BCRW: The Barnard Center for Research on Women

Online Resources

ACLU: Trafficking and Exploitation of Migrant Domestic Workers by Diplomats and Staff of International Organizations in the United States
Here, the American Civil Liberties Union outlines exploitation and abuse experienced by domestic workers, particularly those employed by diplomats and international organizations.

Andolan: Organizing South Asian Workers
Andolan's website describes its many campaigns and victories, all of which serve to ensure legal equality and fair treatment for immigrant workers (especially South Asian immigrants) in the United States.

"Building Power in the City: Reflections on the Emergence of the Right to the City Alliance and the National Domestic Worker's Alliance"
This piece, written by Harmony Goldberg, details the development of the Right to the City Alliance and the National Domestic Workers Alliance in 2007.

Domestic Workers' Movement Building in the United States
This site provides the audio recording of a session at the 2008 Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) Forum focusing on the U.S. domestic workers movement. Organizers from the National Domestic Workers' Alliance describe their mission, goals, and plans for this movement.

Domestic Workers' Rights in the United States (PDF)
This report, prepared for the U.N. Human Rights Committee by a collective of individuals and organizations working for domestic workers' rights, describes the ways in which mistreatment of U.S. domestic workers violates international law.

Domestic Workers United: Resources
Domestic Workers United, an organization of Caribbean, Latina and African nannies, housekeepers, and elderly caregivers in New York, provides resources designed to ensure fair treatment of workers. Standard contracts and employment guidelines are provided for workers and employers.

Home Is Where the Work Is: Inside New York's Domestic Worker Industry (PDF)
This detailed report, published by Domestic Workers United and the DataCenter, provides a broad overview of the current state of domestic work (legally and practically) in New York, and additionally outlines recommendations for statewide legislation to improve working conditions.

Institute for Women's Policy Research: Publications (PDF)
IWPR has an extensive list of briefs, fact sheets, and reports about women and employment, particularly demonstrating the need for paid sick leave and equal pay for working families.

National Domestic Workers Alliance
The National Domestic Workers Alliance was founded at the U.S. Social Forum in 2007 to be a vehicle to build power nationally as a workforce. Through collaborative campaigning with local workers' rights organizations, NDWA supports domestic workers' rights in California, New York, nationally, and internationally.

POWER Women Worker's Project
POWER (People Organized to Win Employment Rights) works through its Women Worker's Project to ensure that all workers, regardless of gender, national origin, or industry, enjoy human rights and fair working conditions on local and national levels.

Shalom Bayit: Justice for Domestic Workers
Shalom Bayit is a campaign of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice to bring Jews into the struggle for dignity, respect and better working conditions for domestic workers. The campaign's website details JFREJ's involvement with Domestic Workers United and legislative movements for workers' rights, as well as ways that individual workers, employers, and organizers can get involved.

Unity Housecleaners Cooperative
The Workplace Project helped launch this cooperative of domestic workers on Long Island, and this site describes the cooperative's structure as well as its involvement in the campaign for the New York State Domestic Workers Bill of Rights.