Decoloniality and Emancipatory Intersectionality: The Political Organizing of Domestic Workers in Brazil

Abstract

Considering the public debate about expansion of domestic workers’ rights in Brazil, this chapter brings to the centre of the discussion the role of domestic workers’ political organizing. Based on interviews with domestic workers, this chapter seeks to understand the reasons behind the social inequality that has historically characterized this professional occupation. It is argued that the coloniality of power and the intersectionality among gender, class, and race are structural and dynamic factors capable of explaining this phenomenon. Furthermore, it is argued that domestic workers throughout history have articulated a social movement in dialogue with black, feminist, and unionized labour movements, as well as other social actors, and that this has allowed them to present a decolonial project. This dialogue and cooperation with such movements are termed emancipatory intersectionality. This chapter concludes by noting that in every legal step forward for this professional class, the organized political movement of domestic workers has been present.