Cadenas globales de cuidados, crisis y deudas. Un estudio de caso

Abstract

Esta tesis doctoral analiza la relación entre la organización de los cuidados y las politicas de austeridad enmarcadas en el capitalismo global. Se trata de conocer, por un lado, cómo las medidas económicas aplicadas en España tras el inicio de la crisis financiera actual han provocado cambios en esta organización que han afectado, especialmente, a las mujeres inmigradas. Por otro lado, se pretende enmarcar esta organización de los cuidados en el contexto de la globalización neoliberal, sosteniendo que ésta se apoya en una división sexual y clasista del trabajo de cuidados que traspasa las fronteras nacionales.

Tal y como se desarrolla en el marco teórico y contextual de esta tesis, los efectos de las medidas de austeridad derivadas de la exigibilidad de la devolución de la deuda financiera se trasladan al aumento de la llamada deuda con las mujeres por el trabajo de cuidados. Un análisis feminista de las crisis permite revisar el concepto de deuda y poner en cuestionamiento los planteamientos androcentricos que invisibilizan la economia del cuidado. Esta tesis pretende realizar una critica feminista a las crisis y a las medidas de austeridad. Tambien busca hacer una aproximación al concepto de deuda con las mujeres por el trabajo de cuidados, especialmente, con las empleadas de hogar inmigradas y con las cuidadoras en origen.

The general objective of this thesis is to analyse the relationship between changes in welfare policies in the current context of economic recession, the organisation of care and its impact on female Ecuadorian domestic workers in Spain, and the carers of these workers’ families in Ecuador. The aim was to examine the way in which measures designed to ensure the repayment of financial debt, which are affecting the Spanish welfare system, are increasing the exploitation of care, particularly among the women who provide most care, including female migrant domestic workers. In short, the thesis was designed to study the links between neoliberal measures associated with patriarchal capitalism, and the undervaluation and increased precariousness of care work globally. The study of global care chains is strategically important for this purpose. It can reveal how the economic and social structure is supported by the sexual, international and class division of care work from a global perspective. It allows us to associate the continuum of the recession with the origin of these chains: the crisis of social reproduction in the South resulting from the application of Structural Adjustment Programmes, which led to an increase in emigration; the care crisis in the North, which attracts domestic workers from the South; and the current financial crisis. In addition, we can analyse the similarities between the Structural Adjustment Programmes implemented in the South and the austerity measures introduced in the North, and their effects on the increase in unpaid care work, which is mainly undertaken by women. The thesis establishes a theoretical framework on global care chains; a contextual framework on austerity measures taken since the start of the Spanish recession and their impact on the organisation of care; a contextual framework on the effects on care of the Structural Adjustment Programmes implemented in Ecuador after the external debt crisis; and a case study on the organisation of care relating to female Ecuadorian domestic workers in Barcelona, and the main carers of their children in Ecuador. The case study is based on an analysis of 20 semi-structured interviews undertaken in Barcelona and 9 in Ecuador.

One of the research questions that guided the thesis was how changes in the welfare policies in response to the Spanish financial crisis could have augmented the privatisation of care, and particularly affected female immigrant domestic workers. Through an analysis of statistical sources, legal sources and the case study, it was found that the crisis and its political response have led to greater exploitation of care work in the home, which has had a major impact on female immigrant domestic workers in particular. To make the cuts, the government has relied on unpaid or very precarious care work in homes, which has boosted the privatisation of care. For example, domestic workers who participated in this research described how they had been particularly affected by nursery school cuts. Welfare strategies developed by families in a context of recession have also led to greater dedication to care tasks, which affects the time poverty of this group. Changes in consumption patterns as a result of situations of vulnerability that have been aggravated by the recession mean that more time and energy must be dedicated to preparing food, shopping and managing the family budget. The study of similarities between neoliberal measures and how they are associated with care in Ecuador and Spain revealed that, in both cases, neoliberal globalisation exploits care work. Neoliberal measures depend on this exploitation and exacerbate it. Although there are notable differences between these countries in terms of the association between neoliberal measures and care, this thesis shows how cuts and welfare strategies in both Ecuador and Spain have increased women’s work load. Another important aspect of this thesis is related to the analysis of care in Ecuador of the children of the female Ecuadorian domestic workers who were interviewed. The emigration of domestic workers means that a series of arrangements must be made to ensure the welfare of children back at home. The emigrant mothers participate in these arrangements through kinship, communication or sending remittance. Family networks in Ecuador also participate, with the involvement of various members of the family, particularly women and girls, who care for the children. This analysis increased the visibility and value of transnational care carried out by domestic workers and carers in their home countries. In short, this thesis reveals how patriarchal capitalism at a global level exploits the work of carers and relegates it to the domestic sphere, with no pay or under precarious conditions. This study could contribute to highlighting the invisibility and lack of recognition of this work that is centred on sustaining life.