What is Work? Rethinking the Formalisation of Domestic Work as the Pathway to Dignity
This event took place on Monday, November 13, 2023
In 2011, to much acclaim and after much activism by domestic worker organisations, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) passed a new and historic Domestic Workers Convention (no. 189) and a Domestic Workers Recommendation (no. 201), aimed at improving the conditions for domestic workers and recognising them as workers, a formal legal status that they had often been denied in national labour legislation. Two events were held on Monday, November 13th 2023 to evaluate the promises and impact of the convention on domestic workers’ everyday experiences and organising efforts.
Roundtable Discussion: Domestic Worker Organising in Latin America
The roundtable discussion featured a discussion of domestic worker organising in Latin American by four scholars: María Lis Baiocchi (CONICET/FLACSO, Argentina), Friederike Fleischer (Universidad de los Andes, Colombia), Brandon Hunter-Pazzara (Georgetown University, US), and Dario Valles (California State University, Long Beach, US), moderated by Erynn Masi de Casanova (University of Cincinnati, US).
Keynote Address: “Caring for Care Workers: Domestic Workers Organization and Resistance in Times of Crisis” by Jean François Mayer, Department of Political Science, Concordia University
This presentation focuses on the lived experiences of the women of the Union of Domestic Workers of the City of São Paulo (STDMSP) during and after the pandemic. The STDMSP adapted to the crisis by diversifying its capacities beyond its habitual advocacy-driven concerns, to emphasize service and solidarity provision. In particular, the everyday informal provision of care and psychological support by union activists to domestic workers allowed the STDMSP to retain relevance and increase its legitimacy, leading to a boom in membership. Far from remaining passive in the face of oppression, domestic workers also devised a series of hidden and open strategies to resist workplace violence. Overall, findings suggest that unions can play a key role in empowering and organizing domestic workers when offering care and solidarity provision –particularly psychological support—in addition to their usual advocacy services.
Supported by the Department of Political Science, Department of Sociology & Anthropology, the Institute of Political Economy, the Latin American and Caribbean Studies program, and the Faculty of Public Affairs at Carleton University as well as the Social Science and Humanities Research Council.
Changes in care: Aging, Migration and Social Class in West Africa
This event took place on November 1, 2023
Dr. Coe discussed her recent book on aging in Ghana with Dr. Mary Owusu and Dr. Rianne Mahon, as part of the Knowing Africa seminar series organised by the Institute of African Studies at Carleton University.