Former MP Poul Nyrup Rasmussen is concerned au pairs are being exploited as inexpensive domestic help

Exploding numbers of au pairs in Denmark has Social Democrat MEPs, led by former Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, concerned that wealthy families are abusing the programme as a way to hire inexpensive domestic help. They propose that the cultural exchange programme be eliminated and regulated as hired help.

Rasmussen and fellow Social Democrat MEP Britta Thompsen write in Wednesday’s edition of Information newspaper that au pairs are ‘a modern underclass’, and suggest regulating them as hired workers.

The call comes as the number of au pairs in Denmark surged to nearly 3,000 last year, nearly ten times the 1996 figure of 318.

Au pairs, typically young women, must be paid a minimum of 2,500 kroner per month, and must be granted food and board by their host family. In exchange, they are expected to perform up to 30 hours per week of household chores. The regulations are set up to ensure that the au pairs live with the family on an equal footing.

But according to a study of conditions for au pairs, many feel that their host families see them primarily as domestic help.

Filomena Høgsholm, a former Filipino au pair, and spokesperson for a network of current Filipino au pairs, told Information that even if au pair visits were no longer cultural exchanges, the programme benefited young women from developing countries.

‘In their eyes, they get paid a lot of money, and they are happy to be here. You can see it as a type of foreign aid,’ Høgsholm said.

Høgsholm said the biggest problem was that au pairs were typically unaware they had the right to change host families.

One million kroner has been set aside by parliament, with the support of the Social Democrats, to help inform au pairs of their rights.

Emilie Turunen, an MEP candidate for the Socialist People’s Party backs the call to end a programme she said had ‘gone from being an interesting way for young people to see the world to systematic abuse’.

Karsten Lauritzen, a spokesperson for the prime minister’s Liberal Party, rejected those claims. ‘It’s not my impression that there are evil families out there planning to exploit their au pairs.’