Why Mexico's Domestic Workers Deserve Better
Millions of Mexicans rely on domestic workers, mostly women, who are underpaid, lack benefits, and face discrimination. Legal protections exist but are rarely enforced. We need to see domestic work as valuable and fight for fair treatment of these essential workers.
They arrive before the roosters crow and leave after the last dishes are washed. They are the backbone of countless families, juggling childcare, cooking, cleaning, and sometimes even acting as confidantes. Yet, domestic workers in Mexico, predominantly women, toil in the shadows, their labor often undervalued and their rights unrecognized.
Ariana Rodríguez González, an academic at the National School of Social Work, paints a stark picture. Domestic work, she says, has been relegated to the realm of the invisible. Historically, these essential workers have been excluded and discriminated against. Society, she argues, views their tasks – caring for children, elders, and the home itself – as an inherent part of womanhood, something natural and undeserving of reward.
