The movement of domestic workers in the U.S. is in regard to the signing of the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. It was the first legislation of its kind in the country so its significance is unmeasurable as it began to protect the rights of domestic workers to receive overtime pay, protection from discrimination and harassment, one day of rest per week, and three days of paid leave per year. There were many initial struggles as women’s work in the home was never factored into the national labor statistics. The housework was considered (and still is) to be a women’s natural duty and a responsibility which devalued the amount of work they actually did. Even to this day, a lot of women carry out a second shift as they come home from work and carry out what is ‘expected’ of them. The makeup of the domestic workers at the time was 98 percent foreign-born which gave them little to no voice in our society, making them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. The issue of the domestic work is mostly in the setting of a private home, it was hard to enforce labor laws as the employer held most of the power since a lot of these women were the primary income earners and if they weren’t employed, it was themselves who suffered from insufficient income. The challenges to this movement were surrounded by the word ‘gender norms’ itself as it was hard to raise awareness on the issue of unfair working conditions and after trial and error in organizing, they were able to make personal connections to gain supporters.

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          The similarity of the domestic workers in the U.S. to the women farmworkers is that the work of women was all undervalued. Through the process of forming UFW, Helen Chávez took roles that were identified as traditional, taking care of things that were considered to be informal politics, which required a lot of time and dedication but yet behind the scenes. She was also considered to be an inspiration for many as other women found similarities with her as a housewife. The physically active and more public political acts were taken up by men involved in the union. However, what I found interesting was that Dolores Huerta was very well qualified for many higher up positions of the movement but yet she stood with men.

 

         The protest that took place in South Africa is different from the two movements above as this protest evolved around sex and sexuality. Women were thought to be subordinates or an additive to a man, as they could not get housing or other basic services if there was no man involved in their lives and the status of a woman was of their husbands. The structure of the society was sexualized as a contract for women and was expected to be dependent and vulnerable sexually to men who were in authority positions who were often accused to ask women for sex in return for housing. The protest being a naked protest was very powerful because of the tradition of African women, how they used nakedness as a signal of anger and used as a means to curse perpetrators for unacceptable behavior. I feel that the gender norms of women were completely crushed in this protest as they stood together naked and demanding what they want when the norms would expect them to be subordinated.