Good Reads

There is nothing intrinsically demeaning about domestic labor. The work is oppressive, or not, because of structural relationships of race, class, gender, and citizenship that are pervasive and predate the employer/employee exchange.

-Mary Romero, Maid in the USA

Mary Romero really is a trailblazer as it relates to scholarship on domestic labor. Romero began interviewing Chicana domestic workers in the Southwest in the early eighties. As a historian, I find her intellectual frameworks refreshing and useful for my own work on black women’s labor fifty years before Romero began doing this research.Maid in the USA is such a great combination of historical scholarship, ethnography, and a variety of theoretical frameworks. I highly recommend taking a look at the tenth anniversary edition. The introduction gives such great insight into the development of the discourse on domestic labor over time. Can’t wait to see what she has in store for the conference.

Don’t miss it! Register here: www.maidintheusa.eventbrite.com

 

Maid in the USA: A Conference on Domestic Labor and Organizing

It seems like everyone is talking about domestic workers lately, thanks, in part, to the 2011 film The Help, based on Kathryn Stockett’s 2009 bestselling novel. Everyone’s weighing in: scholars, critics, bloggers, actors, and every tv talking head from Oprah to Katie Couric.

If the current discourse is any indication, domestic work is a part of our mythological American past. And yet, at this very moment, there are at least 1.8 million domestic workers employed in American homes. Ninety-three percent of whom are women of color.

That’s over a million women with no right to organize (that’s right, its illegal), and no federally mandated minimum wage, overtime pay, or maximum hours. Employers of household workers are not required to provide a safe and healthy working environment.

I’m sure you’re familiar with the Civil Rights Act, right? Arguably the most important piece of legislation of the second half of the twentieth century. It prohibits employment discrimination based on race, religion, color, sex, or national origin. Well, it only applies to employers with 15 or more employees. In other words, it doesn’t apply to domestic workers.

So, how did we get here and where do we go?

Twenty years ago this year Mary Romero’s tackled this very question in her groundbreaking study of Chicana domestic workers in the Southwest, Maid in the USA. To commemorate Romero’s work and work of advocates and organizers around the country the Center for Migration and the Global City at Rutgers University Newark is gearing up for what proves to be a really exciting conference on the opportunities and challenges facing household workers in the United States today.

As a part of this dialogue between scholars, advocates, and organizers, we wanted to start the conversation here. Check back for regular updates about conference planning, where to register, profiles of some of our collaborators and people working on the ground to advocate for domestic workers’ rights, and more facts and figures that highlight the urgency of this significant issue.