Transnational ‘granny-nannies’ – promoting visibility and rights for aging caregivers in transnational families

Citation

Frenyó E (2025) Transnational ‘granny-nannies’ – promoting visibility and rights for aging caregivers in transnational families. In: Handbook on Migration and Human Rights. Handbook on Migration and Human Rights. Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 256-280. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035302253.00023; https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035302253.00023

Abstract
Transnational grandparenthood has emerged as a coping mechanism against the ‘atomisation of the family unit’, by organising childcare provision across borders. This involvement comes at a price for grandparents and families against the backdrop of neoliberal restructuring of welfare states and labour markets, as well as migration regimes, which entrench precarity and transfer the burdens of privatised care onto transnational households. Due to ageist assumptions about care and dependency, the role of transnational grandparents in care circulation is often overlooked, and their agency in negotiating care arrangements across borders is neglected. The status and rights of grandparents have been conspicuously absent from political discourse and backbenched in the context of rights advocacy. This chapter reviews leading studies in the field to explore some of the impacts of law and policy on transnational grandparents, especially grandmothers, at the intersection of age, gender and immigration-related discrimination. It will also discuss some of the limitations of existing human rights approaches in this field to advocate for a more systematic study of and advocacy for transnational grandparents.

Keywords
Transnational grandparents; Care; Migration; Human rights

Notes
This AAM version of the chapter is to be embargoed for 12 months (starting 4 Sept, 2025) as per Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd (EE) green open access policy on research handbooks.