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Paid domestic work is not recognised in my country, neither socially nor economically. This absence of recognition is experienced by thousands of women who do this type of work, and the valorisation that we receive – or lack thereof – is reflected in the terms used to describe our work.
The terms that are usually used for people doing paid domestic work are often pejorative. For example, ‘servidumbre’ (servitude), is a term that originated in feudalism and whose meaning doesn’t correspond to the notion of workers as subjects of law. Another term commonly used is ‘doméstica’ (domestic), which evokes the treatment of animals that are tamed to live in people’s homes.
