Regarding Au Pairs in the Norwegian Welfare State

Abstract

Norway has a highly developed welfare system with increasing provision of public childcare and a strong public normative emphasis on gender and social equality. Despite an 84 percent coverage in public childcare, au pair immigration has increased greatly in recent years, especially from the Philippines. This article addresses why Norwegian families choose to employ an au pair and their experiences with the arrangement. It especially focuses on the tension caused by employing domestic help in an egalitarian state. Focus is directed on the context and rationale for au pair employment in Norway and the ways in which families legitimize au pair employment in a society where employing domestic help is generally unacceptable. Families do this by claiming to ‘not outsource care’, professionalizing the relationship, calling it ‘micro aid’ and emphasizing the fictive family relationship. The article concludes that au pair immigration serves to lower the threshold Norwegian families would otherwise have for employing domestic help and challenges Norwegian norms of social and gender equality.