Domestic Worker Rights and Labor Dynamics in Latin America
Summary
Domestic work in Latin America remains a cornerstone of the region’s care economy, yet it is marked by enduring patterns of marginalisation and informality. Historically rooted in colonial hierarchies and racialised labour divisions, the sector employs predominantly women, migrants and Afro-descendant workers who often lack formal contracts, social security and collective bargaining rights. Despite progressive legislation in several countries and the ratification of international instruments, enforcement is uneven and many workers remain excluded from minimum wage protections, regulated working hours and occupational health standards. Urbanisation and internal migration have reshaped domestic labour markets, prompting new forms of spatial negotiation and social mobility even as precarious employment and social invisibility persist. Trade unions, grassroots organisations and feminist collectives have catalysed legal reforms and solidarity campaigns, advancing recognition of care work as legitimate labour and demanding the extension of social protection. The COVID-19 pandemic further exposed vulnerabilities, intensifying income loss, health risks and rights violations while also spurring innovative digital organising and transnational advocacy. Current debates emphasise intersectional approaches to gender, race and class, seeking to transform private-domain work into a site of social justice and sustainable development.
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Domestic Worker Rights and Labor Dynamics in Latin America publication trend
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Technical terms
Informal employment: Work performed without formal contracts, statutory benefits or social security coverage.
Precarity: A condition of unpredictable, insecure work with inadequate legal or social protections.
Care work: Labour involving the physical and emotional maintenance of others, often undervalued and gender-marked.
Labour mobility: The movements—geographical or social—that workers undertake in search of better employment or living conditions.
References
- Essential yet excluded: COVID‐19 and the decent work deficit among domestic workers in Brazil. International Labour Review (2024).
- Caring is resisting: Lessons from domestic workers' mobilizations during COVID‐19 in Latin America. Gender Work and Organization (2023).
- Atravesando la ciudad. La movilidad y experiencia subjetiva del espacio por las empleadas domsticas en Bogot. EURE (2019).
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