I attended the GWRC session about domestic workers in the United States (specifically California.) The panel consisted of four women: three who work for non-profit organizations pertaining to issues of domestic workers' rights and one who is a scholar of Catholic social thought. The speakers presented about the issues that domestic workers, almost entirely women of color, face in an industry that is extremely unregulated and private. Many of these workers are overworked, underpaid, and frequently abused. They are often lured into the country under false pretenses and afraid to report any injustices because of the threat of deportation. One of the immigrant groups most impacted is Filipino workers, many of whom find jobs providing care for the elderly. Activist groups had tried twice to introduce a Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights into the California legislature, but have been denied.
The presentations did not focus on gender or often mention the sex of the workers, but the subject matter and domestic work itself is extremely gendered. The presentations reminded me of the conversations we have had in class about how undervalued "women's work" is, i.e. cooking, cleaning, and anything associated with being a housewife. The women that we heard about in these presentations work incredibly hard, working long hours in physically demanding jobs, but are underpaid and under-appreciated. The main idea behind the panel is the same as the concept we've discussed in class--in order to begin to fix this oppression and dismissal of domestic work, we must redefine it as real work.
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