This week, our class has taken a deep dive into the world of work, pushing us to think about issues that don’t usually get much attention. On February 19, we got into a big discussion about unpaid jobs. This made us think about tricky questions, like What if everyone got the same pay? What should we do about people who can’t or won’t work? Our teacher got us talking about the au pair program, where young folks live with a family and help around the house in exchange for a place to stay and experience.
This chat about au pairs led us to a big question that stuck with us: Why don’t we see housework as a real job?
The next day, it was tough for us to pick one topic to focus on because we all come from different backgrounds and have different things we’re good at.
But we all agreed on one thing: We should investigate the lives of domestic workers, like au pairs and nannies. We reached this decision after all our talks about unpaid work and a feeling that cleaning and taking care of people doesn’t get the respect it should.
During the group reading in the morning, I shared the story about the book that our tutor recommended, called ‘The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet’ by Becky Chambers. It’s about the backdrop of space exploration; this science fiction narrative mirrors the au pair experience. It shows a diverse crew navigating their differences and dependencies, directly parallel to the cultural and interpersonal exchanges inherent in the au pair arrangement.
Chambers’ book was more than just a story to me; it served as a metaphor for the difficulty of understanding, respect, and teamwork required in domestic work scenarios like that of an Au Pair. The narrative emphasises the importance of embracing diversity and the strength of collective effort—a lesson directly applicable to our project’s focus.
The stories and struggles of working people in the UK, as told in ‘They Look Down on Us’ by Raquel Jesse, really hit home for us. The book talks about how being working-class is about more than just your job—it’s about who has power and who doesn’t and whether things are fair or not. Many people think the working class isn’t as important as it used to be, especially when they’re not making enough money to cover the basics. Women, in particular, don’t get enough credit for the unpaid care work they do a lot of the time.
Through all of this, we’ve been learning how to ask better questions about our topic and digging into what life is really like for au pairs. We’re using all the skills we’ve picked up, like how to talk about our ideas and how to look at things from different angles. Our goal is to really understand the experiences and challenges of au pairs so we can share their stories and maybe even think about how to make things better.
After we discussed our site visit/interviewees.
- We agreed that the subjects of our primary research would be Au Pairs. We were considering observing mothers in their homes but ultimately decided against it to avoid adding extra stress to anyone’s life (especially not mothers who are spread very thin by a system that does not benefit them)
- We contacted 2 Au Pairing agencies based in London (Sunflower Au Pair Agency and Hampstead Au Pair Agency), but they never responded.
- We uploaded Instagram stories hoping to find people within our communities who have first-hand experience with au pairing, nannying, or domestic work.