The Italian-Ukrainian Care Chain: Transnational Welfare, Transnational Families and Care Drain

Abstract: The thesis is devoted to the analysis of the care chain between Italy and Ukraine, which is a highly feminised and multi-sided phenomenon. The focus is kept on such aspects as organisation of transnational welfare, transnational families and care drain in Ukraine. Pushed by the unstable socio-economic situation and necessity in Ukraine, Ukrainian women perform carework and domestic work in Italy and in this way meet the ‘care deficit’ and satisfy welfare needs of the Italian state, families and individuals, especially elderly. However, a large-scale female emigration from Ukraine results in the (‘broken’) transnational families, the members of which are located in two nation-states, which require adaptation to the new practices and experiences of the transnational motherhood and childhood. Additionally, care drain has its dramatic consequences for the Ukrainian society, especially in a long-term prospective.