Hidden behind closed doors: Non‐standard employment, migrant women and gender regimes in Europe

Non-standard employment (NSE) is well-documented in the domestic sector in all European countries. The precariousness and poor working conditions of this sector reflect in a labour force composed by the most vulnerable layers of the labour market, namely, migrant women. This article analyses how and to what extent a macro-level factor, that is, the gender regime (resulting from the interplay of gender equality and gendered social norms) interacts with micro-level individual and occupational characteristics to shape the prevalence of NSE in the domestic sector in Europe. We use the 2019 EU-LFS data and run a set of logistic regression analyses. Our results show that NSE is a defining feature of domestic sector, and that migrant women are at a higher risk of being in this type of employment, especially in destination countries where gender equality is relatively lower and expectations concerning care and family responsibilities are more traditional.