With the ageing of the population in European societies, where the care of dependent relatives is less and less taken over by the family (alone), the model of live-in care is becoming increasingly important. This care model, which promises caregivers around the clock at home, is often accompanied by exploitative employment, low pay and precarious working conditions for migrant women. 

Together with our guest Miguel Montero Lange, we will discuss Labora lecture the situation of migrant nurses in Germany and Europe, with a particular focus on live-ins. In his input, Miguel Montero Lange addresses the following topics, especially in comparison with Germany and Spain: 

  • the working conditions and the embedding of these migrant women in global care chains, 
  • the importance of informal care for care systems;  
  • the intertwining of discrimination on the basis of social class, gender and migrant origin; 
  • the importance of organising, mobilising and connecting migrant caregivers; and 
  • the need to give migrant carers and their organisations a central role in the reform of care systems. 

This is supplemented by short inputs from Minor's studies and consulting work and discussed among the invited experts.

To our guest

Miguel Montero Lange is a sociologist and founder of the Workshop for Social Research. Specializing in migration issues, he is the co-author of numerous publications on intra-European mobility and the labour market integration of immigrants and refugees in Germany, including women. He has recently written an article on migrant workers in care systems with a view to gender perspective, discrimination and opportunities for self-organization, on which his input is based. 

To the Labora Lectures

With the Labora lectures the Minor – Labora brings together experts from science, politics and practice in an intensive exchange on issues and social developments that affect the shaping of the future of our society. We aim at mutual learning on innovative ideas, methods and approaches to improve the situation of marginalized or disadvantaged groups. We welcome the guests with a special wine, other drinks and some food that accompanies the evening in the fireplace room. The Labora lectures are organised and implemented in cooperation with Minor – Project Kontor for Education and Research, Minor – Science Society and La Red – Networking and Integration. 

The Labora lectures It's called Chatham House Rules.