Jobs for Latina immigrants as domestic workers in the United States

Abstrakti

A Chinese saying affirms that women hold up half of the sky. It could be added that in many countries they perform about half of the paid labor as well, and do almost all of the housework, which is neither paid nor recognized as work but without which the rest of the economy could not function. In industrialized countries women’s growing labor force participation has brought with it – in addition to the double workday – a greater commodification of household chores, which were previously considered to be outside the realm of the market.

In the United States this commodification process has two distinct but complementary facets. One is technological, whereby the production and sale of a wide range of appliances and artifacts makes doing housework much easier whether it be performed by family members or employees.

There are machines to wash the dishes, wash the clothes and dry them – so that they hardly require any ironing – vacuum and shampoo the rugs, wax and polish the floors. There are special liquids to clean windows, others for removing dust from shelves and furniture, others for hard to clean spaces in the bathroom or the kitchen. Refrigerators and freezers make it possible to store food for considerable periods of time. There are kitchen gadgets designed to cut, chop, beat, blend, make bread, cook rice, etc. In other words, the market place offers an innumerable supply of objects, which are supposed to make washing, cooking, cleaning and all the other household chores easier. However, with or without any or all of these ”labor saving” devices, housework never ends.