- Reproductive labour, mainly performed by women and migrant workers, reproduces gender, class, and racial inequalities and remains socially devalued and unrecognised.
- Domestic work produces high psychological distress, musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, and symbolic and physical violence, intensified by informality and lack of legal protection.
- Addressing these harms requires integrated public policies combining social protection, economic recognition, and accessible health care for marginalised domestic workers.
Front Sociol. 2026 Jul 20;11:1767534. doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2026.1767534. eCollection 2026.
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Reproductive labor, essential to social and biological maintenance, has historically been performed by women, often under conditions of social vulnerability and without formal recognition. This scoping review aimed to map the international scientific literature on paid and unpaid domestic work performed by adult and older women in contexts marked by devaluation and cumulative chronic stress, manifested in health disparities.
METHODS: The review followed PRISMA-ScR and JBI guidelines and included articles indexed in PubMed, PsycInfo, Scopus, and Web of Science, with no time restrictions. After screening 2,122 records, 41 studies were included.
RESULTS: The findings reveal that domestic work, particularly for migrant women, serves as a critical space in which gender, class, and racial inequalities are reproduced. Most of the reviewed studies were carried out in China, Singapore, and the United States and were based mainly on qualitative or mixed-methods designs. Major themes included migration and the physical and mental health impacts of domestic work. The literature shows high prevalence of psychological distress, musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, and symbolic and physical violence, all worsened by informality and lack of legal protection. Workers’ bodies and subjectivities emerge as terrains where structural inequalities are inscribed, making visible the “colonization of subjectivity” as an effect of precarization.
CONCLUSION: Domestic work must be understood not only as an economic activity but also as a social, relational, and neurobiological phenomenon. These factors underscore the consequences of such working conditions for the health of marginalized populations. Moreover, the mapping highlights the urgent need for public policies that integrate social protection, economic recognition, and health care for these workers.
PMID:42549175 | PMC:PMC13430554 | DOI:10.3389/fsoc.2026.1767534
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