Abstract
Consuelo is 35 years old and she migrated from Ecuador to Spain in 2000. Since then, she has worked as a live-in domestic for a Spanish family in Madrid. At the beginning, she took care of the employer’s household and four young children. The children had grown up and left their parents’ place but Consuelo continued working in the household. She had no children and was single. Her family lived in Ecuador and she supported them economically through monthly remittances. In the interviews with Raquel, the employer, she referred to Consuelo as another “family member”, a person who was taken care of as if she were part of the family. Consuelo also spoke of her employer as “another mother” who took care of her in Madrid.
“She is a very special person, we like her very much. We all live together and we try to treat her like a family member.” (Raquel, employer)
“Ms Raquel is my boss, she is a key person and she helps me a lot. It feels as if she is my other mom.” (Consuelo, domestic worker)
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© 2015 Simone Tappert and Marianne Dobner
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Tappert, S., Dobner, M. (2015). Being a Member of the Family? Meanings and Implications in Paid Migrant Domestic and Care Work in Madrid. In: Kontos, M., Bonifacio, G.T. (eds) Migrant Domestic Workers and Family Life. Migration, Diasporas and Citizenship Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137323552_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137323552_14
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