Like Any Other Job?

2019 ◽  
pp. 105-121
Author(s):  
Erynn Masi de Casanova
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Domestic Work ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Class Relations ◽  
Political Will ◽  
Domestic Worker ◽  
Informal Workers ◽  
Political Effectiveness

This chapter explores some of the challenges that organizers of domestic workers in Ecuador face. Its discussion of domestic worker organizing touches on the three major themes of this book: social reproduction, informal arrangements that render domestic work invisible, and class relations that degrade and dehumanize workers. Workers' engagement in long hours of paid and unpaid social reproduction makes them difficult to reach and organize. Informal arrangements, and lack of political will and political effectiveness to change these arrangements, combine to make the enforcement of existing laws difficult. Moreover, relationships with the left-leaning state, embedded in traditional assumptions about who constitutes the working class—assumptions that leave out women and informal workers—have been fraught. The chapter then shows how domestic workers and their advocates have been organizing, what strategies they have used to demand the rights of these workers, and what the implications of these strategies are for political action and change.

Dust and Dignity

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erynn Masi de Casanova ◽  
Maximina Salazar
Keyword(s):  
Social Reproduction ◽  
National Level ◽  
Domestic Work ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Class Relations ◽  
Informal Work ◽  
Work Arrangements ◽  
Women's Lives ◽  
The Common ◽  
Work Histories

What makes domestic work a bad job, even after efforts to formalize and improve working conditions? This book examines three reasons for persistent exploitation. First, the tasks of social reproduction are devalued. Second, informal work arrangements escape regulation. And third, unequal class relations are built into this type of employment. The book provides both theoretical discussions about domestic work and concrete ideas for improving women's lives. Drawing on workers' stories of lucha, trabajo, and sacrificio—struggle, work, and sacrifice—the book offers a new take on an old occupation. From the intimate experience of being a body out of place in an employer's home, to the common work histories of Ecuadorian women in different cities, to the possibilities for radical collective action at the national level, the book shows how and why women do this stigmatized and precarious work and how they resist exploitation in the search for dignified employment. From these searing stories of workers' lives, the book identifies patterns in domestic workers' experiences that will be helpful in understanding the situation of workers elsewhere and offers possible solutions for promoting and ensuring workers' rights that have relevance far beyond Ecuador.

“A Little Bit of Liberation”

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer N. Fish
Keyword(s):  
Women Workers ◽  
Domestic Work ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Critical Component ◽  
Domestic Worker ◽  
Informal Workers ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
State Relations ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Potential Shifts

This chapter discusses the impact and outcomes of global domestic worker activism, with a focus on the larger meaning and implications of this global worker movement. It closes the book with an assessment of the application of human rights policies in the everyday lives of women workers, namely migrant domestic workers. An examination of state relations to domestic work illustrates the importance of international policy ratification as the critical component of positive change “on the ground.” The chapter looks ahead to domestic worker organization following the ILO policy discussions, and discusses the potential shifts in the landscape of domestic work amid efforts to improve the conditions of informal workers, migrants, and domestic workers across the globe.

Is outsourcing better? Clients' views on contracting in domestic cleaning services

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
David du Toit ◽  
Lindy Heinecken
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Domestic Work ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Domestic Worker ◽  
Domestic Servants ◽  
The People ◽  
Routine Tasks

PurposeThe nature of paid domestic work is changing, with the growth in companies delivering domestic cleaning services. Few studies have looked at why people opt to use these services and the underlying drivers. As with the outsourcing of non-core tasks in businesses, outsourcing domestic work is motivated by similar, yet different reasons, which have to do with the personal and private nature of domestic employment. This study aims to establish the reasons why “clients”, who were former employers of domestic servants, opted to outsource domestic work to a domestic cleaning service provider.Design/methodology/approachGiven the limited research on domestic cleaning services in South Africa, a mixed-methods research approach is used.FindingsThe findings showed that there are three key motivations: the nature of the domestic cleaning service supplier, the services rendered by domestic workers and the tripartite employment relationships. These three benefits imply that clients have access to functional and numerical flexibility, unlike employing a domestic worker directly. This study contributes to the literature on outsourcing and domestic work by showing that clients not only look to change the economic structure of the relationship with domestic workers, but it allows them to psychologically and emotionally distance themselves from domestic workers.Research limitations/implicationsThis study shows that some people are no longer willing to have a relationship with the people who clean their homes, and that they believe it is simply not worth the effort to maintain a relationship. This is an aspect that needs further research, as this is the one sphere where women are united in their plight, albeit from different worldviews. Thus, a limitation is that this study only focuses on clients' views of outsourcing. Have domestic workers employed by the outsourced domestic cleaning service supplier become just like assembly-line workers, where they are anonymous to their clients, performing routine tasks with little recognition from those whose homes they are servicing? Future studies could focus on domestic workers' views on outsourcing and the effects it has on their working conditions and employment relations.Originality/valueFirstly, studies mainly focus on the Global North where domestic work and outsourcing have different dynamics, regulation policies and social changes when compared to South Africa. Secondly, few studies have sought to establish why people shift from employing a domestic or care worker directly to an outsourced domestic agency when direct domestic help is available and affordable. Considering these shortcomings, this study aims to provide a better understanding of domestic cleaning service suppliers from the perspective of clients, often omitted from the literature. Accordingly, this study aimed to establish what the benefits are for clients (former employers of domestic workers) who use domestic cleaning service suppliers.

Epilogue

2019 ◽  
pp. 131-132
Author(s):  
Erynn Masi de Casanova
Keyword(s):  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Political Instability ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
State Funding ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Domestic Worker ◽  
The People

This epilogue looks at several new factors affecting domestic employment in Ecuador today which may change the landscape for workers, employers, and activists. First is the new government. If before, there was worker-friendly rhetoric and praise for humble domestic workers, but little concrete improvement in policies and conditions, today even the rhetoric is gone. The best way to reach and make claims on the new government is still unclear, and it will be difficult to obtain state funding for domestic worker initiatives. Second, there has been a “rupture” in the domestic worker organization Asociación de Trabajadoras Remuneradas del Hogar (ATRH). This situation makes organizing and advocating for domestic workers more difficult and may lead to confusion among policy makers and funders. Third, there has been an uptick in migration to Ecuador from Colombia and Venezuela, as people flee violence, political instability, and economic disaster. Finally, some of the people interviewed in 2018 claim to be witnessing growth in the proportion of live-in, full-time domestic workers. Despite changes in the context of domestic employment, however, workers' status has not changed much since this study began. Social reproduction is still devalued, informal arrangements still prevail, and the class gulf between employers and domestic workers remains.

Home, domestic work and the state: The spatial politics of domestic workers’ activism

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 367-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim England
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Domestic Work ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Spatial Politics ◽  
Private Space ◽  
Domestic Worker ◽  
Recent Emergence ◽  
Labour Legislation

This article explores the spatialities associated with the recent emergence of a social movement of domestic workers in the United States. Domestic work is rendered invisible, not only as a form of ‘real work’, but also because it is hidden in other people’s homes. The article unpacks the home as a private space beyond government intervention, and as domestic worker activists argue, when homes are workplaces workers should be protected from exploitation. Domestic workers have become active and visible in campaigns to gain coverage under labour legislation at the state and federal government levels. An analysis of the success of their campaigns reveals a set of strategies and tactics that draw on feminist care ethics in a range of different locations, and that thinking spatially has been pivotal in the emergence and continued growth of their social movement.

scholarly journals The feminist and domestic workers’ movements: disconnected practices, discursive convergences

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Garofalo Geymonat ◽  
Daniela Cherubini ◽  
Sabrina Marchetti
Keyword(s):  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Feminist Movement ◽  
Domestic Worker ◽  
Creative Force ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Practical Level

The article explores the relationship between women’s rights and feminist and domestic workers’ movements by drawing on qualitative data gathered in a comparative study on domestic workers’ rights in Italy, Germany, Spain, India, the Philippines, Taiwan, Colombia, Brazil and Ecuador (2016–21). Despite the frequent disconnection between the two movements at the practical level, a possible convergence may be identified in the discursive frames that domestic workers’ rights activists make use of. The analysis focuses on two feminist anti-capitalist frames recurring in mobilisations for domestic workers’ rights, addressing the valorisation of reproductive labour and the transnational commodification of care. Domestic workers’ activism tends to build on these frames beyond their mainstream forms and to expand them in intersectional ways, enlarging their capacity to include racialised, low-class, migrant and other minority groups. This becomes a creative force at the level of discourse, where different alliances may take place in a less visible way.<br /><br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>In many countries, a large gap exists between the feminist movement and the movement for domestic workers’ rights.</li><br /><li>Activists for the rights of domestic workers often base their claims on feminist arguments on care and reproductive labour.</li><br /><li>Domestic worker activists expand feminist discourses along intersectional lines to include not only gender, but also class, caste and race perspectives.</li><br /><li>The alliance between the feminist and domestic workers’ movements can be facilitated by converging around issues of social reproduction addressed in an intersectional perspective.</li></ul>

scholarly journals Challenging Disregard: Advocacy Journalism and the Campaign for Domestic Worker Legislation in Indonesia

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 201
Author(s):  
Mary Austin
Keyword(s):  
Media Coverage ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Domestic Work ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Domestic Worker ◽  
Political Opportunities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Advocacy Journalism ◽  
Funded Project ◽  
Media Narratives

<p>This article examines a recent ILO funded project designed to engage more Indonesian journalists and media organizations in advocacy journalism on behalf of domestic worker legislation. Applying Ann Stoler’s notion of ‘disregard’ in the context of post-Suharto<br />democratization, I illustrate how established newsroom practices and patterns of reporting helped maintain distinctions between ‘home’ and overseas domestic workers which impeded progress towards comprehensive legislation. Indonesia’s endorsement of the adoption of ILO Convention 189 in June 2011 opened up political opportunities, provided a framework for re-scripting media narratives and encouraged journalists to give more space to domestic workers’ voices. At the same time, increased media coverage enabled those opposed to legislation to reiterate a gendered disregard for the social and economic value of domestic work.</p>

scholarly journals Profile and Problems of Women Domestic Workers in Mangochi, Malawi

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2S3) ◽  
pp. 1167-1171
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Work ◽  
Research Work ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Socioeconomic Background ◽  
Domestic Worker ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Self Help Groups

Domestic workers - who sweep, swab, wash, cook, take care of the children and look after the elderly – yet, are invisible. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), "A domestic worker is someone who carries out household work in a private household in return for wages." The poor and marginalized women are now joining the growing force of domestic workers in Malawian towns and villages. In this backdrop, this research work aims at understanding the socioeconomic background of women domestic workers and problems faced by them in Mangochi District in Malawi. This particular region was selected for research as it has a large number of women domestic workers due to seasonal employment in Salt and Fishing sectors. 100 women domestic workers were selected as sample through Purposive Sampling method and the required data were collected from them by using a semi structured interview schedule designed for this purpose. The study results show that the poor economic condition of family drives the women to opt for domestic work and they are exploited by the employers in many forms. They possess a very low status both in the workplace as well as in the society. They work for a paltry sum and are at the mercy of their keepers without any rights. The study emphasizes the need for a comprehensive policy and legislations to control the exploitation of women in unorganized workforce. Domestic Work should be declared as a profession and as such all the rights and privileges as applicable to all other workers are made available to them. Establishing Self help groups in their area and giving training in income generating activities will certainly go a long way to empower them.

“Look Deep in Your Hearts”

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer N. Fish
Keyword(s):  
Global Economy ◽  
Domestic Work ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Household Labor ◽  
Worker Rights ◽  
Domestic Worker ◽  
Ethnographic Approach ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
Key Players

This chapter sets the stage for the global domestic workers’ movement that is at the center of this book. It examines the landscape of household labor and highlights the key concepts necessary for an understanding of domestic work in the global economy, highlighting the traditional power imbalances that exist between “maids and madams.” The chapter introduces key players in the struggle for domestic worker rights, and the challenges they faced in addressing widespread injustice. An overview of the scholar-activist framework, embedded ethnographic approach, and the author’s particular research journey is also included.

Proper Conjugation of Bodies

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Ruth Gamburd
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Extended Family ◽  
Moral Panic ◽  
National Level ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Frail Elders ◽  
Female Migration ◽  
Ethnographic Analysis

Physical and symbolic aspects of bodies limit the migration trajectories of female domestic workers from a Buddhist community in coastal Sri Lanka. Government regulations and family decisions regarding women’s overseas labour draw upon and in turn influence discourses about gender, sexuality, age, health, and class. This ethnographic analysis illustrates that local norms task women with nurturing the brains of babies, preserving the chastity of teenage daughters, caring for frail elders, and preventing their working-class husbands from overindulging in liquor or having sex with other women. Successful social reproduction depends on the proper conjunctions of bodies in the extended family. Corporeal and symbolic dangers imagined to arise from women’s absence fuel a national-level moral panic about female migration.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document