In Mexico, Domestic Workers' Story Is Rags to Rags Rosi Andrade - WeNews
go to original May 30, 2015

A young domestic worker. (ILO/J.Maillard)

Unlike in real life, telenovelas are promoting a prominent role for the female domestic worker in the predominantly middle class and wealthy families that employ her, a Cinderella story of sorts. But that is just a fairy tale.

Some groups in the country are trying to transform this though. Still in its infancy, Mexico's First National Encounter of Domestic Workers came together in Mexico City in December 2014. The convention was attended by hundreds of domestic workers representing organizations from Coahuila, Oaxaca, Colima, Puebla and Chiapas. The participants committed to develop a pact guaranteeing labor rights of domestic workers in Mexico in 2015, with the intent to push forward its ratification by the International Labor Organization, or Organización Internacional del Trabajo as it is titled in Spanish.

In 2011, the International Labor Organization convened in Geneva, setting articles and a preamble for Convention 189 (C189) - Domestic Workers Convention under the caption of decent work for domestic workers.

The struggles and accomplishments of protecting domestic workers globally are collected in a UN Women kit entitled "Domestic Workers Count Too: Implementing Protections for Domestic Workers." As an example, not far from Mexico, Bolivia's domestic workers have been organizing for decades and have been shown as an international example of the progress that can be achieved with administrative support of its government. A documentary produced by Organización Internacional del Trabajo in 2012 reflects the impact of the ratification of C189 on Bolivia's domestic workers.

It's time for the world to press for equality and civil rights for the most vulnerable. Female domestic workers have been treated as a commodity in Mexico and elsewhere in the world. While the rumblings of equality percolate in Mexico, perhaps the United States and other nations can press for the liberation from servitude of female domestic workers.

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