The Au Pair Experience: Contradictions, Challenges and Work Rights Application of a Rights-Based Approach in Accessing Labor Rights for Non-EU/EEA Au Pairs

Abstract

The increasing demand for domestic work in affluent European countries is reflected by the influx of mostly young women au pairs from non-EU/EEA countries, particularly from the Philippines. Au pairs under the 1969 European Agreement on Au Pair Placement are not regular workers despite the domestic work they render. This controversy regarding the legal concept of au pairs created a status of precariousness, marginalization and high risk for labor exploitations to non-EU/EEA au pairs. This thesis argued and established the following: 1) The intersections on transnational migration, gender work and globalization as the main causes of work rights non-protection. 2) Non-EU/EEA au pairs at present are migrant domestic workers. 3) Application of a rights-based approach is an effective theoretical framework in formulating and reforming au pair policies in both sending and receiving states and by invoking the ICESCR s right to equal remuneration in claiming work rights for non-EU/EEA au pairs.