54.4% of Italians do not want a daughter or son to work as a domestic helper, carer or baby sitter

The paradox of domestic work. Despite the role it plays in the daily lives of families, domestic work suffers from a fragile social reputation. According to a survey conducted by Censis on a representative sample of the population on behalf of Assindatcolf - Associazione Nazionale dei Datori di Lavoro Domestico (National Association of Domestic Workers), 72% of Italians believe that this work is little or not at all socially esteemed and 54.4% would not want a son or daughter to do it. Yet, the recognition of its usefulness is very high: for 80.1% of Italians it is an important job and for 89.4% it contributes significantly to the well-being of society. The data are contained in the 1st Paper of the 2026 Family (Net) Work Report "Social reputation in domestic work. From social perception to contractual situation'.

Only 28% of Italians believe that those who carry out this work are very or fairly esteemed socially (5.5% very and 22.5% fairly), while 72% consider it to be little or not at all esteemed (61.1% little and 10.9% not at all). The perception is also affected by the idea that it is mostly a forced choice: 52.3% of Italians believe that those who do domestic work do it because they have no alternatives; 17.2% consider it a free professional choice and 22.8% interpret it as a temporary job waiting for better opportunities. The perception of insufficient protection also has an impact: for 57.3% of Italians, domestic work is not adequately protected by the State, while for 28.7% it is only partially protected and just 7.8% believe it is sufficiently protected. Widespread irregularity weighs heavily on the reputation of the sector in the eyes of Italians: 34.5% of Italians believe that it affects the sector a lot and 44.3% quite a lot, while 14.8% think it affects it little or not at all. And again, 49.5% of Italians believe that responsibility for undeclared work is shared between workers and families; 40% attribute it to families, while only 6.5% attribute it to domestic workers. A minority quota (4%), on the other hand, believes that the phenomenon does not depend directly on either one or the other.

The majority of Italians, i.e. 54.4%, would not want a son or daughter to do domestic work, while 15.1% say they are indifferent, and 30.5% say they would be very or fairly happy with this choice. Among the latter, that is, among those who view this possibility positively, the recognition of the dignity of work prevails: 59.6% consider it a dignified job like any other, while 33.4% value the care and assistance dimension. Other aspects appreciated concern the relational dimension (20.2%), the stability of employment (12.1%) and the dynamic nature of the activities performed (11.6%). On the other hand, those who say they are against it mostly weigh economic factors and professional perspectives: 43.8% believe it offers few opportunities for growth, 42% consider it poorly paid and 25.2% find it tiring. A smaller share also mentions the issue of social prestige (15.8%). Overall, according to Italians, in order to strengthen the reputation of domestic work, incentives for contractual regularisation (47.6%) and an increase in salaries (45.3%) would be needed above all.

For 80.1% of the Italians domestic work is an important job, of which 67.1%, however, claim that it is undervalued and only 13% that it is respected. For the remaining 12.2% it is a job like any other, and for only 6.7% it is a superfluous activity. Even stronger is the recognition of its contribution to collective well-being: 89.4% of Italians believe that domestic work contributes significantly to the well-being of society (for 45.7% very significantly, for 43.7% fairly significantly). Only 10.6% believe that it has little or no impact.