Domestic Workers and the Care Economy

Domestic workers–that vast majority of whom are poor migrant, Afro-descent and indigenous women–have long worked in the shadows of the formal economy. Yet, innovative organizing and strategic alliance-building have decisively changed the policy landscape, extending labor rights and social protections to millions of domestic workers around the world who perform paid work in private homes. Domestic workers in Latin American and the Carribbean (LAC)–who comprise a regional workforce of approximately 19 million, the second largest concentration of household workers after Asia–lead the push for formalization with 18 countries ratifying the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 189 on Domestic Workers. Such victories are propelled by a vibrant history of independent unionism and regional coalitional solidarity led by domestic workers in the LAC region who have long demanded “nothing about us without us,” following the clarion call by South African disability activists. Meaningful implementation, however, remains a colossal challenge. Not only do domestic workers face an uphill battle in translating international policy norms into national regulatory frameworks, but they also confront the difficulties of enforcing formal labor protections for a workforce that has long been subject to the vestiges of racialized gendered servitude, both in law and in practice. In this paper, I discuss how the IDWF has waged nationally and regionally-coordinated campaigns such as #CareforThoseWhoCareForYou to expand the reach of protective measures to domestic workers regardless of their migration status or employment status, resulting in key campaign successes in Brazil, Chile, Panama, and the Dominican Republic.