On February 26, we set up a framework for interviewing au pairs and nannies to uncover the layers of personal stories and professional challenges they face. It was important to craft questions that would reveal their individual experiences and roles in caregiving, particularly how they interact with kids and become embedded in family dynamics.
Our tutor introduced us to the concept of intersectionality in one session, which was new to me. This idea helped us see how different parts of who we are – like our race, class, or gender – can overlap and affect how we experience the world, including the workplace.
After discussing how to conduct the interviews, we brainstormed about the questions that we were going to ask in the interviews and the questionnaire. Thanks for the QFT workshop last Wednesday. It could be said that this workshop helped us ask questions better.
To deepen our understanding, we delved into relevant literature, ‘Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy’ by Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Russell Hochschild provided a global perspective, discussing how the demand for care work in wealthy countries has created a ‘global care chain’ that often comes with emotional and ethical complexities.
Another eye-opening read was ‘Making Love and Relations Beyond Settler Sex and Family’ by Kim Tallbear. It showed us how the traditional ideas about marriage and family we often take for granted are not universal. For example, it describes a society in Taiwan where women have different kinds of power and family structures.
These readings sparked more questions for our project:
- What would childcare look like if we lived in a world without gender?
- If everyone was the same and there were no differences like race or class?
These questions will guide us as we continue to build our understanding of the future of work and the place of care within it.
On the weekend, we interviewed two au pairs and received many answers to the questionnaires. Then, we set up our online meeting to reflect on what we learned from the interviews. We gained valuable insights from these interviews, including one with a mother who employed an au pair. It was interesting to learn that au pairs are often seen as big sisters in the family, taking care of the children and teaching them English – a role much more involved than I had originally thought. I understood that au pairs lived in the host family’s house and did activities with them to exchange culture. But from what the interviewee said, it’s not like that.
In our group project, every piece of research we did and every interview we conducted was carefully saved and shared in one place online. This way, everyone in our group could look at all the information we gathered. Sharing everything openly was really important. It helped us all stay on the same page and learn more together about the topic we were working on.