Adelyn Lim
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9789888139378
- eISBN:
- 9789888313174
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888139378.003.0006
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gender Studies
This chapter focuses on local and migrant domestic workers' unions in Hong Kong, in the context of the international domestic workers' movement for the International Labor Organization Convention No. ...
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This chapter focuses on local and migrant domestic workers' unions in Hong Kong, in the context of the international domestic workers' movement for the International Labor Organization Convention No. 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers. Global norms are providing collective action frames that facilitate cohesive activism, as well as international opportunities, symbolic and material resources, and publicity to pressure governments and corporations. In Hong Kong, domestic workers' unions are an amalgamation of a women's movement and a trade union that goes beyond the organizing of women or workers, but incorporating the frames of democracy, human rights, and social justice locally and internationally. Transnational organizing, on the basis of common social location and interests as women and workers under global capitalism, allows local and migrant domestic workers to envision and enact solidarity. But it is also this interaction that hierarchies of class, gender, ethnicity, and nationality become visible, illustrating that privilege and oppression are often not absolute categories but, rather, shift in relation to different axes of power.Less
This chapter focuses on local and migrant domestic workers' unions in Hong Kong, in the context of the international domestic workers' movement for the International Labor Organization Convention No. 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers. Global norms are providing collective action frames that facilitate cohesive activism, as well as international opportunities, symbolic and material resources, and publicity to pressure governments and corporations. In Hong Kong, domestic workers' unions are an amalgamation of a women's movement and a trade union that goes beyond the organizing of women or workers, but incorporating the frames of democracy, human rights, and social justice locally and internationally. Transnational organizing, on the basis of common social location and interests as women and workers under global capitalism, allows local and migrant domestic workers to envision and enact solidarity. But it is also this interaction that hierarchies of class, gender, ethnicity, and nationality become visible, illustrating that privilege and oppression are often not absolute categories but, rather, shift in relation to different axes of power.
Erynn Masi de Casanova
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781501739453
- eISBN:
- 9781501739477
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501739453.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Economy
This introductory chapter provides an overview of domestic work. The International Labor Organization (ILO) defines domestic work to include housework; caring for children, ill, disabled, or elderly ...
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This introductory chapter provides an overview of domestic work. The International Labor Organization (ILO) defines domestic work to include housework; caring for children, ill, disabled, or elderly people in private homes; and tasks such as “driving the family car, taking care of the garden, and guarding private houses.” Paid domestic work is an ancient occupation, rooted in feudal economic systems, but it is part of the modern world under capitalism. Historically, domestic workers cooked, cleaned, and cared for children, as they do today. However, this work has shifted from in-kind payment (room and board) to wages, and from most domestic workers living with employers to most living separately. Also, middle- and upper-class women have entered the workforce, relying on domestic workers to take up the slack at home. Based on research conducted between 2010 and 2018, this book explains why domestic work remains an occupation of last resort in Ecuador (and elsewhere) and discusses how these working conditions might be improved. In exploring the experiences of paid domestic workers in Ecuador, it shows how concepts of social reproduction, urban informal employment, and class boundaries can help illuminate the particular forms of exploitation in this work and explain why domestic work continues to be a bad job.Less
This introductory chapter provides an overview of domestic work. The International Labor Organization (ILO) defines domestic work to include housework; caring for children, ill, disabled, or elderly people in private homes; and tasks such as “driving the family car, taking care of the garden, and guarding private houses.” Paid domestic work is an ancient occupation, rooted in feudal economic systems, but it is part of the modern world under capitalism. Historically, domestic workers cooked, cleaned, and cared for children, as they do today. However, this work has shifted from in-kind payment (room and board) to wages, and from most domestic workers living with employers to most living separately. Also, middle- and upper-class women have entered the workforce, relying on domestic workers to take up the slack at home. Based on research conducted between 2010 and 2018, this book explains why domestic work remains an occupation of last resort in Ecuador (and elsewhere) and discusses how these working conditions might be improved. In exploring the experiences of paid domestic workers in Ecuador, it shows how concepts of social reproduction, urban informal employment, and class boundaries can help illuminate the particular forms of exploitation in this work and explain why domestic work continues to be a bad job.
Erynn Masi de Casanova
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781501739453
- eISBN:
- 9781501739477
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501739453.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Economy
This chapter traces women's labor trajectories, studying interviews with fifty-two women in four Ecuadorian cities about their work histories, which all include stints of paid domestic work, periods ...
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This chapter traces women's labor trajectories, studying interviews with fifty-two women in four Ecuadorian cities about their work histories, which all include stints of paid domestic work, periods of unemployment, and usually other jobs. The women's accounts explode common assumptions. Domestic employment has not been a stepping stone to more desirable jobs, but neither has it been the only job that these women have done. Their employment in private homes has been disrupted, temporary, sporadic, and anything but stable. Rather than mobility, the chapter found circularity: women cycling in and out of the informal labor market over the course of their lives, making employment decisions that are shaped by economic, health, and family crises. Their engagement in unpaid social reproduction affected both their choice to do paid social reproduction in the first place, and the way they managed that reproductive labor over time.Less
This chapter traces women's labor trajectories, studying interviews with fifty-two women in four Ecuadorian cities about their work histories, which all include stints of paid domestic work, periods of unemployment, and usually other jobs. The women's accounts explode common assumptions. Domestic employment has not been a stepping stone to more desirable jobs, but neither has it been the only job that these women have done. Their employment in private homes has been disrupted, temporary, sporadic, and anything but stable. Rather than mobility, the chapter found circularity: women cycling in and out of the informal labor market over the course of their lives, making employment decisions that are shaped by economic, health, and family crises. Their engagement in unpaid social reproduction affected both their choice to do paid social reproduction in the first place, and the way they managed that reproductive labor over time.
Sandra Fredman
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198763239
- eISBN:
- 9780191695216
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198763239.003.0003
- Subject:
- Law, Employment Law
This chapter traces the patterns of social disadvantage of women from the industrial revolution to the present, focusing on the family and public sphere. It examines the nature of women's work and ...
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This chapter traces the patterns of social disadvantage of women from the industrial revolution to the present, focusing on the family and public sphere. It examines the nature of women's work and the status of women in the workforce, the family, and the state from the late 18th century to World War I and through to the present. The historical analysis of the sources of disadvantage reveals two persistent themes. The first is that women remain primarily responsible for childcare and domestic work, and the second is that such work is consistently ignored and undervalued.Less
This chapter traces the patterns of social disadvantage of women from the industrial revolution to the present, focusing on the family and public sphere. It examines the nature of women's work and the status of women in the workforce, the family, and the state from the late 18th century to World War I and through to the present. The historical analysis of the sources of disadvantage reveals two persistent themes. The first is that women remain primarily responsible for childcare and domestic work, and the second is that such work is consistently ignored and undervalued.
Ergin Bulut
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781501746529
- eISBN:
- 9781501746543
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501746529.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This chapter assesses the domestic dimensions of the unequal ludopolitical regime. Keeping the discussion on social reproduction alive, it asks: What kind of classed femininities are at work in the ...
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This chapter assesses the domestic dimensions of the unequal ludopolitical regime. Keeping the discussion on social reproduction alive, it asks: What kind of classed femininities are at work in the domestic space, as far as the reproduction of techno-masculinity at Studio Desire is concerned? Drawing on interviews with game developers' partners, the chapter reveals the dialectical relationship between Studio Desire's techno-masculine work culture and the domestic labor behind it. The taxing emotional toxicity at work is rendered tolerable thanks to the mobilization of women's emotional capacities at home. The chapter's distinct focus lies in its framing of women not simply as providers of domestic work but also as active agents who politically critique industry practices. Overall, it provides a response to techno-utopian claims about how digital technologies would terminate social inequalities within the domestic space, pointing to continuities in terms of love's exploitative dimensions.Less
This chapter assesses the domestic dimensions of the unequal ludopolitical regime. Keeping the discussion on social reproduction alive, it asks: What kind of classed femininities are at work in the domestic space, as far as the reproduction of techno-masculinity at Studio Desire is concerned? Drawing on interviews with game developers' partners, the chapter reveals the dialectical relationship between Studio Desire's techno-masculine work culture and the domestic labor behind it. The taxing emotional toxicity at work is rendered tolerable thanks to the mobilization of women's emotional capacities at home. The chapter's distinct focus lies in its framing of women not simply as providers of domestic work but also as active agents who politically critique industry practices. Overall, it provides a response to techno-utopian claims about how digital technologies would terminate social inequalities within the domestic space, pointing to continuities in terms of love's exploitative dimensions.
Deidre Helen Crumbley
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780813039848
- eISBN:
- 9780813043791
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813039848.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
This chapter contains life histories of ten founding church elders, who are currently in their 80s and 90s. All of the narratives begin with a socio-historical snapshot of the elders' hometowns, ...
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This chapter contains life histories of ten founding church elders, who are currently in their 80s and 90s. All of the narratives begin with a socio-historical snapshot of the elders' hometowns, followed by interviews covering their life experiences in both the North and the South. These experiences include employment patterns and salaries earned; “separate but equal” education during the Plessy v. Ferguson era; White on Black violence, such as false imprisonment and threats of and actual lynching; politics of sex between White men and Black women in the South; enculturation of White children in perpetrating racial violence and of Black children in surviving it; Black adult strategies for negotiating southern White terrorism and for migrating to and adjusting within urban life; economic survival strategies, such as sharecropping in the South and Black women's performing domestic “day labor” in the North; southern religious roots and new urban religious options; and colorism. The chapter concludes by exploring how these narratives inform Great Migration research.Less
This chapter contains life histories of ten founding church elders, who are currently in their 80s and 90s. All of the narratives begin with a socio-historical snapshot of the elders' hometowns, followed by interviews covering their life experiences in both the North and the South. These experiences include employment patterns and salaries earned; “separate but equal” education during the Plessy v. Ferguson era; White on Black violence, such as false imprisonment and threats of and actual lynching; politics of sex between White men and Black women in the South; enculturation of White children in perpetrating racial violence and of Black children in surviving it; Black adult strategies for negotiating southern White terrorism and for migrating to and adjusting within urban life; economic survival strategies, such as sharecropping in the South and Black women's performing domestic “day labor” in the North; southern religious roots and new urban religious options; and colorism. The chapter concludes by exploring how these narratives inform Great Migration research.
Juliane Hammer
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691190877
- eISBN:
- 9780691194387
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691190877.003.0004
- Subject:
- Sociology, Sociology of Religion
This chapter examines interviews conducted with Muslim advocates whose work against domestic violence (DV) focuses on awareness and prevention. There is a shared story arch among many of the ...
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This chapter examines interviews conducted with Muslim advocates whose work against domestic violence (DV) focuses on awareness and prevention. There is a shared story arch among many of the advocates that supports the primacy of an experienced and embodied ethic on non-abuse that is then translated into active work in the community and in a later step a search for religious discourse in order to further effective activism. Advocates often first recognized domestic abuse as wrong, then became critical of the ways in which Muslim communities address or do not address this issue, and responded by taking action and developing or finding religious arguments. It is in this last part of the story that religious authority, and with that status and authority in communities, became an existential issue for the effectiveness of anti-DV work. The chapter then reflects on the connection between feminist ideas about patriarchy and DV on the one hand and acceptance/rejection of such ideas in Muslim communities on the other.Less
This chapter examines interviews conducted with Muslim advocates whose work against domestic violence (DV) focuses on awareness and prevention. There is a shared story arch among many of the advocates that supports the primacy of an experienced and embodied ethic on non-abuse that is then translated into active work in the community and in a later step a search for religious discourse in order to further effective activism. Advocates often first recognized domestic abuse as wrong, then became critical of the ways in which Muslim communities address or do not address this issue, and responded by taking action and developing or finding religious arguments. It is in this last part of the story that religious authority, and with that status and authority in communities, became an existential issue for the effectiveness of anti-DV work. The chapter then reflects on the connection between feminist ideas about patriarchy and DV on the one hand and acceptance/rejection of such ideas in Muslim communities on the other.
Erynn Masi de Casanova
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781501739453
- eISBN:
- 9781501739477
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501739453.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Economy
This chapter examines the role of bodies and embodiment in domestic work. It argues that bodies matter for how domestic employees experience their work. Indeed, domestic workers' accounts emphasized ...
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This chapter examines the role of bodies and embodiment in domestic work. It argues that bodies matter for how domestic employees experience their work. Indeed, domestic workers' accounts emphasized physical labor and the embodied inequality between employer and employee. They described their work as exhausting, accelerating the deterioration of their bodies, and potentially dangerous. These accounts conceive of the body as a limited resource that women draw on to do their work, a resource that can be used up or damaged in the process. Bodies also matter because of the symbolic distinctions drawn between “good,” middle-class/elite bodies and “bad,” lower-class/deviant bodies—between employers' and workers' bodies. Workers face clear boundaries between themselves and employers in relation to health, food consumption, and appearance. Even employers who buck tradition by pursuing more egalitarian relations are aware of the differential values typically placed on differently classed bodies in Ecuador.Less
This chapter examines the role of bodies and embodiment in domestic work. It argues that bodies matter for how domestic employees experience their work. Indeed, domestic workers' accounts emphasized physical labor and the embodied inequality between employer and employee. They described their work as exhausting, accelerating the deterioration of their bodies, and potentially dangerous. These accounts conceive of the body as a limited resource that women draw on to do their work, a resource that can be used up or damaged in the process. Bodies also matter because of the symbolic distinctions drawn between “good,” middle-class/elite bodies and “bad,” lower-class/deviant bodies—between employers' and workers' bodies. Workers face clear boundaries between themselves and employers in relation to health, food consumption, and appearance. Even employers who buck tradition by pursuing more egalitarian relations are aware of the differential values typically placed on differently classed bodies in Ecuador.
Vanessa H. May
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807834770
- eISBN:
- 9781469603094
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807877906_may.9
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gender Studies
This chapter describes how Corrine Washington jumped at the chance when she was offered an opportunity to leave her job in a Richmond tobacco factory for domestic work in New York City in 1938. An ...
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This chapter describes how Corrine Washington jumped at the chance when she was offered an opportunity to leave her job in a Richmond tobacco factory for domestic work in New York City in 1938. An agent promised her a live-in position at twenty dollars a month, much less than the ten dollars a week she earned in the factory, but assured her that she would earn more if her employer liked her work. Tobacco factory work was an onerous and dusty affair, requiring workers to spend hours on their feet doing repetitive tasks on the assembly line. African American women such as Washington usually performed the dirtiest and most back-breaking chores in tobacco factories, and Washington could not have been sorry to leave the work behind. An added benefit was escaping the racial restrictions of the Jim Crow South and joining New York City's famously vibrant black community. Washington's decision was made.Less
This chapter describes how Corrine Washington jumped at the chance when she was offered an opportunity to leave her job in a Richmond tobacco factory for domestic work in New York City in 1938. An agent promised her a live-in position at twenty dollars a month, much less than the ten dollars a week she earned in the factory, but assured her that she would earn more if her employer liked her work. Tobacco factory work was an onerous and dusty affair, requiring workers to spend hours on their feet doing repetitive tasks on the assembly line. African American women such as Washington usually performed the dirtiest and most back-breaking chores in tobacco factories, and Washington could not have been sorry to leave the work behind. An added benefit was escaping the racial restrictions of the Jim Crow South and joining New York City's famously vibrant black community. Washington's decision was made.
Lotika Singha
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781529201468
- eISBN:
- 9781529201505
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781529201468.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
This chapter lays the foundations of the book by first defining the work that the book intends to interrogate and unpacking the angst around it in some quarters of Western society, focusing on the ...
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This chapter lays the foundations of the book by first defining the work that the book intends to interrogate and unpacking the angst around it in some quarters of Western society, focusing on the feminist literature where such concerns are evident. Next, the chapter highlights theoretical contradictions and tensions in the literature and the assumptions underlying them, for instance, the work is a problem primarily between women. By drawing attention to some gaps and silences in the invaluable contribution made byprior research tounderstandings of the historically and socially constructed complexities of exploitation in paid domestic work, the chapterargues that the prevailing Western theories of this work are limited by their restricted focus on gender and race as the primary analytical categories.A more inclusive and globally relevant feminist approach would have an equivalent focus on class (and caste).Less
This chapter lays the foundations of the book by first defining the work that the book intends to interrogate and unpacking the angst around it in some quarters of Western society, focusing on the feminist literature where such concerns are evident. Next, the chapter highlights theoretical contradictions and tensions in the literature and the assumptions underlying them, for instance, the work is a problem primarily between women. By drawing attention to some gaps and silences in the invaluable contribution made byprior research tounderstandings of the historically and socially constructed complexities of exploitation in paid domestic work, the chapterargues that the prevailing Western theories of this work are limited by their restricted focus on gender and race as the primary analytical categories.A more inclusive and globally relevant feminist approach would have an equivalent focus on class (and caste).
Eileen Boris and Jennifer Klein
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195329117
- eISBN:
- 9780199949496
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195329117.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This book helps to explain why there is no adequate long-term care in America. Through a sweeping analytical narrative, from the Great Depression of the 1930s to the Great Recession of today, Caring ...
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This book helps to explain why there is no adequate long-term care in America. Through a sweeping analytical narrative, from the Great Depression of the 1930s to the Great Recession of today, Caring for America shows how law and social policy shaped home care into a low-waged job and a means-tested social service, stigmatized as part of public welfare, primarily funded through Medicaid, and relegated to the bottom of the medical hierarchy. It became a job for African American and immigrant women that kept them in poverty, while providing independence from institutionalization for needy elderly and disabled people. But while the state organized home care, it did not do so without contestation and confrontation. Caring for America also traces the intertwined, sometimes conflicting search of care providers and receivers for dignity, self-determination, security, and personal and social worth. It highlights social movements of senior citizens and disability rights/independent living, the civil rights organizing of women on welfare and domestic workers, the battles of public sector unions, and the unionization of health and service workers. It rethinks both the history of the American welfare state from the perspective of carework and the strategies of the U.S. labor movement in terms of a growing carework economy, arguing for care as a right deserving a living wage and social support.Less
This book helps to explain why there is no adequate long-term care in America. Through a sweeping analytical narrative, from the Great Depression of the 1930s to the Great Recession of today, Caring for America shows how law and social policy shaped home care into a low-waged job and a means-tested social service, stigmatized as part of public welfare, primarily funded through Medicaid, and relegated to the bottom of the medical hierarchy. It became a job for African American and immigrant women that kept them in poverty, while providing independence from institutionalization for needy elderly and disabled people. But while the state organized home care, it did not do so without contestation and confrontation. Caring for America also traces the intertwined, sometimes conflicting search of care providers and receivers for dignity, self-determination, security, and personal and social worth. It highlights social movements of senior citizens and disability rights/independent living, the civil rights organizing of women on welfare and domestic workers, the battles of public sector unions, and the unionization of health and service workers. It rethinks both the history of the American welfare state from the perspective of carework and the strategies of the U.S. labor movement in terms of a growing carework economy, arguing for care as a right deserving a living wage and social support.
Juliane Hammer
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691190877
- eISBN:
- 9780691194387
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691190877.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Sociology of Religion
This introductory chapter provides an overview of American Muslim organizations working against domestic violence in Muslim communities. The central goal of these organizations is simple: the ...
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This introductory chapter provides an overview of American Muslim organizations working against domestic violence in Muslim communities. The central goal of these organizations is simple: the eradication of domestic violence, a scourge that affects too many individuals, families, and communities in the United States and all over the world. Their work, however, is complicated, ongoing, and challenging. This book is about the people who carry out anti-domestic violence work in Muslim communities in the United States. It chronicles their efforts, their motivations, and their engagement with gender dynamics, textual interpretation, and religious authority. The chapter then lays out the framework for the following chapters, including the sources and methods employed in the study and the complex landscape of secondary literature on domestic violence.Less
This introductory chapter provides an overview of American Muslim organizations working against domestic violence in Muslim communities. The central goal of these organizations is simple: the eradication of domestic violence, a scourge that affects too many individuals, families, and communities in the United States and all over the world. Their work, however, is complicated, ongoing, and challenging. This book is about the people who carry out anti-domestic violence work in Muslim communities in the United States. It chronicles their efforts, their motivations, and their engagement with gender dynamics, textual interpretation, and religious authority. The chapter then lays out the framework for the following chapters, including the sources and methods employed in the study and the complex landscape of secondary literature on domestic violence.
Lisa Krissoff Boehm
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781604732160
- eISBN:
- 9781604733501
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781604732160.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This chapter examines how African American women who moved to northern cities from the South during the Second Great Migration circa 1940–1970 made the transition in and out of domestic work. It ...
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This chapter examines how African American women who moved to northern cities from the South during the Second Great Migration circa 1940–1970 made the transition in and out of domestic work. It looks at the process by which domestic workers met potential employers while on other jobs, their relationships with their employers, and what they thought of their employers. The chapter shows that many women migrants used domestic work to fill in between other, more sought-after employment opportunities and considers the skills they brought to their work. It also discusses the special bond that could form between domestic workers and the children of their employers, and how the workers valued their personal dignity in the face of challenges.Less
This chapter examines how African American women who moved to northern cities from the South during the Second Great Migration circa 1940–1970 made the transition in and out of domestic work. It looks at the process by which domestic workers met potential employers while on other jobs, their relationships with their employers, and what they thought of their employers. The chapter shows that many women migrants used domestic work to fill in between other, more sought-after employment opportunities and considers the skills they brought to their work. It also discusses the special bond that could form between domestic workers and the children of their employers, and how the workers valued their personal dignity in the face of challenges.
Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo and Ernestine Avila
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520225619
- eISBN:
- 9780520929869
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520225619.003.0015
- Subject:
- Sociology, Migration Studies (including Refugee Studies)
This chapter analyzes Latina transnational mothers who are currently employed in Los Angeles in paid domestic work, which is one of the most gendered and racialized occupations. It also studies how ...
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This chapter analyzes Latina transnational mothers who are currently employed in Los Angeles in paid domestic work, which is one of the most gendered and racialized occupations. It also studies how their definitions of motherhood change in relation to the structures of late 20th-century global capitalism. The chapter refers to literature on immigration and transnational frameworks, and looks at gendering transnational perspectives. The discussion introduces the concept of the “cult of domesticity.”Less
This chapter analyzes Latina transnational mothers who are currently employed in Los Angeles in paid domestic work, which is one of the most gendered and racialized occupations. It also studies how their definitions of motherhood change in relation to the structures of late 20th-century global capitalism. The chapter refers to literature on immigration and transnational frameworks, and looks at gendering transnational perspectives. The discussion introduces the concept of the “cult of domesticity.”
Adelle Blackett
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199693610
- eISBN:
- 9780191729744
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199693610.003.0026
- Subject:
- Law, Employment Law, Philosophy of Law
This chapter explores three ways in which the familiar boundaries of labour law may be reimagined to extend its animating idea beyond the industrialized market economy. It looks ‘before’ ...
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This chapter explores three ways in which the familiar boundaries of labour law may be reimagined to extend its animating idea beyond the industrialized market economy. It looks ‘before’ industrialization at one of the most abject historical examples of human commoditization, the triangular slave trade; it finds continuity rather than radical disjuncture between slavery and ‘free’ labour. It looks ‘beyond’ the traditional market economy, to recognize the market-enabling character of care labour within the home, emphasizing paid domestic work. And it looks ‘after’ the domestic market, to consider the implications of recognizing labour to be a factor of production in intensified global trade. It emphasizes labour law’s pluralism, rooted in workers’ resistance to the commoditization of their labour power. The chapter only hints at distributive justice consequences, but acknowledges that to emphasize emancipation in the idea of labour law is to espouse a transformative vision of the field.Less
This chapter explores three ways in which the familiar boundaries of labour law may be reimagined to extend its animating idea beyond the industrialized market economy. It looks ‘before’ industrialization at one of the most abject historical examples of human commoditization, the triangular slave trade; it finds continuity rather than radical disjuncture between slavery and ‘free’ labour. It looks ‘beyond’ the traditional market economy, to recognize the market-enabling character of care labour within the home, emphasizing paid domestic work. And it looks ‘after’ the domestic market, to consider the implications of recognizing labour to be a factor of production in intensified global trade. It emphasizes labour law’s pluralism, rooted in workers’ resistance to the commoditization of their labour power. The chapter only hints at distributive justice consequences, but acknowledges that to emphasize emancipation in the idea of labour law is to espouse a transformative vision of the field.
Erynn Masi de Casanova
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781501739453
- eISBN:
- 9781501739477
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501739453.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Economy
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 ...
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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.Less
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.
Samita Sen and Nilanjana Sengupta
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199461165
- eISBN:
- 9780199087006
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199461165.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Stratification, Inequality, and Mobility, Gender and Sexuality
The Introduction contextualizes the study in various strands of literature relating to the informal sector, work, and domesticity. It traverses the literature on women and work with a special focus ...
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The Introduction contextualizes the study in various strands of literature relating to the informal sector, work, and domesticity. It traverses the literature on women and work with a special focus on gender–class dimensions. It also outlines the importance of the space of the mistress and maid for an understanding of the relationship between gender and class. It looks at agency and representation to locate the different ways in which the ‘domestic servant’ has been represented in both in fiction and the academia. It discusses the history and emergence of paid domestic work in Europe as well as India. It looks at contemporary debates around care work and whether and how part-time paid domestic work can be understood in that context. It also situates paid domestic work in informal sector literature, indicating estimations of size and introducing public policy efforts.Less
The Introduction contextualizes the study in various strands of literature relating to the informal sector, work, and domesticity. It traverses the literature on women and work with a special focus on gender–class dimensions. It also outlines the importance of the space of the mistress and maid for an understanding of the relationship between gender and class. It looks at agency and representation to locate the different ways in which the ‘domestic servant’ has been represented in both in fiction and the academia. It discusses the history and emergence of paid domestic work in Europe as well as India. It looks at contemporary debates around care work and whether and how part-time paid domestic work can be understood in that context. It also situates paid domestic work in informal sector literature, indicating estimations of size and introducing public policy efforts.
Lotika Singha
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781529201468
- eISBN:
- 9781529201505
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781529201468.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
The outsourcing of domestic work in the UK has been steadily rising since the 1970s, but little research has considered the experiences of local White British women working as independent cleaning ...
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The outsourcing of domestic work in the UK has been steadily rising since the 1970s, but little research has considered the experiences of local White British women working as independent cleaning service-providers.Domestic work in India is increasingly researched but mostly with a regional focus. Through a nuanced cross-cultural analysis of outsourced domestic cleaning in a particular social context in the UK and India, this book provides a fresh perspective on domestic work: that outsourced domestic cleaning can be done as work (using mental and manual skills and labour) or as labour (understood as requiring mainly manual labour accompanied by ‘natural’ emotional/affective labour), depending on the work conditions. The book challenges feminist dogma and popular myths about housework.Less
The outsourcing of domestic work in the UK has been steadily rising since the 1970s, but little research has considered the experiences of local White British women working as independent cleaning service-providers.Domestic work in India is increasingly researched but mostly with a regional focus. Through a nuanced cross-cultural analysis of outsourced domestic cleaning in a particular social context in the UK and India, this book provides a fresh perspective on domestic work: that outsourced domestic cleaning can be done as work (using mental and manual skills and labour) or as labour (understood as requiring mainly manual labour accompanied by ‘natural’ emotional/affective labour), depending on the work conditions. The book challenges feminist dogma and popular myths about housework.
Ann Oakley
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781447346166
- eISBN:
- 9781447349402
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447346166.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
In this ground-breaking book, the author undertook one of the first serious sociological studies to examine women's work in the home. She interviewed 40 urban housewives and analysed their ...
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In this ground-breaking book, the author undertook one of the first serious sociological studies to examine women's work in the home. She interviewed 40 urban housewives and analysed their perceptions of housework, their feelings of monotony and fragmentation, the length of their working week, the importance of standards and routines, and their attitudes to different household tasks. Most women, irrespective of social class, were dissatisfied with housework — an important finding which contrasted with prevailing views. Importantly, too, the author showed how the neglect of research on domestic work was linked to the inbuilt sexism of sociology. This classic book challenged the hitherto neglect of housework as a topic worthy of study and paved the way for the sociological study of many more aspects of women's lives.Less
In this ground-breaking book, the author undertook one of the first serious sociological studies to examine women's work in the home. She interviewed 40 urban housewives and analysed their perceptions of housework, their feelings of monotony and fragmentation, the length of their working week, the importance of standards and routines, and their attitudes to different household tasks. Most women, irrespective of social class, were dissatisfied with housework — an important finding which contrasted with prevailing views. Importantly, too, the author showed how the neglect of research on domestic work was linked to the inbuilt sexism of sociology. This classic book challenged the hitherto neglect of housework as a topic worthy of study and paved the way for the sociological study of many more aspects of women's lives.
Sandra Fredman
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198714101
- eISBN:
- 9780191782657
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198714101.003.0021
- Subject:
- Law, Human Rights and Immigration, Employment Law
This chapter examines the International Labour Organization’s Convention No 189 concerning decent work for domestic workers (2011). It notes how the position of domestic workers within the employing ...
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This chapter examines the International Labour Organization’s Convention No 189 concerning decent work for domestic workers (2011). It notes how the position of domestic workers within the employing family defies the public–private divide, upon which labour law is traditionally premised, noting the particular difficulties faced by live-in domestic workers. Domestic work poses acute dilemmas for feminists. The chapter critically assesses the provisions of the ILO Convention, comparing it with other sources of regulation of domestic work, particularly those in South Africa and Brazil. It notes the important role in South Africa of the Domestic Workers and Allied Trade Union and the necessity of a campaigning political role, given union membership is extremely low.Less
This chapter examines the International Labour Organization’s Convention No 189 concerning decent work for domestic workers (2011). It notes how the position of domestic workers within the employing family defies the public–private divide, upon which labour law is traditionally premised, noting the particular difficulties faced by live-in domestic workers. Domestic work poses acute dilemmas for feminists. The chapter critically assesses the provisions of the ILO Convention, comparing it with other sources of regulation of domestic work, particularly those in South Africa and Brazil. It notes the important role in South Africa of the Domestic Workers and Allied Trade Union and the necessity of a campaigning political role, given union membership is extremely low.