Disposable Domestics_cover_15.pdf 5/26/16 2:09 PM ªIllegal.º Un-American Disposable The “Since Grace Chang’s Disposable Domestics was first published sixteen years ago, it has not only become a major classic in feminist studies, but has helped to make transnational analyses of reproductive labor central to our understanding of race and gender in the twenty-first century.” —Angela Y Davis, author of Women, Race & Class C M Y CM MY CY CMY K Grace Chang is a writer and activist in struggles for migrant and women of color rights She teaches courses in social science research methods and ethics; women resisting violence; and grassroots, transnational, feminist social justice movements She is founding director of Women Of color Revolutionary Dialogues (word), a support group for women, queer, and trans people of color to build community through spoken word, political theater, music, dance, and film “Disposable Domestics is as timely and relevant now as when it was first written As debates rage over ‘immigration reform,’ Grace Chang exposes the outlandish myth that corporate interests or liberal Democrats stand against mass deportation and xenophobia Instead she reveals a long history of collusion between governments, the IMF and World Bank, big agriculture, and corporations, and private employers to create and maintain a super-exploited, low-wage, female labor force of caregivers and cleaners Structural adjustment policies force them to leave home; labor, welfare, and education policies deny them basic benefits and protections; employers deny them a living wage But as Chang also shows us, racism, misogyny, and neoliberalism have never succeeded in denying these women dignity, personhood, or power A decade and a half later, they are still here and still fighting.” — Robin D G Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination Disposable Domestics Immigrant Women Workers in the Global Economy “Grace Chang’s nuanced analysis of our immigration policy and the devastating consequences of global capitalism captures the experiences of poor immigrant women of color Disposable Domestics reveals how these women, servicing the economy as domestics, nannies, maids, and janitors, are vilified by politicians and the media.” — Mary Romero, author of Maid in the USA $17.95 www.haymarketbooks.org Women's Studies / Labor “America is nothing without its immigrant workforce Offices would not be cleaned, fruits would not be picked, children would not be loved Grace Chang’s classic Disposable Domestics brings alive the world of the immigrant workers and of the structures that rely upon them but that deny them dignity But more than anything, Disposable Domestics champions the immigrants themselves—their words, their politics, their leadership This is a book to throw at Donald Trump.” —Vijay Prashad, author of The Poorer Nations: The Possible History of the Global South “Grace Chang is a pioneer in the contemporary study of home care and domestic workers Disposable Domestics paints a compelling and textured picture of how immigration, race, gender, law, politics, and culture conspire to impoverish caregivers But just as importantly, it portrays caregivers as the heroes of their own story, not just as the victims of someone else’s Future readers will look back on Disposable Domestics as part of the essential liberation literature of our time.” — David Rolf, president of SEIU 775 Grace Chang “Grace Chang teaches us how to understand contemporary globalization Refusing to segregate people, places, or processes, Disposable Domestics reorganizes our capacity to think powerfully about the world in which the struggle for social justice is too often imperiled by certain kinds of partiality In other words, Chang’s classic compels us to see the contradictory motion of workers toward the goal of gathering varieties of motion into a movement.” — Ruth Wilson Gilmore, author of Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California Disposable Domestics prevailing image of migrants, particularly women of color, is that of a drain on “our” resources Grace Chang’s vital account of migrant women—frequently undocumented and disenfranchised, working as nannies, domestic workers, janitors, nursing aides, and home care workers—proves just the opposite These women perform our nation’s most crucial labor, yet are treated as the most exploitable and expendable in our economy and society Disposable Domestics highlights how immigrant women perform this critical work while leading some of the most important social justice movements of our time Grace Chang Forewords by Mimi Abramovitz and Ai-jen Poo, Afterword by Alicia Garza www.ebook3000.com Praise for the 2016 Edition “Disposable Domestics gives readers a 360-degree perspective on both the lives of immigrant women laborers and the macro and global forces that shape them When first published over fifteen years ago, the book was eye-opening Today, readers will see how Grace Chang’s work foretold the future about the indispensable role of women from the global South in the grinding machination of economic globalization; the evidence of their collective indispensability and individual ‘disposability’ is now all around and much more visible The power and durability of Disposable Domestics is due in large measure to Chang’s activist-scholar orientation and sensibilities, which generated descriptions that humanize the women and analysis that explains how they are dehumanized and exploited, and shows who benefits and how.” —Margo Okazawa-Rey, coeditor of Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspectives Praise for the 2000 Edition Disposable Domestics is a compelling book that is all too rare these days, combining academic research and theory, political conviction, and moral outrage —Kitty Calavita, University of California at Irvine With patience and clarity, Grace Chang shows us that the work of immigrant women is an indispensable feature of global capitalism Their blood and sweat has been rewarded only by increasing government regulation, domestic violence, and cultural commodification Feminists and labor organizers beware! Disposable Domestics names the hot-button social justice issue of this decade —Karin Aguilar-San Juan, editor of The State of Asian America In her illuminating book, Grace Chang shows us clearly how global capital and international policy are linked with domestic policy to trap immigrant women in their paradoxical position as the most valuable and the most vulnerable workers in the United States today, whether they are domestics and nannies in their homes, farmworkers who put www.ebook3000.com Disposable Domestics_text_5.indd 5/23/16 4:03 PM food on their tables, or factory workers who benefit both the US and their homeland economies Chang’s book exposes the hypocrisy, cruelty, and insanity of anti-immigrant policies and attitudes that persist toward those whose labor benefits others so much more than themselves Chang also offers an inspiring account of how immigrant women and immigrant advocates are organizing to fight for justice I hope everyone will read this important book —Elaine Kim, University of California at Berkeley Grace Chang makes an enormous contribution by showing how immigrant women workers facilitate the operation of the global economy These are histories at risk of invisibility —Saskia Sassen, author of Guests and Aliens Disposable Domestics shows the underbelly of the dot-com economic boom—that is, the women who toil behind the scenes as caretakers and factory workers for wages that keep them mired in poverty With great poignancy, Grace Chang traces how austerity programs imposed by the International Monetary Fund force poor women to emigrate to the United States, how they are vilified and exploited in their “host” country, and how they are fighting against tremendous odds to secure their basic rights It is an essential book for those trying to connect the dots between global economic policies and women’s labor —Medea Benjamin, founding director, Global Exchange Grace Chang presents an eye-opening and pathbreaking account of how so-called welfare reform in the United States, combined with racist anti-immigrant policies, has enabled Americans to take advantage of the labor of immigrant women Chang demolishes the myth that immigrant women are “welfare queens” and “baby machines.” In this book, she documents the essential role that immigrant women play in the US economy as workers who clean houses, offices, and hotel rooms and also take care of our elderly and children Disposable Domestics should be read by anyone wanting to understand the realities of how the US political and economic system is treating immigrant women at the beginning of the twenty-first century —Evelyn Nakano Glenn, University of California at Berkeley www.ebook3000.com Disposable Domestics_text_5.indd 5/23/16 4:03 PM DISPOSABLE DOMESTICS Immigrant Women Workers in the Global Economy Second Edition GRACE CHANG Forewords by Ai-Jen Poo and Mimi Abramovitz Afterword by Alicia Garza Haymarket Books Chicago, Illinois www.ebook3000.com Disposable Domestics_text_5.indd 5/23/16 4:03 PM Copyright © 2016 by Grace Chang First published by South End Press in 2000 This edition published in 2016 by Haymarket Books P.O Box 180165 Chicago, IL 60618 773-583-7884 www.haymarketbooks.org info@haymarketbooks.org ISBN: 978-1-60846-528-6 Trade distribution: In the US, Consortium Book Sales and Distribution, www.cbsd.com In Canada, Publishers Group Canada, www.pgcbooks.ca In the UK, Turnaround Publisher Services, www.turnaround-uk.com All other countries, Publishers Group Worldwide, www.pgw.com This book was published with the generous support of Lannan Foundation and Wallace Action Fund Cover art by Favianna Rodriguez, modified with permission Printed in Canada by union labor Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is available 10 www.ebook3000.com Disposable Domestics_text_5.indd 5/23/16 4:03 PM Contents Foreword to the 2016 Edition by Ai-jen Poo vii Foreword to the 2000 Edition by Mimi Abramovitz xi Preface to the 2016 Edition Introduction xxi 1 Breeding Ignorance, Breeding Hatred 21 Undocumented Latinas: The New Employable Mother 51 The Nanny Visa: The Bracero Program Revisited 87 Global Exchange: The World Bank, “Welfare Reform,” and the Trade in Migrant Women 115 Immigrants and Workfare Workers: Employable but “Not Employed” 145 Gatekeeping and Housekeeping 179 Afterword to the 2016 Edition by Alicia Garza 209 Acknowledgments 215 Index 221 www.ebook3000.com Disposable Domestics_text_5.indd 5/23/16 4:03 PM www.ebook3000.com Disposable Domestics_text_5.indd 5/23/16 4:03 PM Foreword to the 2016 Edition by Ai-jen Poo Myrla Baldanado is my heroine Her work as a caregiver has supported more than twenty elders to live independently, with dignity, in their own homes Originally from the Philippines, she lives and works in Chicago, and was proud to take on work as a caregiver She worked twenty-fourhour shifts, four days a week, lifting her clients in and out of bed, bathing, administering medicine, helping to physical therapy, plus cooking and cleaning around the home For this work, Myrla took home between $5 and $9 an hour And then what did she do? Because she’s also a parent, she sent some of that precious money to support her five children living back home in the Philippines who are in the care of relatives But with that expense, plus the cost of rent for the room she lives in, some weeks Myrla barely has any money left over On several occasions, she has gone for weeks eating nothing but hard-boiled eggs and bananas Domestic work—the work of caring for children, elders, and homes— is the work that makes all other work possible This simple truth has become the call to action for a global movement of women workers, organizing for dignity and respect The labor of women like Myrla has indeed served as the invisible infrastructure for today’s global economic system—essential and yet completely invisible, and yes, disposable In 1998, when I first began organizing with domestic workers in New York City, I quickly learned how difficult the work itself was, and also how often unbearable the working conditions are Myrla’s story is unfortunately quite common When I picked up the first edition of Disposable Domestics in 2000, Grace Chang provided the analysis of the global economy that I needed It made the role of the women who this work clear and visible in the context of our global economic system, and explained why it was made invisible by design vii www.ebook3000.com Disposable Domestics_text_5.indd 5/23/16 4:03 PM viii Today, sixteen years later, much of the analysis in this book is as timely and true as ever However, there are a few important updates The first and most important update is that Myrla and hundreds of thousands of women in more than two dozen cities and fifty-five countries around the world have ignited a powerful movement to bring dignity to domestic work and disrupt this global economic system that treats domestic workers and so many other low-wage workers as disposable The long history of exclusion from basic workers’ rights, an exclusion rooted in the legacy of slavery and the racial exclusion of Black workers, is finally beginning to transform as Black and immigrant women join hands throughout the nation and globally In recent years, our movement has won basic rights for domestic workers in six states, and passed the first global policy establishing minimum standards for domestic work, the International Labor Organization Convention 189, also known as the “Decent Work for Domestic Workers” Convention As this book goes to print, more than twenty countries have ratified the convention This organizing comes at an important moment of change in the US workforce and in our demographics Today, more and more of the workforce can identify with the conditions that characterize domestic work— low wages, high levels of vulnerability, isolation, lack of job security, lack of access to basic benefits and services, and lack of control over hours and schedule What was once considered a shadow part of our economy is increasingly the norm The other important update lies in our demographic changes Immigrant communities and Black communities in the United States are growing While criminalization continues to plague communities of color, and eleven million immigrants remain trapped in undocumented immigration status, these communities are changing the political landscape of our time Meanwhile, as a result of the baby boom generation reaching retirement age at a rate of ten thousand people per day, and extended longevity created by advances in health care, at least 20 percent of our population will be over the age of sixty-five by the year 2030 By the year 2050, twentyseven million of us will need care; we will be more reliant upon the labor of women like Myrla than we ever imagined This nation can no longer afford to treat women like Myrla as disposable As the second edition of Disposable Domestics goes to print, the global movement that Myrla is building will ensure that not only is the work www.ebook3000.com Disposable Domestics_text_5.indd 5/23/16 4:03 PM ix protected and valued for its true worth but that it is treated as completely indispensable Armed with the analysis in these pages, the women workers who are organizing for dignity as domestic workers, direct care workers, retail workers, restaurant workers, and nail salon workers will reshape the future of the global economy, such that no one is disposable In the words of Arundhati Roy, “Another world is not only possible, she is on her way On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.” www.ebook3000.com Disposable Domestics_text_5.indd 5/23/16 4:03 PM 5–6, 22; as nannies, 137, 138–39; single mothers in, 36 middle class, 34, 51–55, 63, 65, 76–77, 117; attitudes of, xvii–xviii Mies, Maria, 93 migrant children and youth, xxi–xxiii Milwaukee County Welfare Rights Organization, 45 minimum wage, 72, 73, 153, 160 Mink, Gwendolyn, Mobility of Labor and Capital, The (Sassen), “model minority” myth, 41–42, 43 Montana, Rosa, 190 Montero, Gloria Esperanza, 164–66 Moore, Stephen, 29 More Equal Than Others: Women and Men in Dual-Career Marriages (Herz), 159 Morgan, Jack W., 158 motherhood/mothers, 11, 12, 64; debate over, 73–77; diaper services and, 34; public assistance to children and, 65–73 Mothers’ Pension program, 65, 66, 71 Mujeres Unidas y Activas (), 53, 101, 188, 189, 190–91 multinational corporations, 94 Mulyono, Yuni, 157–58 Murdoch, Ben, 168 N Nakao, Annie, Nalven, Joe, 147 nannies, 51, 125–27, 157–58 nanny visa, 95, 100–2 Nash, June, 94 National Action Committee on the Status of Women (Canada), 134–35 Disposable Domestics_text_5.indd 229 229 National Council of La Raza, 148 National Domestic Workers Alliance, xxi National Immigration Forum, 6, 30, 201 National Immigration Law Center (), 57 National Labor Relations Board (), 91, 164 National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, 2, 32, 162, 163, 166–67 National Organization for Women (), 72, 134 nativism, 8, 193 neoliberal policies, impact of, xxvii New Deal, New York City, 151, 186 New York State, 146 Nilam, Lina, 157, 157 Non-Governmental Organizations () Forum on Women, 115, 116, 118, 133, 135 North American Free Trade Agreement (), Northern California Coalition for Immigrant Rights (), 164, 167 nurses, 120, 122–23 nursing home jobs, 105–8 Nursing Relief Act (1989), 102 nutrition, 105, 118, 120 O Obama, Barack deportations under, 210; DREAM Act, xxiv–xxv; expectations of, 209; policies of, xxii Olea, Maria, 21, 22 Operation Jobs, 186, 187 5/23/16 4:03 PM 230 Osdyke, Scott, 145–46 P Padavan, Frank, 104 Pathways to Independence program, 153–54 patriarchy, xiv, 8, 64, 69, 136 Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale (Mies), 94 Pearce, Diana, 72–73 pedagogy, feminist, xxvi–xxvii People Organized to Win Employment Rights (), 149, 151, 161, 168, 170, 188–89 Perez, Jonathan, xxiv, xxixn1, 188 Permanent Labor Certification Program, 100 permanent residency, 26, 75, 76, 100, 122 Personal Responsibility Act (), 6–7, 8, 31, 95 Pfaelzer, Judge, 6, 6, 197 Philippines, 102, 119, 140; abuse of workers and, 133–34; mass migration from, 120–21; nurses in, 122 Pioneer Fund, 32 Piven, Frances Fox, 64 Plyler v Doe case, 198–200 politicians, 21–22, 27 Poor Law, 66 population control, 31 Population-Environment Balance (), 32 populism, 23, 24 Portrait of Injustice ( report), 163 poverty, 3, 32, 33, 74, 199; federally defined level of, 75; increase of, 116 poverty policy, 64 Disposable Domestics_text_5.indd 230 prevailing wages, 99, 149–50 Prince, Ronald, 196 prison industrial complex, 168, 211 privacy, privatization, 15, 124 productivity, 92, 94, 186 Proposition 187, 1, 2, 7–8, 22, 34, 182; battered women and, 9; campaign, xxi; constitutionality of, 6–6; cost-benefit debate and, 30–31; effects of, 195–99; end of, 108, 196–97; guest workers and, 98–99; immigrants’ views of, 192; legislation based on, 104; limitation of state costs and, 95; nature and impact of, xvi; opposition to, 193–94, 200, 202; precursors to, 36; reproduction and, 11 See also California Proposition 209, 182 Proposition 227, 182, 190 public-charge ground of exclusion, 56–57, 63, 74–75 public housing, 6, 75 public opinion, 22, 27, 168, 171 public resources, 5, 43; access to, 34, 55; immigrant use of, 27–31; preserved for “native” Americans, 55; test for receiving benefits, 56 Q queer activists, xxiv–xxvi R race, 25, 34 Race and Class in the Southwest (Barrera), 95 Racial Oppression in America (Blauner), 94–95 5/23/16 4:03 PM racism, 8, 14, 136, 201; anti-black, 212; effect on immigrants, 191– 93; internalized, 170; motherhood and, 64; racial discrimination, 63; racial slurs, 195; reproduction of, 34–45; violent, 196 refugees, 34, 41 Regulating the Lives of Women: Social Welfare Policy from Colonial Times to the Present (Abramovitz), 64 Regulating the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare (Cloward and Piven), 64 Reinhold, Richard, 160–61 replenished agricultural workers (s), 98, 101 reproduction, 9, 11 resource depletion, 32, 33 retirement programs, 28 Riegos, Christina, 157, 189 Rivera, Libertad, 189–90 Rohrabacher, Dana, 202 Rolf, David, 183, 191–91 Romero, Mary, 158 Roosevelt, Theodore, xvii Rosca, Ninotchka, 123–24, 128 Rosenbaum, Stephen, 63 Roy, Arundhati, ix S safety bingo, 105–6 safety net, 148 Salinas de Gortari, Carlos, Sanchez, George, 92–93 San Francisco, 149–53, 168, 187 See also California San Mateo County Legal Aid (), 57 Sarvasy, Wendy, 71 Sassen, Saskia, 3, 136–37 Disposable Domestics_text_5.indd 231 231 Save Our State () initiative, 196 Senate Bill 1070 (SB 1070), Arizona, xxiii Service Employees International Union (SEIU), xxi Schacht, Mark, 99–100 Scheck, Barry, 138 Schiltgen, Thomas, 162 School of Social Welfare (UC Berkeley), 25 schools, 1, 93, 105, 200–1 See also education Schur, Amy, 167 Schwartz, Richard, 152 Segura, Denise, 72 Semtner, Sandra, 155 senior citizens, 191 Service Employees International Union (), 90, 91, 105, 136, 182, 183; health care workers and, 124–25, 130–31 See also unions service work, 11, 12, 25, 130–31, 149; channeling of immigrant women into, 15; diaper services and, 34; exploding demand for, 116; Zoë Baird controversy and, 51–54 sexual harassment, 62, 124, 128–29 sex workers, 116, 120, 120, 133–34 Sharry, Frank, 30, 201 Shenker, Lenore and Moshe, 88, 90, 91, 106 sick leave, 149, 163 Sierra Club, 31 Simon, Julian, 28–29 Smith, Thelma, 89 Snapp, David, 125 social reproduction, xv Social Security, 7, 66, 152 social services, 1, 2, 6, 194 5/23/16 4:03 PM 232 Solís, Rubén, Sontag, Deborah, 100 Southwest Workers’ Project, Spanish language, 22, 91 Sparr, Pamela, 118 special agricultural workers (s), 98, 101 Spencer, Glenn, 22 Stack, Carol, 72 state, the, 10, 12, 35, 40, 65, 103 stereotypes, 36 sterilization, 10, 11 Stern, Andy, 149 Stop Immigration Now, 196 Strassberger, Bill, 146 structural adjustment policies (s), xii, 14–15, 115, 127, 130; immigration motivated by, 132; imperialism and, 116; mobilization against, 135; profit maximization and, 140; women’s testimony about effects of, 118–20 student experiences, xxvi–xxviii Super Domestica (comic book), 178, 190 Supplementary Security Income (), 7, 59, 75, 125 Supreme Court, 198, 199 T Tagalog language, 88, 89–90 Taylor, Texas, xxiii taxes, 21, 28, 30–31, 43, 45 technology industry, 211 Tejada, Patricia, 53, 191–92 temporary agencies, 160–61 Temporary Aid to Needy Families ( ), 7, 75 temporary resident status, 55, 56 temporary work visas, xv Texas, 30, 37, 62, 146, 198–200 Disposable Domestics_text_5.indd 232 Third World, 2, 3, 32; dismantling of social services in, 14–15; labor organizing in, 120–20; power relations with First World, 139–40; productivity of poor women and, 94 Thompson, Sarah, 152–53 toxic waste, 25, 33 transportation, 147, 161 Tristan, Teresita, 128–29, 136 U Ui, Shiori, 35, 40 “undocumented and unafraid,” xxi– xxii, xxv Undocumented Workers Policy Research Project, 27 undocumented youth, xxiv unemployment, 40, 61, 64, 161, 186, 199 unemployment benefits, 28 Uníon Panamericana, 97 unions, 15, 124, 130–31; hotel industry and, 169, 184–85; immigrant women workers and, 183; membership figures, 182; nurses and, 102; retaliation against workers sympathetic to, 163, 164–65; undermined by workfare, 151; undocumented workers and, 202; workers’ ambivalent feelings about, 191 See also labor; Service Employees International Union; work United Domestic Workers (), 183 United Nations, 129, 137 United States, 2, 15, 55, 129; border with Mexico, 179; demographic changes, viii; Department of Homeland Security, 211–12; elite status dependent on immigration, 25–25; federal grant programs, 5/23/16 4:03 PM 29; Filipina nurses in, 122–23; population control and, 31–32; reserve army of labor in, 94–95; structural adjustment policies (s) in, 116–17; Third World immigration to, 3, 12, 14 University of California, Santa Barbara, xxvi–xxviii Unzueta, Tania, xxvi Urban Institute, 30, 31 V vacations, 149, 163 Van Buren, Esther, 87 Vance, Larry, 180 Vasquez, Maria “Cuca” del Refugio Gonzalez, 137, 138–39 Vietnam, 38, 39, 43 vigilante groups, 15, 180 Villarejo, Don, 99 Villasin, Felicita, 134–35 visas, 14, 35, 52, 130; Bracero program and, 98; Canadian, 129; Immigration Reform and Control Act and, 54, 56; nanny visa, 95, 100–2 vocational training, 93 Voices of Citizens Together, 22 voluntaristic immigration, xii–xiii voting, 45 W wages, 99, 120, 149–50, 153, 160 Walker-Moffat, Wendy, 25–26 welfare, 4, 6, 29, 33; denial of access to, 68; legal challenges to restrictions on, 69–71; myth of immigrant dependency, 27; two-tiered system, 45; welfare recipients given jobs vacated by “illegal aliens,” 155–48 Disposable Domestics_text_5.indd 233 233 welfare abuse, 6, 9, 13, 35, 38, 40 Welfare Mothers Speak Out (Milwaukee County Welfare Rights Organization), 45 “welfare queens,” 13, 42, 184, 193 welfare reform, 117, 118, 145, 183; Bill Clinton and, 154; earmarks of, xvi; impact of, 212–13; punitive aspects, xiii–xiv; racialized aspects, xviii; racial tensions and, 148 welfare-to-work programs See workfare Western civilization, 9, 22 When Work Disappears (Wilson), 184 white dominance, 9, 23, 25, 25, 31–32 White House Conference, 65 white households, attitudes of, xvii–xviii white women: dependent on reproductive labor of women of color, 64–73; exploitation of immigrant women and, 54; motherhood and, 69; nanny visas and, 100–102; working-class, 71 See also women; women of color white supremacy, appeals to, 212 Williams, Russ, 107 Williams, Steve, 149, 150–51, 170 Wilson, Pete, 4, 6, 26; “angry white male” and, 201; appointees of, 158; employment of undocumented maid, 107–8; health-care workers and, 131; Immigration Reform and Control Act () and, 98–99; Proposition 187 and, 197; welfare benefit cuts proposed by, 36 Wilson, William Julius, 184, 186 Wine, Keith, 161 5/23/16 4:03 PM 234 Women, Infants, and Children () aid, 75 women, 4, 6, 12, 30; class and racial divisions among, 8, 34, 72–73; as commodities, 15; “contributions to civilization,” 100; Mexican women’s fertility rates, 33; migration and settlement of prohibited, 10; as preferred labor source, 5; professional, 180–81; as seasonal workers, 116; structural adjustment policies in Third World and, 118–20, 132; undocumented, 62 See also white women; women of color women of color, 6, 9, 34; denied access to welfare, 68; as low-wage labor force, 55; sterilization of, 10, 11; as “unfit” nurturers, 64 Women of Color Resource Center, 135 Women’s Education in the Global Economy (d), 135–36 Wong, Sau-ling C., 156–57 Woodward, Louise, 137–40 work, 10, 41–42, 62, 67–69, 168–69 See also jobs; labor; unions work authorization, 59, 61, 71, 74, 76 Workers’ Voices Coalition, 118 Work Experience Program (), 151, 152 workfare, xiii–xiv, 15, 147, 149–52, 168, 169 World Bank, 115, 118, 129, 130 World Trade Organization (), 118 Z Zambrano, Marta, 57–58 Zambrano v INS case, 57–63, 70, 73–76 Zaragosa, Alma, 203–4 Zero Population Growth, 22 Y Yasuda, Cathleen, 102, 106–7 Yu, Michelle, 157–58 Yuson, Luisa, 89–90 Yzaguirre, Raul, 148 Disposable Domestics_text_5.indd 234 5/23/16 4:03 PM Disposable Domestics_text_5.indd 235 5/23/16 4:03 PM Disposable Domestics_text_5.indd 236 5/23/16 4:03 PM Disposable Domestics_text_5.indd 237 5/23/16 4:03 PM Disposable Domestics_text_5.indd 238 5/23/16 4:03 PM Disposable Domestics_text_5.indd 239 5/23/16 4:03 PM About the Contributors Mimi Abramovitz teaches social policy at Hunter School of Social Work and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York She is the author of Regulating the Lives of Women: Social Welfare Policy from Colonial Times to the Present and Under Attack, Fighting Back: Women and Welfare in the United States Alicia Garza is an organizer, writer, and freedom dreamer She is the special projects director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance, the nation’s leading voice for dignity and fairness for the millions of domestic workers in the United States She is also the co-creator of #BlackLivesMatter, an international organizing project focused on combatting anti-black statesanctioned violence She lives and works in Oakland, California Ai-jen Poo is the director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and the codirector of the Caring Across Generations campaign She is a 2014 MacArthur fellow and was named one of Time 100’s world’s most influential people in 2012 She is the author of The Age of Dignity: Preparing for the Elder Boom in a Changing America Follow her on Twitter @aijenpoo Disposable Domestics_text_5.indd 240 5/23/16 4:03 PM About Haymarket Books Haymarket Books is a nonprofit, progressive book distributor and publisher, a project of the Center for Economic Research and Social Change We believe that activists need to take ideas, history, and politics into the many struggles for social justice today Learning the lessons of past victories, as well as defeats, can arm a new generation of fighters for a better world As Karl Marx said, “The philosophers have merely interpreted the world; the point, however, is to change it.” We take inspiration and courage from our namesakes, the Haymarket Martyrs, who gave their lives fighting for a better world Their 1886 struggle for the eight-hour day, which gave us May Day, the international workers’ holiday, reminds workers around the world that ordinary people can organize and struggle for their own liberation These struggles continue today across the globe—struggles against oppression, exploitation, hunger, and poverty It was August Spies, one of the Martyrs targeted for being an immigrant and an anarchist, who predicted the battles being fought to this day “If you think that by hanging us you can stamp out the labor movement,” Spies told the judge, “then hang us Here you will tread upon a spark, but here, and there, and behind you, and in front of you, and everywhere, the flames will blaze up It is a subterranean fire You cannot put it out The ground is on fire upon which you stand.” We could not succeed in our publishing efforts without the generous financial support of our readers Many people contribute to our project through the Haymarket Sustainers program, where donors receive free books in return for their monetary support If you would like to be a part of this program, please contact us at info@haymarketbooks.org Shop our full catalog online at www.haymarketbooks.org or call 773-583-7884 Disposable Domestics_text_5.indd 241 5/23/16 4:03 PM Also Available from Haymarket Books Autoworkers Under the Gun: A Shop-Floor View of the End of the American Dream Gregg Shotwell A Short History of the U.S Working Class: From Colonial Times to the Twenty-First Century Paul Le Blanc Bananeras: Women Transforming the Banana Unions of Latin America By Dana Frank China on Strike : Narratives of Workers’ Resistance Edited by Hao Ren, English Edition edited by Zhongjin Li and Eli Friedman Building Global Labor Solidarity in a Time of Accelerating Globalization Edited by Kim Scipes Fields of Resistance: The Struggle of Florida’s Farmworkers for Justice Silvia Giagnoni In Solidarity: ssays on Working-Class Organization and Strategy in the United States Kim Moody Poor Workers’ Unions (Completely Revised and Updated Edition): Rebuilding Labor from Below By Vanessa Tait, Foreword by Bill Fletcher Jr and Cristina Tzintzún Rank and File: Personal Histories by Working-Class Organizers By Alice Lynd and Staughton Lynd Subterranean Fire: A History of Working-Class Radicalism in the United States Sharon Smith The Civil Wars in U.S Labor: Birth of a New Workers’ Movement or Death Throes of the Old? Steve Early Disposable Domestics_text_5.indd 242 5/23/16 4:03 PM Disposable Domestics_cover_15.pdf 5/26/16 2:09 PM ªIllegal.º Un-American Disposable The “Since Grace Chang’s Disposable Domestics was first published sixteen years ago, it has not only become a major classic in feminist studies, but has helped to make transnational analyses of reproductive labor central to our understanding of race and gender in the twenty-first century.” —Angela Y Davis, author of Women, Race & Class C M Y CM MY CY CMY K Grace Chang is a writer and activist in struggles for migrant and women of color rights She teaches courses in social science research methods and ethics; women resisting violence; and grassroots, transnational, feminist social justice movements She is founding director of Women Of color Revolutionary Dialogues (word), a support group for women, queer, and trans people of color to build community through spoken word, political theater, music, dance, and film “Disposable Domestics is as timely and relevant now as when it was first written As debates rage over ‘immigration reform,’ Grace Chang exposes the outlandish myth that corporate interests or liberal Democrats stand against mass deportation and xenophobia Instead she reveals a long history of collusion between governments, the IMF and World Bank, big agriculture, and corporations, and private employers to create and maintain a super-exploited, low-wage, female labor force of caregivers and cleaners Structural adjustment policies force them to leave home; labor, welfare, and education policies deny them basic benefits and protections; employers deny them a living wage But as Chang also shows us, racism, misogyny, and neoliberalism have never succeeded in denying these women dignity, personhood, or power A decade and a half later, they are still here and still fighting.” — Robin D G Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination Disposable Domestics Immigrant Women Workers in the Global Economy “Grace Chang’s nuanced analysis of our immigration policy and the devastating consequences of global capitalism captures the experiences of poor immigrant women of color Disposable Domestics reveals how these women, servicing the economy as domestics, nannies, maids, and janitors, are vilified by politicians and the media.” — Mary Romero, author of Maid in the USA $17.95 www.haymarketbooks.org Women's Studies / Labor “America is nothing without its immigrant workforce Offices would not be cleaned, fruits would not be picked, children would not be loved Grace Chang’s classic Disposable Domestics brings alive the world of the immigrant workers and of the structures that rely upon them but that deny them dignity But more than anything, Disposable Domestics champions the immigrants themselves—their words, their politics, their leadership This is a book to throw at Donald Trump.” —Vijay Prashad, author of The Poorer Nations: The Possible History of the Global South “Grace Chang is a pioneer in the contemporary study of home care and domestic workers Disposable Domestics paints a compelling and textured picture of how immigration, race, gender, law, politics, and culture conspire to impoverish caregivers But just as importantly, it portrays caregivers as the heroes of their own story, not just as the victims of someone else’s Future readers will look back on Disposable Domestics as part of the essential liberation literature of our time.” — David Rolf, president of SEIU 775 Grace Chang “Grace Chang teaches us how to understand contemporary globalization Refusing to segregate people, places, or processes, Disposable Domestics reorganizes our capacity to think powerfully about the world in which the struggle for social justice is too often imperiled by certain kinds of partiality In other words, Chang’s classic compels us to see the contradictory motion of workers toward the goal of gathering varieties of motion into a movement.” — Ruth Wilson Gilmore, author of Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California Disposable Domestics prevailing image of migrants, particularly women of color, is that of a drain on “our” resources Grace Chang’s vital account of migrant women—frequently undocumented and disenfranchised, working as nannies, domestic workers, janitors, nursing aides, and home care workers—proves just the opposite These women perform our nation’s most crucial labor, yet are treated as the most exploitable and expendable in our economy and society Disposable Domestics highlights how immigrant women perform this critical work while leading some of the most important social justice movements of our time Grace Chang Forewords by Mimi Abramovitz and Ai-jen Poo, Afterword by Alicia Garza ... regulate the lives of women in the increasingly global labor market In a series of fascinating, convincing, and easy-toread essays, Disposable Domestics also conveys Chang’s underlying message—that the. .. given the globalization of the economy and the growing number of immigrant women working for wages in the United States The analysis provided in this book is critical both for understanding the. .. years ago, the book was eye-opening Today, readers will see how Grace Chang’s work foretold the future about the indispensable role of women from the global South in the grinding machination of