Domestica: Immigrant Workers Cleaning and Caring in the Shadows of Affluence (review)

Domestic work is undervalued as an occupation in our society, probably because it is seen as "women's work." As more and more families have both parents working outside the home, domestic work has become a growth industry in many U.S. metropolitan areas. For the most part, it employs an invisible and unregulated workforce of non English-speaking immigrant women.

Hondagneu-Sotelo gives us a rare insight into this industry in Domestica, through her interviews with Latina immigrant domestic workers and their employers in Los Angeles. The entry point for domestic employment is usually the live-in position, which provides childcare and usually housekeeping. This position is euphemistically called a "nanny" by many employers, but the work life of recent Latina immigrants is much more taxing than their American or European counterparts. Long hours, lack of privacy and freedom, low pay, and other less tangible attacks on dignity make live-in work the least desirable position in the domestic employment chain.

Given these working conditions, most workers look for live-out situations. Live-out childcare workers may face similar problems, but at least they can leave at the end of the day. Hondagneu-Sotelo documents that the next step "up," a live-out housecleaning job, offers better pay and is less fraught with emotional demands than caring for children. Many of these workers develop a circuit of houses so they can control their workload and clientele.

The author goes on to describe the lack of formality in the employer/employee relations for all domestic jobs. She notes that most middle-class women who hire domestic workers are uncomfortable with the employer designation and do not set up clear job descriptions, boundaries, or protocols. They do not want to appear as if they employ a servant, with all of the class connotations that relationship brings, but they are unwilling to assume the responsibilities that a true employer/employee relationship entails, including, of course, the willingness to follow existing employment law.

Hondagneu-Sotelo stresses that employers of domestic workers should be educated about their duties under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and pay overtime, FICA, and other taxes. Domestic employees have a right to know the expectations of the employer, to be treated with dignity, and to enjoy their right as workers to a living wage and benefits.

In Los Angeles, this is not just a dream--domestic workers have begun organizing. The Coalition of Human Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), Domestic Workers Association has successfully used community organizing to educate and empower domestic workers. There have been several court victories where employers have been forced to pay back wages. The fight for respect may take longer. As the author concludes: "While we can't legislate caring about employees, we can strive for public education and social acknowledgment that paid domestic work is work, that it is an integral part of how our society is organized today, and that the Latina immigrant women who do the work are people with their own families, communities and concerns."