The double barrier: rights, discrimination and adaptation strategies of migrant women in Italy’s care sector - a case study of badanti in Padua

This Master’s thesis examines experiences of migrant women in Italy employed in elderly care sector (badanti) through the case study of the city of Padua. The research focuses on how gender, migration status and institutional organisation of care shape working conditions, vulnerability and everyday practices of migrant women. The study is based on feminist migration theory and considers gender as a structural category embedded in labor markets, social policy and regimes of social reproduction. To analyse inequalities, the approach of intersectionality is used to show how the interaction of gender and migration status (including citizenship, legal status and class) creates a “double barrier” in access to rights, protection and professional mobility. At the same time, the study is based on the concepts of limited agency and everyday forms of action, which makes it possible to analyse the adaptation and survival strategies of migrant women without reducing their experience to passive vulnerability. Methodologically, the thesis adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining the analysis of secondary quantitative data (ISTAT) with qualitative semi-structured interviews conducted with women working as badanti and with representatives of the care employment agency. This research design makes it possible to link the macro-level of institutional and demographic structures with the micro-level of everyday labor practices, employment relations and subjective interpretations. The choice of Padua allows the study to explore how national migration and social regimes are implemented in a specific urban context and how they affect working conditions, legal protection and the strategies of action of migrant women in the care sector. The contribution of this thesis lies in deepening the understanding of women’s migration in the Italian care sector at the local level and in demonstrating how structural constraints and individual practices intersect in the everyday organisation of badanti labor.