Domestica- Domestic Workers in the US

I recently read a book which I felt greatly related to the teachings of this Anthropology course. Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo is a professor of Sociology at the University of Southern California and the author of various books discussing gender, race and social justice. The book Domestica is referred to by critiques as a rare, thoughtful and path-breaking study in the hidden world of transnational care work, explaining the fundamental tensions between domestic employees and those who employ them. In her book, Hondagneu-Sotelo's argument is unique to those which propose an end to domestic employment. Instead, Hondagneu-Sotelo argues that the occupations in need of improvement.

Throughout her book the author sheds light on the cruel and unusual interactions that often take place between paid domestic workers and their employers. She explains the ways in which these workers are often over burdened and under paid. Despite the ways in which paid domestic work gives rise to many problems, Hondagneu-Sotelo stays dedicated to and optimistic about changes that could be made to improve the lives of so many Latina women employed in areas of domestic work in the United States.

Hondagneu-Sotelo does a wonderful job of providing her readers with plausible and grounded propositions for change. She discusses various possibilities including educating employers and preforming outreach to recruiting social networks, regulation employment, using courts to file for back wage claims and establishing collective organizations among domestic workers. Each approach that she discusses is not only possible through the help of outreach and of the community, but are to be established after only a short period of time, therefore avoiding subjecting these domestic workers to further oppression and sufferance.