AuPair - Repair

In the framework of the WIENWOCHE festival we will focus on strengthening the bonds of the Latin American AuPair community, as we ourselves are part of this community. As former au pairs, we live and have witnessed the abuse of power and the lack of empathy from host families. Enough is enough! 

AuPair-Repair makes au pair work visible, offers support through networking, exchange and workshops for au pairs in Austria and exposes abuses in public institutions and host families.

Au pair work is an invisible and marginalized care work, like many other jobs mainly performed by migrant women. 

So far, the policies regulating au pair work are very vague and leave the autonomy of the person in the hands of the host family, starting with the residence permit, which depends on the host family and is obtained after signing a contract written in a language one does not speak. The word "au pair" means "at eye level" and assumes that a person who decides to work as an au pair will be treated like a member of the family. However, living with the host family is one of the main working conditions that contribute to exploitative practices such as longer working hours, exclusion from overtime pay, social isolation and deprivation of privacy. The "au pair" programme is structured in a very ambiguous way, and the portrayal of it as a "cultural exchange" is a misrepresentation of a job that is ultimately delegated motherhood.

Credits

Project Initiators: Elizabeth Martínez und Paulina Flores

Audiovisual:
Clelia de Lourdes Villarreal Flores
Adriana Maria Monroy Ruiz

Collaborators: 
LEFÖ
Radio ORANGE

Special thanks to IG24 for their solidarity and support.