Upper-class employers, domestic workers and pandemic
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21678/apuntes.95.1692Keywords:
Domestic employer, domestic worker, Covid-19 pandemic, upper-class, gender, PeruAbstract
This article analyzes the decisions about paid and unpaid domestic work made by upper- and professional-class women from Lima (married with children of legal age) who stopped employing domestic workers during the lockdown imposed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The research highlights a world of winners and losers: of employers who undertake housework with the help of family members, lower their cleaning standards, use latest-generation domestic appliances, or procure third-party services; and of domestic workers who are laid off, experience pay reductions, or stop receiving the corresponding benefits.
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References
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Brites, J. (2014). Domestic service, affection and inequality: Elements of subalternity. Women’s Studies International Forum, 46, 63–71.
Bourdieu, P. (2006). La distinción: criterios y bases sociales del gusto. Madrid: Taurus.
Chaney, E., & Garcia Castro, M. (Eds.). (1989). Muchachas No More: Household Workers in Latin America and the Caribbean. Filadelfia: Temple University Press.
Colen, S. (1989). "Just a Little Respect": West Indian Domestic Workers in New York City». En: Chaney, E., & Garcia Castro, M. (Eds.). Muchachas No More: Household Workers in Latin America and the Caribbean, (pp. 171-194). Filadelfia: Temple University Press.
Cutuli, R., & Pérez, I. (2011). Trabajo, género y desigualdad. El caso de las empleadas domésticas. Mar del Plata, 2010-2011. Recuperado de https://www.trabajo.gba.gov.ar/informacion/masse/2011/categoriaa/a_cutuli-perez.pdf.
Davis, S., & Greenstein T. (2013). Why Study Housework? Cleaning as a Window into Power in Couples. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 5(2), 63-71.
Gálvez, T., & Todaro R. (1989). Household for Pay in Chile: Not Just Another Job». En: Chaney, E., & Garcia Castro, M. (Eds.). Muchachas No More: Household Workers in Latin America and the Caribbean, (pp. 307-321). Filadelfia: Temple University Press.
Garavito, C. (2018). Demanda de trabajo del hogar remunerado en el Perú urbano. Economía, 41(82), 35-60.
Glaser, B., & Strauss, A. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory. Chicago: Aldine Press.
Goffman, E. (1956). The Nature of Deference and Demeanor. American Anthropologist, 58(3), 473–502.
Toledo, M. (2013). El papel de la confianza en los arreglos particulares del trabajo doméstico remunerado. Trayectorias, 15(36), 45-64.
Gorbán, D., & Tizziani, A. (2014). Inferiorization and deference: The construction of social hierarchies in the context of paid domestic labor. Women’s Studies International Forum, 46, 54–62.
Hondagneu-Sotelo, P. (2007). Doméstica: Immigrant workers cleaning and caring in the shadows of affluence. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática (INEI). (2019). Encuesta nacional de hogares sobre condiciones de vida y pobreza – 2018. Recuperado de https://webinei.inei.gob.pe/anda_inei/index.php/catalog/central/about.
Jokela, M. (2015). Macro-Level Determinants of Paid Domestic Labour Prevalence: A Cross-National Analysis of Seventy-Four Countries. Social Policy & Society, 14(3), 385-405.
Kuznesof, E. (1989). A History of Domestic Service in Spanish America, 1492-1980. En: Chaney, E., & Garcia Castro, M. (Eds.). Muchachas No More: Household Workers in Latin America and the Caribbean, (pp. 245-267). Filadelfia: Temple University Press.
Martí, A. & Poveda, M. (2009). El empleo de hogar: desigualdad y poder entre mujeres. Asparkía. Investigació Feminista, N° 20, 99-121.
Ministerio de Trabajo y Promoción del Empleo (MTPE). (2018) Informe Anual del Empleo – 2018. Recuperado de https://www.gob.pe/institucion/mtpe/informes-publicaciones/353779-informe-anual-del-empleo-2018
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Moras, A. (2016). "This Should be My Responsibility": Gender, Guilt, Privilege and Paid Domestic Work. Gender Issues, 34(1), 44-66.
Näre, L. (2014). Moral encounters: drawing boundaries of class, sexuality and migrancy in paid domestic work. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 37(2), 363-380.
Organización Internacional del Trabajo (OIT). (2021). Making decent work a reality for domestic workers: Progress and prospects ten years after the adoption of the Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189). Recuperado de https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/wcms_802551.pdf
Pereira de Melo, H. (1989). Feminist and Domestic Workers in Rio de Janeiro. En: Chaney, E., & Garcia Castro, M. (Eds.). Muchachas No More: Household Workers in Latin America and the Caribbean, (pp. 245-267). Filadelfia: Temple University Press.
Pérez, L., & Llanos, P. (2017). Vulnerable Women in a Thriving Country: An Analysis of Twenty-First-Century Domestic Workers in Peru and Recommendations for Future Research. Latin American Research Review, 52(4), 552-570.
Pérez, L. (2019). Low-income “Employers” and Adolescent Domestic Workers: A Gendered Chain of Precarity in Lima’s Informal Sector. LABOUR, Capital and Society, 49(2), 66-89.
Pérez, L., & Freier, L. (2020a). Family Bonds: Kinship Reciprocity, Female Teenage Trafficking and Domestic Labor Exploitation in Peru. Journal of Human Trafficking.
Pérez, L., & Gandolfi, A. (2020b). Vulnerable Women in a Pandemic: Paid Domestic Workers and COVID ‐19 in Peru. Bulletin of Latin American Research, 39(S1), 79-83.
Pérez, L. (2021). On her shoulders: unpacking domestic work, neo-kinship and social authoritarianism in Peru. Gender, Place & Culture, 28(1), 1-21.
Rollins, J. (1985). Between women: Domestics and their employers. Filadelfia: Temple University Press.
Romero, M. (2002). Maid in the U.S.A. Nueva York: Routledge.
Valdez, B. (2018). Revelando el secreto: relaciones de género entre empleadoras y trabajadoras del hogar cama adentro. Lima: Siete Ensayos Ediciones.
Worldmeters. (2021). COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic. Recuperado de https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/.
Brites, J. (2014). Domestic service, affection and inequality: Elements of subalternity. Women’s Studies International Forum, 46, 63–71.
Bourdieu, P. (2006). La distinción: criterios y bases sociales del gusto. Madrid: Taurus.
Chaney, E., & Garcia Castro, M. (Eds.). (1989). Muchachas No More: Household Workers in Latin America and the Caribbean. Filadelfia: Temple University Press.
Colen, S. (1989). "Just a Little Respect": West Indian Domestic Workers in New York City». En: Chaney, E., & Garcia Castro, M. (Eds.). Muchachas No More: Household Workers in Latin America and the Caribbean, (pp. 171-194). Filadelfia: Temple University Press.
Cutuli, R., & Pérez, I. (2011). Trabajo, género y desigualdad. El caso de las empleadas domésticas. Mar del Plata, 2010-2011. Recuperado de https://www.trabajo.gba.gov.ar/informacion/masse/2011/categoriaa/a_cutuli-perez.pdf.
Davis, S., & Greenstein T. (2013). Why Study Housework? Cleaning as a Window into Power in Couples. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 5(2), 63-71.
Gálvez, T., & Todaro R. (1989). Household for Pay in Chile: Not Just Another Job». En: Chaney, E., & Garcia Castro, M. (Eds.). Muchachas No More: Household Workers in Latin America and the Caribbean, (pp. 307-321). Filadelfia: Temple University Press.
Garavito, C. (2018). Demanda de trabajo del hogar remunerado en el Perú urbano. Economía, 41(82), 35-60.
Glaser, B., & Strauss, A. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory. Chicago: Aldine Press.
Goffman, E. (1956). The Nature of Deference and Demeanor. American Anthropologist, 58(3), 473–502.
Toledo, M. (2013). El papel de la confianza en los arreglos particulares del trabajo doméstico remunerado. Trayectorias, 15(36), 45-64.
Gorbán, D., & Tizziani, A. (2014). Inferiorization and deference: The construction of social hierarchies in the context of paid domestic labor. Women’s Studies International Forum, 46, 54–62.
Hondagneu-Sotelo, P. (2007). Doméstica: Immigrant workers cleaning and caring in the shadows of affluence. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática (INEI). (2019). Encuesta nacional de hogares sobre condiciones de vida y pobreza – 2018. Recuperado de https://webinei.inei.gob.pe/anda_inei/index.php/catalog/central/about.
Jokela, M. (2015). Macro-Level Determinants of Paid Domestic Labour Prevalence: A Cross-National Analysis of Seventy-Four Countries. Social Policy & Society, 14(3), 385-405.
Kuznesof, E. (1989). A History of Domestic Service in Spanish America, 1492-1980. En: Chaney, E., & Garcia Castro, M. (Eds.). Muchachas No More: Household Workers in Latin America and the Caribbean, (pp. 245-267). Filadelfia: Temple University Press.
Martí, A. & Poveda, M. (2009). El empleo de hogar: desigualdad y poder entre mujeres. Asparkía. Investigació Feminista, N° 20, 99-121.
Ministerio de Trabajo y Promoción del Empleo (MTPE). (2018) Informe Anual del Empleo – 2018. Recuperado de https://www.gob.pe/institucion/mtpe/informes-publicaciones/353779-informe-anual-del-empleo-2018
Moras, A. (2013). The Role of Maternalism in Contemporary Paid Domestic Work. Sociology Mind, 3(3), 248-256.
Moras, A. (2016). "This Should be My Responsibility": Gender, Guilt, Privilege and Paid Domestic Work. Gender Issues, 34(1), 44-66.
Näre, L. (2014). Moral encounters: drawing boundaries of class, sexuality and migrancy in paid domestic work. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 37(2), 363-380.
Organización Internacional del Trabajo (OIT). (2021). Making decent work a reality for domestic workers: Progress and prospects ten years after the adoption of the Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189). Recuperado de https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/wcms_802551.pdf
Pereira de Melo, H. (1989). Feminist and Domestic Workers in Rio de Janeiro. En: Chaney, E., & Garcia Castro, M. (Eds.). Muchachas No More: Household Workers in Latin America and the Caribbean, (pp. 245-267). Filadelfia: Temple University Press.
Pérez, L., & Llanos, P. (2017). Vulnerable Women in a Thriving Country: An Analysis of Twenty-First-Century Domestic Workers in Peru and Recommendations for Future Research. Latin American Research Review, 52(4), 552-570.
Pérez, L. (2019). Low-income “Employers” and Adolescent Domestic Workers: A Gendered Chain of Precarity in Lima’s Informal Sector. LABOUR, Capital and Society, 49(2), 66-89.
Pérez, L., & Freier, L. (2020a). Family Bonds: Kinship Reciprocity, Female Teenage Trafficking and Domestic Labor Exploitation in Peru. Journal of Human Trafficking.
Pérez, L., & Gandolfi, A. (2020b). Vulnerable Women in a Pandemic: Paid Domestic Workers and COVID ‐19 in Peru. Bulletin of Latin American Research, 39(S1), 79-83.
Pérez, L. (2021). On her shoulders: unpacking domestic work, neo-kinship and social authoritarianism in Peru. Gender, Place & Culture, 28(1), 1-21.
Rollins, J. (1985). Between women: Domestics and their employers. Filadelfia: Temple University Press.
Romero, M. (2002). Maid in the U.S.A. Nueva York: Routledge.
Valdez, B. (2018). Revelando el secreto: relaciones de género entre empleadoras y trabajadoras del hogar cama adentro. Lima: Siete Ensayos Ediciones.
Worldmeters. (2021). COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic. Recuperado de https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/.
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Published
2023-01-30
How to Cite
Kogan, L. (2023). Upper-class employers, domestic workers and pandemic. Apuntes. Social Sciences Journal, 50(95). https://doi.org/10.21678/apuntes.95.1692
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