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Who cares for me? Grandparents, nannies and babysitters caring for children in contemporary Italy

2010; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 46; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00309230.2010.526347

1477-674X

Raffaella Sarti,

Youth Education and Societal Dynamics

Abstract This paper illustrates the factors and features of the revival of paid care and domestic work in Italy. While Italy is experiencing a boom in the recourse to carers for the elderly, there is not a corresponding expansion in paid private childcare, in spite of growing female employment and limited public services for children. One of the reasons for this is the growing involvement of grandparents in childcare. In Italy, a country characterised by a “Mediterranean welfare regime”, people also have recourse to their own mothers (and fathers) to care for their children, in spite of the fact that they can afford to pay for childminding and babysitting. Thus it is not only (migrant) domestic workers who frequently rely on their parents to care for their own children, an issue widely discussed in the literature on global care chains. Their employers, too, may rely on them. Grandparents, however, have turned out to play an important role in childcare not only in Italy but also in Western countries with better childcare services. Focusing on these issues, the paper contributes both to the debate on global care chains and to that on the role of the family within different welfare systems. Keywords: childmindingbabysittingmigrant care and domestic workersgrandparentsItaly Notes 1I am very grateful to Véronique Pache and Véronique Dasen for inviting me to the conference Du monde des nourrices au réseau des mamans de de jour: pratiques et enjeux de la garde des enfants dans la sphère domestique (Fribourg, Switzerland, April 24–25, 2008). I found it highly stimulating. I am grateful to Clelia Boscolo and Stephen Harrison for revising my English. 2 http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=g780558629~db=all. 3 Paedagogica Historica 43, no. 4 (2007): 565–87. 4 Nationality, Gender and Class in New Domestic Work: Changes in the Italian Family and Evolution of Migratory Systems (http://www.lacuocadilenin.it), funded by the Italian Ministry for Education, University and Research. A volume illustrating the results of the research is forthcoming: Raimondo Catanzaro and Asher D. Colombo, eds, Badanti & Co. (Bologna: Il Mulino, 2009). Interviews quoted in the following pages (with a progressive number, the nationality and the year of birth of the interviewee) are taken from this research. Personal names have been changed. Many interviewees are not fluent in Italian but this feature gets lost in translation. 5Among books and articles on Italy written by scholars who are not themselves Italian see Jacqueline Andall, Gender, Migration and Domestic Service: The Politics of Black Women in Italy (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000); Rhacel Parreñas Salazar, Servants of Globalisation: Women, Migration and Domestic Work (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001); Margaret Magat, “Teachers and ‘New Evangelizers’ for their Faith: Filipina Domestic Workers at Work in Italy,” Paedagogica Historica 43, no. 4 (2007): 603–24; Jeffrey Cole and Sally Smith Booth, Dirty Work: Immigrants in Domestic Service, Agriculture, and Prostitution in Sicily (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2007); Lena Näre, “The Making of ‘Proper’ Homes – Everyday Practices in Migrant Domestic Work in Naples,” Modern Italy 14, no. 1 (2009): 1–17, etc. Information on Italy can also be found, for instance, in Bridget Anderson, Doing the Dirty Work? The Global Politics of Domestic Labour (London and New York: Zed Books, 2000), 66–68; Helma Lutz, ed., Migration and Domestic Work: A European Perspective on a Global Theme (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008). 6Arlie R. Hochschild, “Global care chains and emotional surplus value,” in On the Edge. Living with Global Capitalism, ed. William Hutton and Antony Giddens (London: Jonathan Cape, 2000), 130–46; ead. “The Nanny Chain,” American Prospect 11, no. 4 (2000); Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie R. Hochschild, eds, Global Woman: Nannies, Maids and Sex Workers in the New Economy (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2003); Parreñas Salazar, Servants of Globalisation; ead., “Neo‐liberalism and the Globalisation of Care,” in Proceedings of the Servant Project, ed. Suzy Pasleau and Isabelle Schopp with Raffaella Sarti (Liège: Editions de l'Université de Liège, 2005), 5 vols, vol. 4, 205–23; ead., Children of Global Migration: Transnational Families and Gendered Woes (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2005). 7Raffaella Sarti, “Family Strategies Between Private and Public Services (Europe, 1950–2000),” paper presented at the Third Symposium of the Project Gender and Well‐Being: Interactions between Work, Family and Public Policies (Cost Action 34), Production and Distribution of Well‐Being into the Family: Strategies of Remunerated and Non‐remunerated Labour and Consumption Patterns, Barcelona, Spain, June 25–27, 2007 (available online: http://www.ub.edu/tig/GWBNet/; http://www.ub.es/tig/GWBNet/BcnPapers/Raffaella_Sarti_Barcelona_Gender_and_Well_Being_Family_strategies_between_private_and_public_services.pdf). On the differences between welfare regimes as far as childbearing and wellbeing are concerned, see Arnstein Aassve, Stefano Mazzuco, and Letizia Mencarini, “Childbearing and Well‐Being: A Comparative Analysis of European Welfare Regimes,” Journal of Euroean Social Policy 15, no. 4 (2005): 283–99. On the intersection of childcare and migration patterns see Fiona Williams and Anna Gavanas, “The Intersection of Childcare Regimes and Migrations Regimes: A Three‐Country Study,” in Lutz, ed., Migration and Domestic Work, 13–28. 8A lively debate is taking place over the classification of different welfare regimes, often using as a starting point the influential typology developed by Esping‐Andersen, who has distinguished between social‐democratic, conservative and liberal welfare regimes: see Gøsta Esping‐Andersen, The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1990). The State through public services, the family and the market are respectively the crucial providers of care in the three different welfare regimes. The Mediterranean welfare states are considered by certain authors an extreme case of the “conservative” welfare regime and by others an autonomous type of welfare regime, which particularly emphasises the role of the family. 9See for instance Annelies Moors, “Migrant Domestic Workers: Debating Transnationalism, Identity Politics, and Family Relations. A Review Essay,” Comparative Study of Society and History 45, no. 2 (2003): 386–394. 10Raffaella Sarti, “Family Strategies Between Private and Public Services”. 11 Europe in Figures: Eurostat Yearbook 2005 (Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2005), 84; Key Figures on Europe 2009 Edition (Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2008), 49. 12Istat, Rapporto annuale. La situazione del Paese nel 2004 (Rome: Istat, 2005), 258ff. 13In the 1990s the total Italian fertility rate was as low as 1.18 (http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu). In more recent years, mainly thanks to the higher fertility of immigrants, fertility is slightly rising again: see Francesco Billari and Gianpiero Dalla Zuanna, La rivoluzione nella culla. Il declino che non c'è (Milan: Università Bocconi, 2008). 14Raffaella Sarti, “Conclusion. Domestic Service and European Identity,” in Pasleau and Schopp, with Sarti, Proceedings of the Servant Project, vol. 5, 195–284 (available online: www.uniurb.it/sarti/Raffaella%20Sarti-Conclusion-Domestic%20Service%20and%20European%20Identity-Proceedings%20of%20the%20Servant%20Project%20.pdf); ead., “‘Die meisten von uns haben sogar eine höhere Bildung…’. Neue DienstbotInnen in Südeuropa im Zeitalter der Globalisierung,” L'Homme. Zeitschrift für feministische Geschichtswissen‐schaft 17, no. 2 (2006): 107–17; ead., “Domestic Service: Past and Present in Southern and Northern Europe,” Gender and History 18, no. 2 (2006): 222–45; ead., “Family Strategies Between Private and Public Services (Europe, 1950–2000).” On these issues see also the stimulating contribution by Francesca Scrinzi, “Migrations and the Restructuring of the Welfare State in Italy: Change and Continuity in the Domestic Work Sector,” in Lutz (ed.), Migration and Domestic Work. A European Perspective on a Global Theme (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008), 29–42. 15See for instance Raffaella Sarti, “‘Die meisten von uns haben sogar eine höhere Bildung…’”; ead., “‘Ho bisogno di te’. La protesta degli anziani per la regolarizzazione di carers e lavoratori domestici ‘clandestini’ (Italia, 2001–2002),” in Dones en moviment(s). Segles XVIII–XXI, ed. Cristina Borderías and Mercè Renom (Barcellona: Icaria, 2008), 165–94; Catanzaro and Colombo, eds, Badanti & co. 16Raffaella Sarti, “‘Noi abbiamo visto tante città, abbiamo un’ altra cultura’. Servizio domestico, migrazioni e identità di genere in Italia: uno sguardo di lungo periodo,” Polis. Ricerche e studi su società e politica in Italia 17, no. 1 (2004): 17–46; Inps, Online databank (retrieved August 2009): http://www.inps.it/doc/sas_stat/index.html. As the Inps archive is constantly updated, consultations at different times may give slightly different results. 17Raffaella Sarti, “‘Noi abbiamo visto tante città,’” 19 (Table 2); Censis, “Una famiglia italiana su dieci è badante–dipendente,” press release, August 12, 2009 (http://www.censis.it/). 18Sergio Pasquinelli and Giselda Rusmini, Badanti: la nuova generazione. Caratteristiche e tendenze del lavoro privato di cura (Milano: IRS, 2008), available online on the website http://www.qualificare.info/. 19Ismu – Fondazione per le iniziative e lo studio sulla multietnicità, “Primi risultati della ricerca su Il processo di regolarizzazione dei lavoratori extracomunitari in Italia,” relazione presentata al seminario su “Immigrazione: mercato del lavoro e integrazione,” Como, November 20–21, 2003 (my calculation). 20The verb badare reduces the complexity of caring to simple looking after. 21Raffaella Sarti, “Family Strategies Between Private and Public Services”; Raffaella Sarti and Elena De Marchi, “Assistenza pubblica e privata. Un'analisi del ruolo degli enti locali,” paper presented at the 17th National Meeting of Acli‐Colf, Rome, May 22–24, 2009 (available online: www.uniurb.it/sarti/Raffaella_Sarti_e_Elena_De_Marchi-Assistenza_pubblica_e_privata-relazione-XVII_Assemblea_Nazionale_delle_Acli_Colf-Roma-22-24_maggio_2009.pdf). On the spreading of “cash for care” policies see Clare Ungerson and Susan Yeandle, eds, Cash for Care in Developed Welfare States (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007). 22Franco Pesaresi and Cristiano Gori, “Servizi domiciliari e residenziali per gli anziani non autosufficienti in Europa,” Tendenze nuove 4–5 (2003): 433–70 (15, Table 4), available online: http://digilander.libero.it/newsfornurse/pesaresi.pdf; Istat, L'assistenza residenziale in Italia. Regioni a confronto. Anno 2001 (Rome: Istat, 2005), 52, 56. 23Istat, Rapporto annuale: La situazione del paese nel 1999 (Rome: Istat, 2000), 472. 24Istat, Rapporto annuale: La situazione del Paese nel 2000 (Rome: Istat, 2001), 253. 25Istat, Rapporto annuale: La situazione del Paese nel 2006 (Rome: Istat, 2007), 287–88. 26Istat, Statistiche in breve. Famiglia e società. Alcuni indicatori di disagio sociale: i problemi della zona di residenza, l'accesso ad ASL, Pronto Soccorso, asilo nido e scuola materna (Rome: Istat, November 27, 2007), 8–10. 27 Elenchi di badanti e baby sitter nei Comuni con l'approvazione del Decreto di riparto, approvato dalla Conferenza unificata, 25 May 2009, http://www.equalaspasia.it/modulo.php?id=822&custompw=news. 28INPS – Monitoraggio dei flussi migratori in collaborazione con il “Dossier Statistico Immigrazione Caritas/Migrantes,” Il mondo della collaborazione domestica: i dati del cambiamento (Rome: Inps, 2004), available online: http://www.inps.it/home/default.asp?sID=%3B0%3B4774%3B4789%3B&lastMenu=4789&iMenu=1&iNodo=4789. 29Istat, Rapporto annuale. La situazione del Paese nel 2000, 250–51. 30Istat, La vita quotidiana di bambini e ragazzi. Anno 2008 (Rome: Istat, 2008), 2. 31Istat, Statistiche in breve. Famiglia e società. Alcuni indicatori di disagio sociale: i problemi della zona di residenza, l'accesso ad ASL, Pronto Soccorso, asilo nido e scuola materna (Rome: Istat, November 27, 2007), 8–10. 32Istat, Rapporto annuale. La situazione del Paese nel 2000, 253. 33Istat, “Nonni e nipoti: le principali caratteristiche. Anno 1998,” Statistiche in breve, November 19, 1999. 34Istat, La vita quotidiana di bambini e ragazzi. Anno 2008 (Rome: Istat, 2008), 2. 35Pier Paolo Viazzo and Francesco Zanotelli, “Parentela e assistenza in Italia in una prospettiva antropologica,” paper presented at the conference Generazioni. Legami di parentela tra passato e presente, Pisa, September 29–October 1, 2005. I am grateful to the authors for allowing me to quote this text. In the printed version of this contribution – published in the volume Generazioni. Legami di parentela tra passato e presente, edited by Ida Fazio and Daniela Lombardi (Rome: Viella, 2006), 29–49 – the information on the day nurseries is no longer present. 36Raffaella Sarti, “‘Noi abbiamo visto tante città,’” 20, Table 3. There was an increase in the late 1990s but after that the recourse to babysitters diminished again. 37According to the aforementioned survey on grandparents, in 1998 64.1% of them were aged 65 and over, see Istat, “Nonni e nipoti,” Table 4. 38Asher D. Colombo, “Il mito del lavoro domestico: struttura e cambiamenti in Italia (1970–2003),” Polis 19, no. 3 (2005): 435–64 (453–54). 40Hank and Buber, “Grandparents Caring for Their Grandchildren,” 69. 39Marco Albertini, Martin Kohli, and Claudia Vogel, “Intergenerational Transfers of Time and Money in European Families: Common Patterns Different Regimes?,” Journal of European Social Policy 17, no. 4 (2007): 319–34; Karsten Hank and Isabella Buber, “Grandparents Caring for Their Grandchildren: Findings From the 2004 Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe,” Journal of Family Issues 30, no. 1 (2009): 53–73. 41Raffaella Sarti, “‘Die meisten von uns haben sogar eine höhere Bildung…’”; ead., “‘Ho bisogno di te.’” 42While I was finishing this paper a lively public discussion was taking place in Italy on the necessity to eliminate the possibility for Italian women to retire younger than men. 43N. 545, Cape Verde, 1954. On migration from Cape Verde to Italy see Jacqueline Andall, “Cape Verdeans in Italy,” in Transnational Archipelago: Perspectives on Cape Verdean Migration and Diaspora, ed. Luís Batalha and Jørgen Carling (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2008), 81–89. 44Raffaella Sarti, “‘La donzella che serve instruita’: norme e modelli di comportamento per il personale domestico femminile tra XVII e XVIII secolo,” in Istituto Internazionale di Storia Economica “F. Datini” – Prato, La donna nell'economia, secc. XIII–XVIII, ed. Simonetta Cavaciocchi (Florence: Le Monnier, 1990), 613–20; ead., “Obbedienti e fedeli. Note sull'istruzione morale e religiosa di servi e serve tra Cinque e Settecento,” Annali dell'Istituto storico italo‐germanico in Trento 17 (1991): 91–120; ead., “Dangerous liaisons.” 45On global care chains see note 6. The starting point of the debate on transnational mothering was the publication of the article by Pierrette Hondagneu‐Sotelo and Ernestine Avila, “‘I'm here, but I'm there’: The Meanings of Latina Transnational Motherhood,” Gender and Society 11, no. 5 (1997): 548–71. 46Hochschild, “Global Care Chains and Emotional Surplus Value”, 131. 47Hochschild, “Global Care Chains and Emotional Surplus Value”, 140. 48Andall, Gender, Migration and Domestic Service, 200. 49N. 507, Cape Verde, 1978. 50N. 255, Albania, 1967. 51N. 01a, Salvador, 1969. 52N. 428, Georgia, 1965.