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.”
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.
Samita Sen and Nilanjana Sengupta
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199461165
- eISBN:
- 9780199087006
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199461165.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Stratification, Inequality, and Mobility, Gender and Sexuality
‘Maids’ have become an inseparable part of the daily lives of ‘middle-class’ urban households in India. Despite the fact that increasing numbers of poor women are joining this profession, very little ...
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‘Maids’ have become an inseparable part of the daily lives of ‘middle-class’ urban households in India. Despite the fact that increasing numbers of poor women are joining this profession, very little has been written about them, especially the part-time domestic workers, each of whom services a number of households at a time. They are not accorded their rightful status as workers either by the employers, their own families, the government or the traditional trade unions. Isolated in the privacy of employers’ homes, the problem of recognizing their work or organizing them is the same one as for women isolated in their own homes. Another important reason is that most such women are rendered voiceless by their social location: unlettered; staying in ‘illegal’ settlements; migrants; working to survive; performing ‘feminine’ work, both paid and unpaid, and both devalued. This book is, therefore, about making the unheard heard. It draws from personal narratives of part-time women domestic workers residing in two slum settlements of Kolkata, who speak about their work, lives, dreams, and despairs. By moving between the workplace and the homes of the workers, this book makes a departure from general accounts of labour and instead talks about labouring lives. The book also discusses public policy and politics which have historically neglected this section of workers as well as the recent efforts to give them visibility and voice.Less
‘Maids’ have become an inseparable part of the daily lives of ‘middle-class’ urban households in India. Despite the fact that increasing numbers of poor women are joining this profession, very little has been written about them, especially the part-time domestic workers, each of whom services a number of households at a time. They are not accorded their rightful status as workers either by the employers, their own families, the government or the traditional trade unions. Isolated in the privacy of employers’ homes, the problem of recognizing their work or organizing them is the same one as for women isolated in their own homes. Another important reason is that most such women are rendered voiceless by their social location: unlettered; staying in ‘illegal’ settlements; migrants; working to survive; performing ‘feminine’ work, both paid and unpaid, and both devalued. This book is, therefore, about making the unheard heard. It draws from personal narratives of part-time women domestic workers residing in two slum settlements of Kolkata, who speak about their work, lives, dreams, and despairs. By moving between the workplace and the homes of the workers, this book makes a departure from general accounts of labour and instead talks about labouring lives. The book also discusses public policy and politics which have historically neglected this section of workers as well as the recent efforts to give them visibility and voice.
Lotika Singha
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781529201468
- eISBN:
- 9781529201505
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781529201468.003.0008
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
The final chapterreflects on the situatedness of the knowledge presented in this book and its relevance to the existing literature and the angst around outsourced cleaning. The implications of the ...
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The final chapterreflects on the situatedness of the knowledge presented in this book and its relevance to the existing literature and the angst around outsourced cleaning. The implications of the book’s argument for an inclusive, cross-cultural feminist theory of paid domestic work are summed up. The chapter then concludes that the unease around paid domestic work and the gaps in the research prevent recognition of the fact that the exploitation in this work is not fixed and stable, but contingent on certain societal assumptions of ourselves, others and work. The issue of concern for a scholar of gender and sociology is not just that some women are doing the demeaning work of/for other women but is also the classed and casteised evolution of the very meanings of work across cultural contexts.Less
The final chapterreflects on the situatedness of the knowledge presented in this book and its relevance to the existing literature and the angst around outsourced cleaning. The implications of the book’s argument for an inclusive, cross-cultural feminist theory of paid domestic work are summed up. The chapter then concludes that the unease around paid domestic work and the gaps in the research prevent recognition of the fact that the exploitation in this work is not fixed and stable, but contingent on certain societal assumptions of ourselves, others and work. The issue of concern for a scholar of gender and sociology is not just that some women are doing the demeaning work of/for other women but is also the classed and casteised evolution of the very meanings of work across cultural contexts.
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.
Lotika Singha
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781529201468
- eISBN:
- 9781529201505
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781529201468.003.0002
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
This chapter first elaborates on the research project informing this book. Next, based on descriptive analyses, the chapter situates the research samples in the broader social worlds from which they ...
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This chapter first elaborates on the research project informing this book. Next, based on descriptive analyses, the chapter situates the research samples in the broader social worlds from which they were drawn. The analyses provide early evidence in this book for the mediating effect of socioeconomic class on role of other axes of inequality in paid domestic work.Less
This chapter first elaborates on the research project informing this book. Next, based on descriptive analyses, the chapter situates the research samples in the broader social worlds from which they were drawn. The analyses provide early evidence in this book for the mediating effect of socioeconomic class on role of other axes of inequality in paid domestic work.
