ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the concept of the ‘global care chain’ and its contributions to the literature on migration. The concept refers to the cross-national transfer of paid reproductive labour among women in which a professional woman hires a migrant care worker who, in turn, hires their own care worker for their own children left behind in the country of origin. It begins with a discussion of the concept’s origins and novelty, highlighting its establishment of care as a lens to understand the global economy. It then looks at and explains its differences from subsequent formulations of the care economy, including the care drain/gain paradigm, care circulation, and care diamond. We then look at the utility and application of this concept to different occupational contexts including domestic work and nurses. Our discussion underscores variances in its institutional and organisational relevance. Next, we address the question of gender and the critiques of the concept as perpetuating gendered stereotypes of mothering. We end by discussing areas for future research, underscoring the need to re-examine the still unresolved question of gendered division of labour.
