To Serve and Not to Be a Servant a Case for Domestic Workers

Abstract

The International Labour Organization estimates that there are 100 million domestic workers around the world. The majority of these domestic workers are women. Although they have an important presence around the world, domestic workers remained as a group of laborers with one of the worst exploitative working conditions. In fact, domestic work is associated more with slavery than to a formal profession that produces value which gives rise to a monetary compensation. Despite is lack of recognition, domestic workers are servers and not servants. In the words of Eliseo Orifece , in the movie La Vita è Bella, "You're serving. You're not a servant. Serving is a supreme art. God is the first servant. God serves men but he's not a servant to men ." The purpose of this research is to study the possible reasons behind the regnant nature of domestic service as one of the main sources of employment for women locally and as migrants. This problematic will be frame in the context of Colombia. At the same time, a global perspective will be constantly developed in order to evolve into a global solution. The solution is the notion that domestic work needs to be professionalized since it is able to absorb an important number of women into the labor market. The evidence that will be provided, strongly suggests that domestic work is a needed profession that will likely increase as more women enter the labor market. The rationality is that in a world where governmental care services are shrinking, and men have a narrow participation in housework, middle and upper-class women to enter the labor force have to rely on other women to transfer their care and housework responsibilities.