This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Windebank, J. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Outsourcing women's domestic labour: the Chèque Emploi-Service Universel in France

University of Sheffield, j.windebank{at}shef.ac.uk

In France, the Chèque Emploi-Service Universel is the current policy tool with which the state subsidizes and supports the use of paid domestic services by households. Evaluations of this scheme and of its forerunners, the Chèque Emploi-Service and the Titre Emploi-Service, have been very positive both within France and at European Union level. This article questions this conclusion by assessing the extent to which the state-supported outsourcing of women's unpaid domestic labour helps to reduce the work—life conflict and time famine which they face. It demonstrates that the impact of these schemes is marginal both in terms of the range of households which benefit from them and in terms of the amount of relief gained by the women who purchase paid domestic services. Indeed, such schemes are shown to exacerbate the problem of the unequal gender division of domestic labour. This is because they reinforce the gender stereotyping surrounding domestic work by transferring it from more well-off to less well-off women. Consequently, the question of the redistribution of domestic tasks between men and women is side-stepped.

Key Words: domestic labour • domestic outsourcing • domestic service employment • French social policy • gender relations

Journal of European Social Policy, Vol. 17, No. 3, 257-270 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0958928707078368


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				F.-X. Devetter and S. Rousseau The Impact of Industrialization on Paid Domestic Work: The Case of France European Journal of Industrial Relations, September 1, 2009; 15(3): 297 - 316. [Abstract] [PDF]