Cleaning the home, more than a domestic affair

• April 25, 2024

The room tidy, the beds stretched, the clothes washed, the food ready and everything impeccable. After 12 hours of work Laura just wanted your payment. When she went to the door, the lady she worked for told her to take care of the children while she and her husband went out to dinner and that he would pay her back. There was no more, he needed the money and he had to stay.

Hidden in the privacy of the home, they often face abuses, exploitation, and violations of human rights. Women, children and indigenous people living in poverty and without access to education constitute the vast majority of domestic workers.

"They are vulnerable sectors. They are kept in situations of exploitation and marginalization that the economic and political system is interested in preserving, "says the UNAM scholar. Gloria Ramírez

It also consolidates a patriarchal, authoritarian and misogynistic structure that demands women justified as natural tasks when they are not.

Gloria Ramírez, coordinator of the UNESCO Chair on Human Rights , based in the Facultad of Political and Social Sciences of the UNAM , detailed that the individual guarantees are principles and faculties that we all have to guarantee our development as individuals and peoples. "They should be established in national and international regulations so that they can be demanded and work".

Data of the International Labor Organization They indicate that domestic employees are among the most exploited and mistreated in the world. Especially women and girls, although men are not excluded.

In Mexico there are women who serve a family for almost 24 hours, without work benefits and sometimes they are paid only with house and food. "It is what is called new slavery," explains the researcher.

Migrant domestic workers are even more vulnerable because of their legal insecurity, irregular migration makes them easy prey for violations of their human rights.

The president of the Mexican Academy of Human Rights also added that although there are domestic workers who earn more than a worker, they do not have benefits of law.

However, she acknowledged the emergence of domestic workers' organizations that have presented initiatives to the Mexican Congress to defend their rights and receive a dignified treatment.

Some specialists believe that these injustices occur because neither domestic workers nor employers know their rights and obligations. "Reforms to the Federal labor law to give recognition to the rights of the employees of the home and sanctions for their non-compliance. It is important to be aware of rights, but even more to act accordingly, "concludes Gloria Ramírez.

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