?Caucasian? female labor migration in contemporary Russia ...

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Domestic work and female Caucasian migrants in Russian cities The demand for migrant domestic care work is socially and culturally constructed. In the other words, this construction takes place at economic, social and cultural levels. As some scholars point out, there are mainly four main factors that affect the situation in this sector: 1) welfare policy of the state; 2) situation with employment (and probably wider, economic situation), 3) cultural stereotypes and ideologies, 4) migration policies (Gavanas, Tobio, Williams, 2007). The further description of the situation in the sphere of migrant employment in the domestic work sector in Russia proceeds from these basic factors. Since “migration policy” has bean already described above, I will pay attention to the first three factors. There are several factors forming demand for domestic workers and child care workers in contemporary big Russian cities, like St.-Petersburg or Moscow. • In the soviet times child care was a public responsibility – it was guaranteed by the state and provided by the services of the state institutions (kindergartens and day nursery); also workday and workweek were limited and controlled by the state so parents were basically able to take care of children themselves. Public childcare used to be a widespread tradition and a part of the “care ideology” at Soviet times. The responsibility for provision of childcare was considered to be shared between parents and the state 3 . But this is not the case any more in post-socialist times. Majority of all the soviet welfare institutions were destroyed, including child care ones. Preschool and school education and care still does exist and is not very expensive, however the situation in the care for children under 3 seem to be worse. There is day nursery at kindergartens however quality of this service is usually very low, which is well known; therefore moral pressure of the “public opinion” forces parents to avoid day nursery and to take care of children themselves or to use relatives. So the lack of the public institutions providing high quality care services for children under 3, altogether with the changes in the ideology and values (when responsibility for any sort of care became not the state but private business) leaded working mothers to seek private sector services (another option is kinship solidarity which still works, but is not as strong as it used to be – see below). • Another factor is growth in quality of life, as well as growing upper and middle classes, especially in big cities. This means changes in attitudes and practices. Soviet ideology was egalitarian, so it denied and stigmatized colonialism, slavery and hired labor (especially by private people - only state could hire anybody). Even though egalitarian values still are partly shared by people, however the tendency is now, especially in megapolices, that so called “western” i.e. market values are replacing the soviet ones. Therefore hired labor is becoming a norm, and moreover - hiring someone for domestic work is seen as a tool to signify and increase the social status of the employee. The gender dimension deserves especial attention in this concern. o Global processes leaded changes in the attitudes and values of Russian women, especially – those of certain generation and class. I.e. middle class young women are getting career oriented, want to be independent and free. This freedom implies career, changes in the femininity patterns (shift from good mother and wife to breadwinners and career successful professionals); and hired domestic work and waged nannies are integral part of these new patterns (Rotkirch, Temkina 1997, Zdravomyslova 2006). o Social networks and especially family ties were much closer in soviet times than now; then they faced challenges of wild capitalism, free market and modernization 3 It seems to be similar to Scandinavian patterns (Björnberg 2002, a,b), even though there are some significant differences, for example, shared parenting and gender equality were not dominant cultural values or patterns in USSR. 4
processes; western way of life with its individualism values was adopted in post-socialist Russia. This leaded to the weakening of the family ties and former patterns of family relations. As a result, elder family members, like grannies and other female relatives, are not ready to take responsibility for child care of their younger relatives any more; or at least not in the same scope. It happens partly because the elders are employed (sometimes informally, when already retired), partly because they do not feel the child care to be a value and their responsibility (this is especially characteristic for big cities). Therefore young parents, who can not rely on family care any more, are forced to resort to the help of waged domestic work and private child care workers. So there is a growing demand for waged domestic work and childcare in contemporary big Russian cities. However in reality, female migrant are not represented in the sector of domestic and child care work, in spite of such a demand and in spite of the fact that this is one of the most popular economic niche for female migrants all over the world. In Russia this niche is mainly occupied by either young women having special education who are usually hired via agencies, or by local women of middle age and elder who are found through social networks. Preliminary observations and analysis allow to identify several reasons, explaining why immigrant females are not dominating in this sector and loose the competition with locals. I would like to note that, of course, all the factors listed below are interconnected even though have different “nature” or concern different dimensions of social life in the society: 1) Social reason: illegal migrants are excluded from either official labor market (agencies) and from social networks of the locals, while all the domestic workers are searched through personal networks or at official agencies – due to security issue (domestic worker is someone you allow to enter your home, your privacy; therefore you need to trust him or her; and trustworthy is checked through personal networks or is guaranteed by the reputation of the agency. This is especially important in case of child care). 2) Economic reason: there is a social stratum in the society which members are in very bad economic condition even though they are not migrants: old women (also men, but men are almost never considered as domestic workers in Russia). They live for very small pensions or are unemployed because loose competition with younger colleagues, or they are partly employed for very low paid jobs (low qualification, state sector or part time). They are disadvantaged people; a sort of “migrants / refugees in their own countries”, they are excluded from prospering sectors of social and economic life, that can guarantee minimal social secure. Therefore they are ready to work as domestic workers for small wages. This readiness is completed by several cultural values, attitudes and stereotypes. 3) Cultural reasons: here gender and age characteristics are of main importance. a. There are cultural patterns existing in Russia, as well as in many European countries, in according to which, care (especially child care) is seen as women's domain. So preferably it is considered to be done by female relatives, mother or grannies; but in case it is impossible – by female employees. But, in fact, since family ties are kept strong in Russia still, grandmothers are often involved in domestic work and child care – for free. In this sense scholars claim that the upward social mobility of middle class young women is a built on the downward mobility of women of the elder soviet generation (Zdravomyslova 2006). Anyway this is not a pure instrumental exploitation, but a cultural pattern that elder women reproduce; they feel themselves responsible for child care, especially for grandchildren, and feel insulted when parents hire nannies or baby-sitters instead of using grandmother free labor. b. Another cultural stereotype proceeding from the same roots is the one that domestic work and child care are to be carried out for free as “a labor of love”, so in practice this stereotype 5
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Page 9 and 10: Brednikova O., Chikadze E. (1998).

?Caucasian? female labor migration in contemporary Russia ...

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