The demographic and economic situation in Italy is particularly poignant. In 2000, 18 per cent of the country’s population was above 65 and the expectation is that by 2020 that percentage will be 24 per cent. With the growing number of women looking for salaried work outside the home, the need to hire someone to care for older relatives is increasing. This need has been met with an exponential increase in migrant worker employment, such that foreign domestic workers have come to be considered a “gift from heaven”.