A Recipe for Disaster: The Mismatch of Au Pairs’ Motivations and Host Families’ Expectations

• In Event: 2384 - Section on International Migration Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 10. Gender and the Household

Abstract

This paper explores the experiences of Eastern and Central European au pairs in the Washington DC by metropolitan area. It specifically investigates the mismatch between the expectations and motivations of au pairs and their American host families. While au pairs enroll in the Au Pair program for cultural purposes, American families are driven by au pair agencies' advertisement of au pairs as reliable, full-time caregiver. This mismatch, I discuss, is a recipe for disaster.

Author

• Nihal Celik Lynch, Wheaton College