The legal framework concerning household employment has undergone a number of changes worldwide. The 100th International Labour Conference in June 2011 was highly significant as it adopted the first international labour standards specifically for domestic workers: Convention No. 189 and the supplementing Recommendation No. 201. This article analyses recent Spanish reforms (2011–2013) in order to assess the effects of these changes, taking into account the characteristics of domestic work: feminized, informal, ethnicized and vulnerable. Although aimed at improving employment and working conditions, the new Spanish legislation has resulted in a number of setbacks as well as some progress. These ambiguous effects should make policy-makers cautious when seeking to improve the situation of domestic workers. Any effective efforts to reduce informality in this sector should encompass labour, migration and gender, without disregarding the complex reality, including subjective and interpersonal factors, that might hinder the objectives of formal regulation.
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