The extreme and grotesque cases of domestic worker exploitation periodically make newspaper headlines: "Couple Held Two Servants Captive for Years, U.S. Says," "Ex-Teacher Maude Paulin Convicted of Forcing Slavery," "Diplomatic Immunity Leaves Abused Workers in Shadows."[1] The daily, commonplace devaluation and exploitation of domestic workers, however, is often unnoticed by many of us who have learned to accept the status quo. Imagine if your middle-class buddy suddenly faced termination without severance pay or unpaid holidays, vacation or sick days in her job. What if she worked 70-80 hours per week with pay below the minimum wage and without compensation for overtime? What does it mean that so little attention is paid to the fact that an entire sector of labor is structured in this draconian fashion? And what would our society do without the labor of the countless women, predominantly women of color, who, as our contributors note, make all other work possible?

Part 1 of this issue, entitled "Invisible Work," focuses on recent framings and representations of domestic work by scholars who push us to make the power dynamics in this sector of employment more visible, and who show the pervasiveness and depth of the problems related to care work and other types of domestic work worldwide. These scholars analyze the way we understand the sexual division of domestic labor, how race and nationality affect this work, the ways other sectors have positioned themselves in relation to domestic work, as well as representations of domestic work in recent documentaries.

The essay by Jennifer Klein and Eileen Boris gives us a glimpse into the mechanisms by which in-home care work was bracketed from worker protection legislation over the second half of the twentieth century. They provide a lens onto the path by which we ended up with so little protection for domestic workers. Saskia Sassen's essay presents a context where domestic work becomes more visible, as is the case in leading sectors within "global cities." She analyzes the growing inequalities that are becoming an essential part of "advanced economies," but also the ways in which global cities open up opportunities for marginalized sectors to organize and mobilize.

Sassen's contribution is followed by Arlie Russell Hochschild's work on the global trend to hire immigrant women for care work in the industrialized world and the deepening of inequality through what she and others have called the 'global care chain.' Hochschild notes that, "A typical global care chain might work something like this: an older daughter from a poor family in a Third World country cares for her siblings (the first link in the chain) while her mother works as a nanny caring for the children of a nanny migrating to a First World country (the second link) who, in turn, cares for the child of a family in a rich country (the final link)". Pei-Chia Lan's contribution gives us an example of the care chain that Hochschild analyzes in her piece. Lan looks at the changing dynamics in East Asia as wealthy families in countries such as Taiwan are increasingly reliant on immigrant labor for domestic work as a way to push women into the workforce. She argues that 'guest worker' programs in these countries "have maintained the status of migrant workers as disposable labor and as transient residents," which further exploits these women.

Wendy Kozol's review essay looks at six recent documentaries on domestic workers across the globe, which "make visible both the ideological and structural forces that maintain domestic work as a poorly paid and undervalued racial, gendered, class-based and increasingly transnational labor practice." We close Part I with Christine Bose's writing, summarizing some of the work she has done over the past few decades on the undervaluation of both paid and unpaid domestic labor and their interconnections, as well as the beginnings of her forthcoming collaborative work on migration for marriage and its relation to the demand of reproductive and domestic labor.

The second part of this issue, "Working for Change," features documentation and analysis of some of the exemplary organizing work done by the National Domestic Workers Alliance and their allies. Some of the material stems from the Barnard Center for Research on Women's two-year project focusing on domestic workers and specifically working in collaboration with Domestic Workers United and the National Domestic Workers Alliance. BCRW has often undertaken projects related to women and work and work-life balance issues as a way to raise awareness about the various ways in which women's labor is systematically devalued in the U.S. and globally. This collaboration with NDWA has been one of our latest women and work-related projects. It includes the production of the film, Women and Work: Feminists in Solidarity with Domestic Workers, and culminates in the publication of this issue of S&F Online.

Ai-jen Poo, who leads the second part of this issue, provides a vivid example from her own life showing how the work of feeling interconnected is essential to humanity. Her poignant essay not only analyzes the essence of care work, but also focuses on the urgent campaign for a bill of rights in New York. Five moving testimonies by NDWA domestic workers and organizers follow, as they present their insights during a public event at Barnard College. They not only detail their extensive experiences as domestic workers, but also discuss how they conceptualize the origins of their marginalized status. They detail the way both domestic work and farm work were excluded from the legal concept of 'labor,' largely because this work had been associated historically with work of slaves and immigrants. Leah Obias, an organizer with DAMAYAN Migrant Workers Association (a founding member of the NDWA), curated the slideshow on the front page of the issue, documenting NDWA's work since its inception in 2007. She also contributed a short essay detailing highlights of NDWA's organizing work and the history of this young and vibrant organization. Longtime community activist and scholar Premilla Nadasen's contribution concludes the textual analysis of NDWA's and Domestic Workers United's campaign work for a bill of rights in New York. She examines the various legal limitations in the U.S. over the last century that have made this work sector so vulnerable, and she comments on the stellar organizing work that she has witnessed and supported in New York through Domestic Workers United.

Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, a New York City based organization, has worked with Domestic Workers United since 2002 to obtain basic worker rights for domestic workers through their Shalom Bayit campaign. Joining DWU's marches and other actions, they have worked to raise awareness and to change policy in New York City and State. The four testimonies included in this issue, by Donna Schneiderman and her daughter, Gayle Kirshenbaum and Judith Trachtenberg, all employers of domestic workers, were read during vigils and other actions over the past few years. They provide helpful insights as to how employers can contribute to justice for domestic workers. As Gloria Steinem says in BCRW's video Women and Work, many women employers feel guilty about hiring domestic workers, when it is more helpful and productive to ensure that in hiring a domestic worker, one is creating a good job. And as the JFREJ campaign shows, employers can also contribute to advocacy for justice.

Part 2 also includes two videos produced by allies of Domestic Workers United. The first is a collaborative video by Domestic Workers United and Third World Newsreel that aims to introduce audiences to the organizing work done by DWU, as well as to raise awareness about the campaign to gain basic worker protection for domestic workers. The second short video, Women and Work: Feminists in Solidarity with Domestic Workers, directed and produced by BCRW, features a slew of feminists with whom BCRW has collaborated over the years, including Gloria Steinem, the Guerrilla Girls, Liz Abzug, Maria Hinojosa '84, Amy Richards '92, and many other prominent leaders who all make statements supporting the work done by the National Domestic Workers Alliance and Domestic Workers United.

We end this introduction with the inspirational words of Linda Abad, an organizer with DAMAYAN Migrant Workers Association and the moderator at the "Women and Work: Building Solidarity with America's Vulnerable Workers" event who eloquently states her organization's goals: "Let it be clear to all of us that the essence of our fight for the bill of rights is far beyond our labor rights. This is about the struggle of immigrant women workers in the U.S. against modern day slavery, against oppressive and exploitative systems of classism, racism and patriarchy. This is about reclaiming and recognizing the value of women's work. This is about women's emancipation and class liberation."

Endnotes

1. Paul Vitello, "Couple Held Two Servants Captive for Years, U.S. Says", New York Times 15 May 2007; Ground Report, "Ex-Teacher Maude Paulin Convicted of Forcing Slavery", 21 May 2008; Sarah Fitzpatrick, "Diplomatic Immunity Leaves Abused Workers in Shadows", Washington Post 20 September 2009. [Return to text]