Family, migration, domestic work and gender inequalities

Abstract

Gender Differences are understood as the psychological, social and cultural differences between male and female individuals, the Family being a group of people directly linked by kinship ties, in which adults assume the responsibility of caring for the children, bringing work back to the socio-professional aspects of the individual's life, where all the dynamics of social life unfolds, i.e., it is from here that the individual defines him/herself (Giddens, 2010). This article analyses, in its first part, the influence of the Estado Novo in the archaic vision of the woman (dedicated to the home and subservient to the husband) and the transformations verified in the social practices regarding the division of tasks. The second part of the article studies paid domestic work carried out mainly by immigrant women. It is therefore important to ascertain which are the most representative migratory flows in Portugal in order to be able to relate domestic work and migration.