Suchergebnisse

1. Introduction -- 2. Domestic and Care Work in France: Legacies of the Twentieth Century -- 3. Parenting Work and Childcare in Contemporary France -- 4. Long-Term Care for Adults in Contemporary France -- 5. Domestic Work in Contemporary France -- 6. Domestic and Care Work in France in COVID Times -- 7. Domestic and Care Work in France: Gender, Family and the State.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the reasons women living in dual‐earner households give for not outsourcing domestic chores so as to understand better the barriers to the outsourcing of domestic labour.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis is based on a web questionnaire survey amongst 550 staff of a large service‐sector employer in the UK. Using the Likert scale, reasons why households did or did not outsource domestic chores were investigated.FindingsThe two main reasons for not outsourcing which emerged from the research were first, not being able to afford it and second, the satisfaction individuals derived from looking after their own homes.Research limitations/implicationsThe first finding concerning affordability reinforces previous research that emphasises income as a determining factor in domestic outsourcing. The second finding that some women do not outsource because they put a positive value on looking after their own homes raises the question of whether the under‐development of domestic outsourcing reflects a culture of resistance to the commodification of private life or evidence of the persistence of traditional ideas concerning domesticity and gender identity.Originality/valueMany studies of domestic outsourcing have focused on the provider/supplier. Fewer concentrate on the consumer and where this has been done, it has been those who outsource that have been the focus of research. This article contributes to the debate by concentrating on those who do not outsource regular domestic tasks as a way of understanding the barriers to domestic outsourcing.

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.