Abstract

FURTADO, Odair; CARVALHO, Mônica Gurjão  and  SANTOS, Winnie Nascimento dos. Almost family: intersectional perspectives of domestic employment. Rev. psicol. polít. [online]. 2020, vol.20, n.48, pp. 355-369. ISSN 2175-1390.

In Brazil, domestic work employs 5.9 million women. 66% of Brazilian domestic women are black, live in ghettos and do not have labor protection. Domestic workers have historically been subjected to a number of exclusionary aspects such as low payment, illegal hiring, and gender and race discrimination. This article theoretically discusses articulations between gender, race and class present in domestic work. These subjetcs are understood from the concept of 'knot' that was proposed by Saffioti (2004) - which emphasized the interrelationship of the categories patriarchy-racism-capitalism - and from the intersectional perspective proposed by Lélia Gonzalez (2018) - which highlighted the relation of racism, patriarchalism, class oppressions and other discriminatory systems, recognizing these as markers of social inequality in Brazil. These concepts were used to reflect on the social devaluation of domestic workers. Through this article we intend to highlight the way how the meanings related to gender, class and race are articulated in the production of social asymmetries and in the subordination of domestic workers. That also contributes to the resistance to changes in legislation regarding domestic work.

Keywords : Domestic work; Gender-race-class; Patriarchy.

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