Nannies

The term nanny popularly evokes images of Mary Poppins or Supernanny Jo Frost—a woman with a British accent who, through magic or management, solves all problems. Then there are the headline nannies whose exploits with celebrity employers are the stuff of tabloid titillation.

The reality in the 21st century is that a nanny may be a college-educated professional on the lists of some pricey agency or, more likely, a woman who has emigrated from the Philippines, Central America, or the Caribbean. She—nannies are predominantly female—is employed on either a live-in or live-out, part-time or full-time basis to care for children within the home, typically working from 40 to 60 hours per week. According to a 2006 survey by the International Nanny Association, a nanny's salary ranges from $300 to $1,000 per week. As Western women have entered previously male-dominated jobs in business, politics, and other professions, the need for a nanny has grown proportionally. In the United States, two-thirds of women with children provide the primary source of family income or an essential supplementary income. More than half of mothers with children younger than 6 years work outside the home. Of the childcare options available to these women, the preferred choice for those who can afford to do so is to hire a nanny.

The need for childcare within the home has been filled to a high degree by millions of women from poor countries immigrating to wealthy nations. Since the 1960s, women have accounted for international migration in ever-increasing numbers; in 2008, they made up almost 50 percent of emigrants worldwide. Unknown numbers of these women end up working as nannies. Some lack formal education and employable skills. Others, who have been educated for a profession, lack the credentials that will allow them to work in their fields. All possess the domestic skills almost universally defined as “women's work,” and for some their only choice is between working as a nanny, a housekeeper, or a maid and prostitution.

In many cases, these women leave their own children in their native land, often in the care of a grandmother, with months or even years between visits. They send home a large portion of their earnings, hoping to provide a better life for their families. Their earnings are important not only for the families they left but also for the economies of their countries. In the Philippines, for example, overseas employment is considered a major component in the national economy. According to the Philippine Central Bank, for 11 sequential months in 2006–07, deposits from overseas employment remained above the $1 billion mark. Given the importance of their salaries, it is unsurprising that when visas, usually given for only a few months, expire, women continue in their jobs as undocumented workers—a situation some employers are willing to exploit because it allows them to avoid paying the “nanny tax,” Social Security, and Medicare taxes.

The most fortunate of the nannies are well paid, well treated, and able to forge a better future for themselves and their families, but some are victims of many kinds of abuse, from low wages to sexual harassment and even rape. Even in the best of situations, they are vulnerable to indignities and insecurities. Lucy Kaylin, executive editor of Marie Claire and author of The Perfect Stranger: The Truth About Mothers and Nannies, describes a “status hierarchy” that allots higher salaries to white nannies than to nannies who are women of color. Nannies also lack job security. Even long employment ends when a [Page 993]child reaches the age when a nanny's care is no longer required. Changing circumstances may render a nanny redundant, as many found in the economic crunch of the early 21st century, when layoffs and downsizing made nannies dispensable.

...