Latin America’s Domestic Workers’ Movements: Feminism from the Kitchen to the Congress

In Latin America, feminism is not only found in the streets but also in kitchens and living rooms. Domestic workers - mostly Afro-descendant and Indigenous women - have turned centuries of invisible labor into a movement for dignity, rights, and recognition. Their struggle expands feminism from the public square to the private home, redefining justice itself.

Introduction
Latin American feminism is often associated with massive street protests - millions marching in Buenos Aires or Mexico City against femicide and for reproductive rights. Yet another equally transformative feminist revolution has taken place in kitchens, living rooms, and backyards: the mobilization of domestic workers. These women — overwhelmingly Afro-descendant, Indigenous, and poor — have fought to transform conditions of exploitation into recognition, dignity, and rights.

The Historical Context
Domestic work has long been the backbone of Latin American households, yet historically it carried stigma, informality, and exclusion from labor protections.
In Brazil, until 2013, domestic workers were excluded from basic labor rights like overtime pay and unemployment insurance.
In Mexico, until 2019, most domestic workers had no social security.
Across the region, racial hierarchies relegated Indigenous and Black women to servitude, reproducing colonial inequalities in modern forms.

Organizing from the Margins
Despite fragmentation, domestic workers began to organize in the late 20th century:
+ Brazil: The National Federation of Domestic Workers (FENATRAD) led decades of lobbying, culminating in the 2013 constitutional amendment guaranteeing equal labor rights.
+ Bolivia: Domestic workers, many Indigenous Aymara and Quechua women, secured a landmark law in 2003 protecting their rights.
+ Mexico: Activists like Marcelina Bautista founded the first domestic workers’ union, linking labor justice with feminist and indigenous struggles.

Feminism Beyond the Middle Class
These movements challenged the perception that feminism is a middle-class, urban project. By centering race, class, and labor, they reframed feminism as a fight not only for bodily autonomy but also for economic justice. Domestic workers insisted that caring labor — cooking, cleaning, raising children — is not “natural” women’s work but exploited labor that sustains economies.

Cultural Shifts and Visibility
Beyond laws, these struggles shifted cultural perceptions. Films like Roma (2018), which depicted the life of an Indigenous domestic worker in Mexico, brought unprecedented visibility to this issue. Activists leveraged that cultural moment to push for social security inclusion, leading to Mexico’s 2019 Supreme Court ruling.

Challenges Ahead
Despite progress, challenges remain:
+ Informality persists; millions of domestic workers still lack contracts.
+ Migrant women face exploitation across borders, often excluded from protections.
+MPatriarchal and racist stereotypes continue to devalue their labor.

Conclusion
The story of Latin America’s domestic workers is a story of feminism from below: organized not in the halls of academia or urban NGOs, but in kitchens and neighborhoods. It reminds global feminism that liberation cannot be achieved without addressing labor, race, and class. In turning the private sphere into a political battleground, domestic workers expanded the definition of feminism — proving that justice must reach not only the streets and parliaments, but also the households where inequality begins.