Domestic Worker Activism: Women of Colour as Household Employees

Small Victories, Big Support

Author: Leena Hussein, MI Candidate

Formal organizations became hubs for domestic workers, creating spaces where the women exchanged shared experiences and developed a set of boundaries for mutual resistance with their employers.1 One such group was the International Coalition to End Domestic Exploitation (INTERCEDE). Founded in Toronto in 1979, it was a volunteer-based organization comprised of foreign domestic workers and their allies.2 In 1981, INTERCEDE lobbied then Minister of Employment and Immigration Lloyd Axworthy with their recommendations in a written response to the Task Force on Immigration Practices and Procedures.3 Their highest priority was the right for temporary domestic workers to apply for permanent residency.4 INTERCEDE’s mass demonstration on November 22nd of that year led to Axworthy announcing the long-awaited policy changes.5

Solidarity of workers led to these victories for the rights of domestic workers in Canada through the 20th century. Domestic worker Eulene Boyce was quoted to have said: “we scrub the floors, we cook the meals, we raise the children—why aren’t we good enough to stay?”6 They found solidarity with one another, despite the hurdles and the grievances caused by the racist policies that surrounded their lives.

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Endnotes

  1. Rina Cohen, “Women of Color in White Households: Coping Strategies of Live-in Domestic Workers,” Qualitative Sociology 14, no. 2 (1991): 203. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00992194.
  2. Judith Ramirez, "INTERCEDE for the Rights of Domestic Workers, Caregivers, and Newcomers," Rise Up!, 2016, https://riseupfeministarchive.ca/activism/organizations/intercede-for-the-rights-of-domestic-workers-caregivers-and-newcomers.
  3. INTERCEDE, Response to the Task Force on Immigration Practices & Procedures Report “Domestic Workers on Employment Authorizations.” (Toronto: INTERCEDE, 1981). https://librarysearch.library.utoronto.ca/permalink/01UTORONTO_INST/14bjeso/alma991106593715706196.
  4. Judith Ramirez, “Domestic Workers Organize!,” Canadian Women Studies, 4 no. 2 (1982): 90. https://cws.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/cws/article/view/13906
  5. Charlotte Montgomery, "Nannies can Grow Up to be Canadian Citizens," The Globe and Mail, 1981 Nov 27, p. 16. http://myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fhistorical-newspapers%2Fnannies-can-grow-up-be-canadian-citizens%2Fdocview%2F1143265098%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D14771.
  6. Ramirez, “Domestic Workers Organize!”, 89.

 

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Additional Resources

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