As an Equal? Au Pairing in the 21st Century

Sondra Cuban of Western Washington University reviews As an Equal? Au Pairing in the 21st Century by Rosie Cox and Nicky Busch. In this book, Cox and Busch draw on detailed research to examine au pairs and the families who host them in contemporary Britain. The authors show families lean on au pairs under pressure to provide better childcare in a work environment that demands longer hours and offers little family support. This in turn increases a reliance of families on an exploited workforce, and so contributes to the wider political climate of economic austerity. As an Equal? raises questions about the real value we place on childcare and domestic labor as well as the complicated position of women within the neoliberal economy.

Read the book review at https://doi.org/10.1177/0197918319872989.