Female Domestic Servants as Desirable Refugees: Gender,Labour Needs and Immigration Policy in Belgium,The Netherlands and Great Britain

Abstract

The immigration policies adopted by Western European states during the interwar period were marked by increasing restriction, especially after 1933. One notable exception to this was the relatively generous treatment afforded to women who were prepared to take up employment as domestic servants. This article looks at the reasons behind this anomaly and compares the responses of three states that were in the front line of the refugee efflux from Germany and Eastern Europe in the years leading up to the Second World War.