The Context Surrounding SEDOAC – Race, Gender, and Class

Rather than focus on the history of Madrid while researching the context in which I am doing my research, I elected to focus on the history of domestic workers specifically throughout Spain. More importantly, why domestic workers are abused in Spain, and the roots that lead to the oppressions of domestic workers in Spain. The key roots of oppression for domestic workers in Spain are race and gender, leading to deep class divisions.

The first context for domestic workers in Spain is the issue of race. In the article “Colonialism and Development: A Comparative Analysis of Spanish and British Colonies,” Matthew Lange, James Mahoney, and Matthias Vom Hau explain the colonial structures that are specific to Spain, and how those structures have led to Spanish perceptions of race and class. As the authors explain, Spanish colonialism mostly centered around colonizing where pre-existing civilizations already existed, such as the Aztecs or the Inca. This made it easier to create exploitative systems, because hierarchical power structures were already in place from those civilizations. The hierarchical systems that were already in place were exploited by the Spanish colonizers. The effect of this was that indigenous labor was seen as cheap and exploitative by Spaniards from the start of Spanish colonization to the Americas. Racial categorization also became more widespread during Spanish colonization. For example, in Peru, the Spanish colonies used a “urity of blood doctrine,” giving Spanish born people the most elite status, and indigenous people, classified as “Indians” the lowest status. These colonial racial divisions laid the foundation for pervading racist ideals between Europeans and people of indigenous descent. These colonial divisions would later translate to racism in Spain against people of Latin American descent, especially immigrants, impacting domestic workers in particular.

The second key issue surrounding domestic workers in Spain is the issue of gender. In”The “Hidden Side” of the New Economy: On Transnational Migration, Domestic Work, and Unprecedented Intimacy,” Encarnación Gutierrez states that “in Spain, colonial legacies affect immigration,” and Latin American states have special agreement with Spain for immigration. This leads to many more Latin American immigrants of Latinx and African descent in Spain compared to other non-western or non-European countries. According to Laura Oso Casas in “Dominican Women, Heads of Households in Spain,” immigration from Latin American countries to Spain has grown exponentially. Casas shows that the number of foreign-born, Latina women in Spain has hugely increased from 1991. The most noticeable examples are Argentine women, whose population increased from 10,933 to 70,306 from 1991 to 2007, Dominican women, whose population increased from 2,370 to 38,558 in the same time period, and Colombian women, whose population increased from 52,355 from 147,612 2001 to 2007, just six years. This huge influx of Latina women combined with the fact that the country’s immigration rates are currently much higher than their emigration rates (last year 65,902 people legally immigrated to Spain while only 12,976 Spaniards emigrated out of the country) leads to a huge excess of foreign laborers in the country. Casas explains that the huge influx of female workers is partially happening in Spain due to “a demand for labor to fill unskilled and poorly paid jobs in the service sector.” The previously explored relationships between Spain and its former colonies provide an explanation for why the influx of immigrants would be largely Latin American, but does not explain why the influx of Latin American workers to Spain would be largely female.

To understand why there would be so many women immigrating to Spain, it is important to understand the shifts in migratory patterns that have led to more female migrants in general. In her article “Sexual Divisions of Labor in Export-Oriented Manufacturing Sectors: The Reconstruction of Gender and the Urbanization of Production in the Global South,”Analee Pepper discusses the first step of there being more female migrant workers: more female workers in the Global South. In this context, the Global South refers to non-core countries, meaning countries that were previously colonized, are part of the “Third World,” or are seen as less developed. In these countries, which include Latin America, there has been a huge increase in the demand for female labor. While Pepper does admit that there is “not one universal sexual division of labor,” she also explains that traditionally women have held more at home or caretaker roles. According to Pepper, Western owned firms have built more factories and other workplaces in the global south because these areas are easier to exploit due to more relaxed labor laws and lower, if they even exist at all, minimum wages.  Pepper explains that the intersection of poverty and gender often plays a large role in women working in the Global South, because women tend to be more likely exploited in these areas than men. The lack of protections towards these women often make them more attractive workers to firms from the Global North, because they provide the cheapest possible labor. Third world women being more attractive to hire as opposed to men set a precedent for them to work and make money for the family. This social precedent can be seen as the foundation for third world women to move to the Global North to be able to earn more money. In this case, it could be the foundation for Latin American women to move to Spain for work.

Once women from the Global South come to the Global North for work opportunities, they often find themselves thrust into specific roles and jobs that they are seen as fit to fill. David A. Cotter, Joan M. Hermsen, and Reeve Vanneman, authors of “Women’s Work and Working Women: The Demand for Female Labor,” explain that due to gendered roles and different gendered perceptions, the women often decide to move because they could find more work than a man could. The gender segregation within the workforce from the Global South lasts through the Global North, leading to “a gender specific demand for labor.” In “The Precarity of Feminisation: On Domestic Work, Heteronormativity and the Coloniality of Labour,” Encarnación Gutiérrez Rodríguez expands on the gendered demand for labor. Rodríguez agrees with previously mentioned authors, stating that women now are taking part in an the phenomenon of increasing female participation in the labor market. Domestic care and work are an example of a field that is known for being dominated by women, or as Rodríguez explains, is “perceived as women’s terrain.” Domestic care continues to be very feminized, and this stereotype leads immigrant women to become domestic workers.

The intersections of race and gender create a separate, lower class for immigrant domestic workers in Spain. From this context rose SEDOAC. SEDOAC is approaching ten years of aiding immigrant domestic workers in Spain, and because of all the stereotypes against domestic workers in Spain, it has not been an easy battle. In spite of the many laws aiding domestic workers in Spain (two examples of decrees relating to household workers and caretakers listed below), these laws are not enough, and many of them are not even enforced, especially for immigrant women. SEDOAC works within the intersectionalities of oppression in Spanish society, and works against these contexts in order to create change.

 

Pictured above: Women of SEDOAC meeting with the Comisión Europea in March of 2014 to advocate for Convenio 189 OIT, an agreement protecting domestic workers. Accessed: http://serviciodomesticoactivo.blogspot.com/2014/03/comision-europea-promueve-el-convenio.html

 

Decree for household workers; August 1985:

http://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-1985-17108

 

Decree for caretakers, September 5, 2003:

http://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-2003-17588

 

Works Cited:

Casas, Laura Oso. “Dominican Women, Heads of Households in Spain.” In Caribbean Migration to Western Europe and the United States: Essays on Incorporation, Identity, and Citizenship, edited by Cervantes-Rodríguez Margarita, Grosfoguel Ramón, and Mielants Eric, 208-31. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2009. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.library.nyu.edu/stable/j.ctt14btf7k.12.

Cotter, David A., Joan M. Hermsen, and Reeve Vanneman. “Women’s Work and Working Women: The Demand for Female Labor.” Gender and Society 15, no. 3 (2001): 429-52. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.library.nyu.edu/stable/3081892.

“International Migratory Balance.” Instituto Nacional Estadística. http://www.ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/en/operacion.htm?c=Estadistica_C&cid=1254736177000&menu=ultiDatos&idp=1254735573002 (accessed May 10, 2018).

Pepper, Analee. “Sexual Divisions of Labor in Export-Oriented Manufacturing Sectors: The Reconstruction of Gender and the Urbanization of Production in the Global South.” Consilience, no. 8 (2012): 142-52. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.library.nyu.edu/stable/26188721.

Rodríguez, Encarnación Gutiérrez. “The “Hidden Side” of the New Economy: On Transnational Migration, Domestic Work, and Unprecedented Intimacy.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 28, no. 3 (2007): 60-83. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.library.nyu.edu/stable/40071909.

Rodríguez, Encarnación Gutiérrez. “The Precarity of Feminisation: On Domestic Work, Heteronormativity and the Coloniality of Labour.” International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society 27, no. 2 (2014): 191-202. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.library.nyu.edu/stable/24713312.