Au pairs are a group of migrant domestic workers who are defined by employment and migration rules as being neither workers nor migrants. They are imagined as relatively privileged young women, who ‘help’ out in the homes of ‘host families’ doing the ‘natural’ tasks of a daughter or other female relative. The importance of their labour is hidden by these imaginings, and this is not something that has come about by accident. Around the world there are a variety of regulations that govern au pairing, but they all have one thing in common: the denial of the work au pairs do.
What is an au pair? Are au pairs domestic workers?
In ‘Pink slave’ or ‘modern young woman’?, Eleni Liarou traces the roots of au pairing to the historical practices of life-cycle service and to early twentieth century customs of middle-class families in different European countries who swapped daughters so that those daughters could improve their language skills and learn about running a household before they were married. Au pairing gained popularity during the post-war period in Europe and became formalised by the Treaty of Strasbourg in 1969. The treaty provided a basis for au pair exchanges between young women from some European countries. Since then, au pairing has become a global phenomenon and the International Au Pair Association (an organisation of agencies that places au pairs) claims members in 45 countries worldwide, including China, Peru, Colombia, and South Africa.
