Filipina Au Pair in Dk

Background

The new trend in child care for the past 10 years in Denmark is hiring nannies from the Third World. They are usually young women. Most of them come from Eastern Europe, South Africa, the Philippines and most recently Latin American countries. Officially they are called au pairs but are also called as nannies or some other term is domestic servants. The term au pair is French originated which means “on a par” or “equal to”, indicating that relationship between an au pair and the host family is intended to be equal. An au pair is intended to become an equal member of the family rather than a domestic servant. As part of usual arrangement, this young au pair (woman/ man) shall live up to two years in a foreign country with a host family, helping in the home of the host family for a set number of hours and often with at least two full days off in a week so the au pair can go out and have time to experience the culture of the host country. As usual practice, the au pair could also join in some activities of the host family like outing and trip to live a normal life assuming she is living the same life from her home country and also is a good way of getting to know the two different cultures. The one learn from the other and vice versa.

In the Philippines, many young women, especially those from rural areas, are so fascinated to experience the life in the western countries that these young women choose the easiest way of coming to Denmark, and that is being an au pair. Well- known to the whole nation of the Philippines, there are still lot of women, youngs and olds, who are left behind of the modernity of their own society and never been recognized for who they are.

The objective of this paper is to show the condition of many young Filipina au pair struggled to travel abroad to find a place where they can enjoy a society that will give them an identity. In spite of the kind of work that is waiting for them in Denmark, these young, innocent women never in...