies we see that the separation and the reunion are the two limits of existence of the transnational family. Women fi nd ways of keeping the family united and at the same time they defi ne largely in this way their identity. Finally, a categorization of the family ties of immigrant women shows that the relation parents-children is the more decisive for the existence of the transnational family.