The article sheds light on the work of women outside the home based on a research of a village in Slovene Istria. The author analyses the role, significance and dimensions of paid household jobs which in Trieste are often carried out by women from this village. The employment of women in the services sector is very common in the entire coastal and Karst border area with Italy, particularly in the nearby Italian towns (Trieste, Gorizia, Udine), where women from the Slovene areas often take up household jobs with families across the border.