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Female Firsts: Laudelina de Campos Melo · Stuff Mom Never Told You

0:05
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I'm welcome to Stephan.
0:07
Speaker 1: I never told you objection to I heart radio. And
0:18
Speaker 1: it's time for another female first, which means we are
0:21
Speaker 1: once again fortunate enough to be joined by our good friend,
0:25
Speaker 1: the wonderful, delightful, lovely Eve's welcome, Eve, and thanks for
0:31
Speaker 1: the welcome. It's getting longer and I love it. I
0:36
Speaker 1: wanted to keep adding I do think about it. I'm like,
0:39
Speaker 1: which words have I already used? I gotta mix it up.
0:43
Speaker 1: It's a good exercise for me. But they're all true,
0:46
Speaker 1: so it's obviously should be there, absolutely absolutely all true. Um.
0:51
Speaker 1: As always, we just had a really fun, slash kind
0:54
Speaker 1: of frustrating discussion before this about some really adult things
0:58
Speaker 1: that we're dealing with adults. But also we have had
1:04
Speaker 1: some travel going on and upcoming. Um So even I
1:08
Speaker 1: know you're getting ready to do some stuff, how are
1:10
Speaker 1: you feeling about it? I'm feeling good about it. Um.
1:13
Speaker 1: I feel excited at this point, not too stressed, because
1:18
Speaker 1: sometimes before I travel to places, I get this stress
1:21
Speaker 1: of like anticipated stress of being in a new place,
1:25
Speaker 1: like having to deal with different languages and navigating. And
1:30
Speaker 1: one thing I was thinking about earlier is like the
1:32
Speaker 1: pace so moving quickly, and that is one thing I'm
1:35
Speaker 1: glad about. What this trip is a little longer, so
1:37
Speaker 1: I know that I won't have to like be running
1:39
Speaker 1: from bus to bus or like be like walking around
1:44
Speaker 1: with my phone in my hand, like constantly trying to
1:46
Speaker 1: figure things out. I think I get a little bit
1:48
Speaker 1: of anxiety around the like constant being in a constant
1:51
Speaker 1: state of figuring things out, which can get so stressful. Um,
1:55
Speaker 1: So I feel calm about it right now. I am
1:58
Speaker 1: going to drink some tea today. I'm going to try
2:02
Speaker 1: to work out these kinks in my back. I was
2:04
Speaker 1: telling Samantha that I'm feeling really stiff today. So I
2:08
Speaker 1: think that like now I'm going to focus a little
2:10
Speaker 1: bit more now that now that all the adulting things
2:12
Speaker 1: we were talking about earlier that I have brought up
2:14
Speaker 1: frustration are kind of out of the way, I think
2:18
Speaker 1: that I'm going to be able to like focus on
2:19
Speaker 1: a little bit of physical peace for like I have
2:22
Speaker 1: to move into some more motion and jet lag and
2:26
Speaker 1: things that won't be so physically great. Yeah, I hope. So,
2:29
Speaker 1: I mean that's I agree with all the stuff you said,
2:32
Speaker 1: Like just thinking about long fights. My back just twinges
2:37
Speaker 1: like oh no, no, no, no no. And I'm definitely
2:39
Speaker 1: somebody who when I travel. I love traveling, but I
2:42
Speaker 1: do make it into like micromanaged. Here's the schedule, every
2:46
Speaker 1: second he's accounted for. So I hope that this can
2:50
Speaker 1: be a more relaxing experience for you. I'm glad you
2:55
Speaker 1: brought that up because I was just thinking about this,
2:57
Speaker 1: and I was just telling some other people that I'm
2:59
Speaker 1: in a group it about it about how I am
3:02
Speaker 1: a planner, and when I traveled earlier this year, I
3:05
Speaker 1: didn't plan much at all, and I was like, wow,
3:09
Speaker 1: it felt like a revelation. It's like, wow, I can
3:11
Speaker 1: actually do this. I am capable of it. I was
3:14
Speaker 1: I've told myself for so long that I know I'm
3:17
Speaker 1: gonna have a terrible time if I don't have plans
3:21
Speaker 1: for every day schedule things, um knowing that I like
3:24
Speaker 1: pay for something in advance or got to take it
3:26
Speaker 1: further thing in advance. And I let go a lot
3:29
Speaker 1: of that earlier this year, and now that I have
3:32
Speaker 1: a little bit more time to do so, like I
3:34
Speaker 1: have a whole week in a city where I don't
3:36
Speaker 1: have plans to do anything like if we want to
3:38
Speaker 1: go somewhere else, I'm down for taking a long train
3:41
Speaker 1: to get there, that kind of thing. So I am.
3:44
Speaker 1: I am excited about releasing, like surrendering to just whatever
3:49
Speaker 1: happens happens, rather than wrestling everything like into my grasp,
3:55
Speaker 1: wrangling it and trying to control it, like, which is
3:59
Speaker 1: something that I to do a lot. Yeah, I hate
4:02
Speaker 1: doing all of the planning. And he knows that we've
4:05
Speaker 1: done this together and I'm like, you do it. I
4:06
Speaker 1: don't want to think about it. These are my request
4:09
Speaker 1: in the story, um everything else. If I don't have
4:11
Speaker 1: an opinion, that means I don't have an opinion. I
4:13
Speaker 1: really don't care. I please don't make me decide. That's
4:17
Speaker 1: like my ideal vacation with one or two things that
4:20
Speaker 1: I know I definitely want to do. And the end
4:22
Speaker 1: of that is like, if anything else is asked, I'm
4:24
Speaker 1: just gonna like crumble into the floor because I don't
4:26
Speaker 1: want to. I don't want to get to melt into
4:28
Speaker 1: a pool of Samantha. You know, at least you know
4:34
Speaker 1: that about yourself because you want vacations are traveling to
4:37
Speaker 1: be an enjoyable experience where possible, and it is. It
4:42
Speaker 1: is funny to me sometimes because I am so like,
4:46
Speaker 1: we have to do all of this, So I've had
4:47
Speaker 1: to I've had to learn. I'm not as I haven't
4:50
Speaker 1: learned to let go or surrender as much as you ease.
4:53
Speaker 1: But I have had to learn that not everybody wants
4:55
Speaker 1: to be like we have to go here, here, here, here, here.
4:57
Speaker 1: We're getting up at two am, we're staying out until
5:00
Speaker 1: at night. Like. So it's good to know those things.
5:04
Speaker 1: But I do fall heavily on the side of maximizing
5:07
Speaker 1: your time when you're on vacation, Like I'm still not
5:10
Speaker 1: a lounger, and I don't know if I'll ever be
5:12
Speaker 1: a lounger. Like I like to make use of my time.
5:15
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that I want rest, but I came
5:18
Speaker 1: here to do like I can. I'm cool with the being,
5:21
Speaker 1: but like I can do that at home, I can
5:23
Speaker 1: be at home. It's a delicate balance. Um, I can't
5:29
Speaker 1: wait for you to report back in the next femail.
5:32
Speaker 1: First we have to see if how it worked out.
5:35
Speaker 1: Maybe I'm hoping that you know, I get some inspiration
5:38
Speaker 1: for who who the next person will be? Maybe yes, exciting, Yes,
5:43
Speaker 1: that is exciting. I do love that about traveling. Well,
5:48
Speaker 1: we will check back in on that. But before we
5:50
Speaker 1: do that, who did you bring for us to discuss today, Eves?
5:54
Speaker 1: So today we're gonna be talking about loud Elena. Is
5:56
Speaker 1: you campust mellow? So she founded the first union for
6:02
Speaker 1: domestic workers in Brazil and her story is super interesting.
6:09
Speaker 1: A lot of the resources on her are in Portuguese,
6:12
Speaker 1: so if you would like to do more research on her,
6:15
Speaker 1: it will definitely be helpful for you to know some
6:17
Speaker 1: Portuguese which I don't, which you're probably going to be
6:19
Speaker 1: able to tell by my pronunciations, but I'm gonna do
6:22
Speaker 1: on this. So we'll get into the history of domestic
6:26
Speaker 1: workers a little bit in addition to laud Alina's history herself,
6:30
Speaker 1: a little bit of the history of enslaved people in
6:33
Speaker 1: Brazil and history of labor in Brazil as well. In
6:39
Speaker 1: today's episode. Yes, and I'm really excited to talk about
6:42
Speaker 1: this one because it was hard to find resources for me,
6:47
Speaker 1: like in my very you know, basic, so I know
6:49
Speaker 1: kind of what you're talking about before we go in UM.
6:51
Speaker 1: But also we have talked about UM domestic work and
6:55
Speaker 1: women unionizing around domestic work on the show before and
6:58
Speaker 1: how important it is, and so oh, I'm eager to
7:01
Speaker 1: learn more about all of that. Yeah, that's a difficulty
7:05
Speaker 1: that we put up against a lot with these histories.
7:08
Speaker 1: But I'm glad that you know. It's like, it's still
7:10
Speaker 1: worthy talking about people even if you don't necessarily you
7:14
Speaker 1: can't dig in as deeply if you don't speak the
7:16
Speaker 1: native language of the person that you were talking about.
7:19
Speaker 1: But I really want to make sure that I continue
7:23
Speaker 1: focusing on those people even if they're not as easily accessible,
7:26
Speaker 1: because oftentimes that means that generally people who are just
7:30
Speaker 1: digging into some research or googling and things like that,
7:32
Speaker 1: it's a little bit harder for them to do the
7:36
Speaker 1: research and the work themselves. So I think it's nice
7:39
Speaker 1: to have an easy jumping off point for learning more
7:42
Speaker 1: about loud Alina. Yes, agreed, that is certainly something we've
7:46
Speaker 1: run up against. Two is we want to showcase people
7:50
Speaker 1: that might be harder in our kind of westernized google
7:53
Speaker 1: searches to get their information. Um, and it can be hard,
7:57
Speaker 1: but that doesn't mean they're not worthy of doing the
7:59
Speaker 1: extra diggae are being that jumping off point. Yeah, and
8:04
Speaker 1: also that the fact of the matter is that there
8:08
Speaker 1: are the research that we're doing. You know, these are
8:10
Speaker 1: people who know a lot about loud and Lena and
8:13
Speaker 1: have written about her themselves, and they are the ones
8:18
Speaker 1: who provide access to these materials. So just you know,
8:20
Speaker 1: acknowledging the fact that there are people who are multi
8:24
Speaker 1: lingual and are writing about loud Alina, and that some
8:27
Speaker 1: of these people can be resources as well. Yes, so
8:44
Speaker 1: shall we get to the history? Yep? So. Loud and
8:47
Speaker 1: Lena was born in October of nineteen o four. She
8:51
Speaker 1: was born in Postus Jucalogist in Mina Gerai, which is
8:55
Speaker 1: a state in southeast Brazil. Her mother was a domestic worker,
8:59
Speaker 1: so was already a history of domestic work in her family,
9:02
Speaker 1: which is not unusual because a lot of women were
9:05
Speaker 1: domestic workers and her father was a lumberjack. Her dad
9:09
Speaker 1: died when she was around twelve years old, and then
9:13
Speaker 1: her mom had to work in a hotel, and aloud
9:16
Speaker 1: of Lena had to bear a lot of the responsibility
9:18
Speaker 1: of taking care of her family. She had to care
9:20
Speaker 1: for her younger siblings. But in her younger year she
9:24
Speaker 1: was already interested in activism. When she was a teenager
9:29
Speaker 1: and she became president of an organization that promoted activities
9:34
Speaker 1: for black people, and she also worked as a domestic
9:38
Speaker 1: worker in the home of Julia Kobishek, whose son would
9:42
Speaker 1: later become President of Brazil, and then she moved to
9:45
Speaker 1: South Paulo with that family. She was involved in black organizations.
9:52
Speaker 1: Um she was referred to in a lot of the
9:54
Speaker 1: sources that I've seen as a militant, but and she
9:57
Speaker 1: wasn't involved in these organizations. In the state of salth Paolo.
10:01
Speaker 1: From around the time of nineteen twenty you'll see that
10:05
Speaker 1: she was affiliated with the Communist Party and she did
10:09
Speaker 1: get married. In nineteen twenty four. She married a man
10:12
Speaker 1: named and Hike Geramus, a Stonemason from Rio de Janeiro,
10:19
Speaker 1: and the two of them started to build a family.
10:22
Speaker 1: They moved to salth Paolo in nineteen thirty two. They
10:26
Speaker 1: had two children, although one died not long after she
10:29
Speaker 1: was born, and they moved to Santus and they stayed
10:33
Speaker 1: together for a minute, but she and her husband did
10:37
Speaker 1: later separate around nineteen thirty eight. So now that I've
10:43
Speaker 1: already mentioned that her mother was a domestic worker as well,
10:45
Speaker 1: and she was also in domestic work and So for
10:49
Speaker 1: a little bit of the background of domestic work in Brazil,
10:51
Speaker 1: it's obviously very complex. Um, Like you said, Annie, we've
10:56
Speaker 1: talked about domestic work before. In the history of it,
10:59
Speaker 1: it was something that wasn't limited to Brazil. It was
11:04
Speaker 1: active like domestic people who were advocating for domestic workers.
11:08
Speaker 1: That was something that was happening around the world around
11:11
Speaker 1: the same period as well, and there were people who
11:15
Speaker 1: were doing organizing work in the US and Uruguay and
11:19
Speaker 1: elsewhere in addition to Brazil. But domestic work in Brazil,
11:23
Speaker 1: as it is in so many places, is linked to
11:25
Speaker 1: issues of gender, race, and class, and in Brazil is
11:30
Speaker 1: also linked to the history of colonialism and slavery. So
11:34
Speaker 1: if y'all didn't know, the Portuguese colonized Brazil and the
11:39
Speaker 1: labor of enslaved indigenous people and Africans built up the
11:43
Speaker 1: economy of Brazil over the course of three hundred years.
11:45
Speaker 1: So just for everybody listening to like keep that in
11:48
Speaker 1: their mind, that is a longer conversation than we have
11:52
Speaker 1: time to have today. But the population in Brazil during
11:58
Speaker 1: the time of enslave meant they had a lot of
12:00
Speaker 1: enslaved people there. Um, they contributed hugely to the economy,
12:05
Speaker 1: and as was the case with domestic workers and so
12:07
Speaker 1: many other things, also to the social systems within Brazil
12:12
Speaker 1: and all of the things that were built up around it.
12:15
Speaker 1: So of course domestic work carried out by enslaved people
12:19
Speaker 1: played a huge role in shaping colonial Brazil. Um most
12:23
Speaker 1: of that domestic work was done by black women, and
12:26
Speaker 1: domestic work was kind of perceived as the typical or
12:30
Speaker 1: the natural sphere for black women. So it wasn't seen
12:34
Speaker 1: as work. It was more of a thing just like
12:37
Speaker 1: this is their place. You know, they're infurious, this is
12:39
Speaker 1: the thing that they were meant to do, and this
12:41
Speaker 1: is not considered professional work in any sort of official way.
12:46
Speaker 1: So scholars did note that this continuation of racism and
12:52
Speaker 1: discrimination after the colonial era, and they pointed to this
12:57
Speaker 1: idea of women moving from being enslaved servants to domestic workers.
13:03
Speaker 1: So there is in the scholarship that I've seen like
13:07
Speaker 1: this idea of a line from the time of enslavement
13:10
Speaker 1: to the work that women were doing as domestic workers.
13:13
Speaker 1: Even after the time of abolition. So many of these
13:18
Speaker 1: families in the country had full time living domestic workers.
13:23
Speaker 1: This was just a part of the system. This is
13:24
Speaker 1: how it was, and these domestic workers got room and
13:28
Speaker 1: board in exchange for their services and things like clothing
13:31
Speaker 1: as well. And this work gave many women away after
13:35
Speaker 1: the abolition of slavery in Brazil, So this was a
13:39
Speaker 1: thing and a feel that a lot of women were
13:42
Speaker 1: able to go into after, you know, the time of enslavement.
13:46
Speaker 1: And so as a result of all of these complexities
13:49
Speaker 1: and so many more, domestic work has been devalued in
13:53
Speaker 1: history and the people who perform it have been inadequately
13:58
Speaker 1: compensated or inadequately supported legally as well. So domestic work
14:05
Speaker 1: wasn't treated as quote unquote real work, and domestic workers
14:09
Speaker 1: were actively and intentionally excluded from labor laws um and
14:15
Speaker 1: they didn't have access to the basic labor rights like
14:18
Speaker 1: paid annual leave, a minimum wage. So even before loud
14:23
Speaker 1: Alina was in the pictures, so she is viewed and
14:27
Speaker 1: considered and is a pioneer of the domestic workers movement
14:36
Speaker 1: in Brazil. But even before she was in the picture
14:39
Speaker 1: and before abolition, there were domestic workers who did demand
14:42
Speaker 1: compensation for their work. And we're already actively advocating, even
14:46
Speaker 1: if it was in an individual way. For their own rights,
14:50
Speaker 1: for them to have better living and working conditions, which
14:53
Speaker 1: obviously with domestic work, those things are so tied together
14:56
Speaker 1: because they were living um so so often. So efforts
15:02
Speaker 1: began ramping up for workers rights in Brazil in the
15:07
Speaker 1: nineteen twenties and black women organized the Brazilian Black Front,
15:13
Speaker 1: So that was founded in Salth Paulo in nineteen thirty one,
15:17
Speaker 1: and it was an organization of a black people who
15:21
Speaker 1: advocated for the rights of black people in the country.
15:24
Speaker 1: It was also a political party and this organization and
15:28
Speaker 1: its idea spread around Brazil, had newspapers, it had a
15:32
Speaker 1: school and other things that were organized around it like
15:35
Speaker 1: a militia, and people in the organization advocated for the
15:39
Speaker 1: status of domestic workers. So you'll see um domestic work
15:43
Speaker 1: and the Brazilian Black Front and the things that they
15:46
Speaker 1: cared about kind of merging together. And this is where
15:49
Speaker 1: a loud Alina's first comes in. So in nineteen thirty six,
15:52
Speaker 1: that's when she founded the first union for domestic workers
15:55
Speaker 1: in Brazil, and that was in Sound too, and it
15:58
Speaker 1: was called the Professional Ciation of Domestic Workers. So in
16:03
Speaker 1: the paper by the sociology professor Joazzie bernaginea Costa. He
16:09
Speaker 1: said that in an interview with elizabetha Aparicida Pinto that
16:14
Speaker 1: she said that aloud Elina found it the Santo's Association
16:19
Speaker 1: to win the right to unionize domestic workers. The association
16:25
Speaker 1: organized a campaign that worked for domestic workers to live
16:29
Speaker 1: in their own homes um. They also stood by the
16:31
Speaker 1: principle that domestic workers were professionals, they weren't just part
16:36
Speaker 1: of the families of the people who employed them, and a.
16:40
Speaker 1: Loud Elina seemed to be particularly concerned with older workers
16:43
Speaker 1: who were getting too old or too sick to work
16:47
Speaker 1: with no access to social security or pensions. But at
16:53
Speaker 1: this point trade union still acted as private associations and
16:58
Speaker 1: they couldn't negotiate or get union dues. So this was
17:02
Speaker 1: around the same time that Getulio Vargas, who was President
17:06
Speaker 1: of Brazil at the time, took dictatorial power in nineteen
17:10
Speaker 1: thirty seven and he dissolved all political parties. That led
17:15
Speaker 1: to the dissolution of the Domestic Workers Professional Association as
17:20
Speaker 1: well as the Brazilian Black Front and other associations. So
17:25
Speaker 1: that was the context of what was happening that was
17:29
Speaker 1: very turbulent and political times at the time, but in
17:33
Speaker 1: ninety six, after Vargus was ousted, the association was re
17:38
Speaker 1: established with loud Alina as its president. So she lived
17:43
Speaker 1: in a campiness and she was involved in activism there
17:46
Speaker 1: from the nineteen fifties and onward. She was also active
17:51
Speaker 1: in the black movement and involved in Black Experimental Theater,
17:57
Speaker 1: which was a group that organized activities for black youth,
18:00
Speaker 1: and she organized other cultural events as well. So she
18:05
Speaker 1: continued to be active in organizing for domestic workers labor rights.
18:13
Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty one she founded the Compudis Union, which
18:17
Speaker 1: was called the Charitable Professional Association of Domestic Workers, and
18:22
Speaker 1: it supported things like literacy training and activities that could
18:27
Speaker 1: create communion and solidarity among domestic workers. She also to
18:35
Speaker 1: uplift the movement associated with the progressive portion of the
18:40
Speaker 1: Catholic Church to help improve conditions for domestic workers. So
18:47
Speaker 1: this is that's a um the background of the context
18:52
Speaker 1: that loud Alina was working in and how there was
18:55
Speaker 1: this overarching movement, So she wasn't the only one who
18:58
Speaker 1: was working UM for domestic workers issues in the country.
19:03
Speaker 1: There were especially over time as the ideas spread and
19:09
Speaker 1: as more people became aware of the work that her
19:12
Speaker 1: associations were doing, but also other associations who were fighting
19:16
Speaker 1: for labor laws. It picked up steam. So in nineteen
19:19
Speaker 1: seventy two, domestic labor law was enacted that meant that
19:24
Speaker 1: domestic workers were able to have their workers cars signed
19:28
Speaker 1: by employers, they got twenty days paid annual leave, and
19:33
Speaker 1: they were integrated into the social security scheme. And it
19:39
Speaker 1: took time, as it always does when we talk about
19:42
Speaker 1: these things, that it's not just a single moment that
19:46
Speaker 1: culminates in something large happening or some rights being one
19:51
Speaker 1: for the group that's fighting for them, but it's something
19:53
Speaker 1: that happens over time. Obviously, as we talked about earlier,
19:58
Speaker 1: like this is um a movement that started even before abolition,
20:03
Speaker 1: but that is continuing up until this moment, so all
20:06
Speaker 1: the work that loud Alina was doing was not isolated,
20:10
Speaker 1: and also just thinking about all the other communities around
20:12
Speaker 1: the world who were fighting for similar things. But over
20:16
Speaker 1: time they did begin to gain more rights. So in
20:20
Speaker 1: the Association of Domestic Workers that was in Companists became
20:23
Speaker 1: the Union of Domestic Workers, and it was because it
20:26
Speaker 1: was only at this point when domestic workers trade unions
20:30
Speaker 1: were legally recognized as such UM when the Constitution of
20:35
Speaker 1: Brazil was ratified. So the constitution did protect basic rights
20:40
Speaker 1: of domestic workers under the law, but it only granted
20:44
Speaker 1: them some of those basic rights that other workers already had.
20:49
Speaker 1: So it was one of those things where it's like
20:52
Speaker 1: we'll give you an inch, but not a mile. So
20:55
Speaker 1: they got minimum wage and wages couldn't be reduced unless
20:59
Speaker 1: through agree meant fraternity leave, maternally leave without bearing unemployment
21:04
Speaker 1: or salary, an annual bonus equal to one month's salary,
21:10
Speaker 1: and paid annual leave that was at least one they're
21:13
Speaker 1: higher than the normal salary. So those were some of
21:16
Speaker 1: the things that they gained under the constitution, but of
21:19
Speaker 1: course that had limitations like the right to collective bargaining,
21:23
Speaker 1: which is obviously super important in them being able to
21:27
Speaker 1: want some of the demands that they were putting upon people.
21:31
Speaker 1: And there were also no right to limited hours of work,
21:34
Speaker 1: which was a thing for for domestic workers because they
21:39
Speaker 1: worked all the time and they lived with the people
21:41
Speaker 1: who they were working for. But loud Alina's contributions UM
21:48
Speaker 1: and the work that she did and the organizings she
21:51
Speaker 1: did with her associations did contribute to some of those wins.
21:57
Speaker 1: She died in May and she allowed her legacy to
22:03
Speaker 1: live on actively took part in that by donating her
22:06
Speaker 1: home to the domestic workers movement, and it's still used
22:09
Speaker 1: as a union site and even today though domestic work
22:13
Speaker 1: is still a significant portion of what women workers in
22:18
Speaker 1: the country do, so the overwhelming majority of domestic workers
22:23
Speaker 1: in the country are women, most of them are black.
22:27
Speaker 1: Um they're poorly paid, oftentimes with little employment security, and
22:31
Speaker 1: many don't have access to labor rights because there's still
22:34
Speaker 1: some informality and some of the contracts that the domestic
22:37
Speaker 1: workers have. But they have since gained more recognition and
22:42
Speaker 1: more labor rights as professionals, even from that Constitution that
22:47
Speaker 1: we were talking about earlier. They've gained the right for
22:50
Speaker 1: collective bargaining, things like pay, legal holidays, the prohibition of
22:55
Speaker 1: domestic work for workers under eighteen, unemployment insured rents, over
23:01
Speaker 1: time pay, and limits on work hours, which is super important,
23:04
Speaker 1: and then protections in the case of dismissal without costs.
23:08
Speaker 1: So the amendments to the constitution have basically granted them
23:13
Speaker 1: all the same basic rights that other workers had, and
23:18
Speaker 1: that is obviously a part of what glaud of Lena
23:23
Speaker 1: herself was fighting for. But just be mindful that these
23:26
Speaker 1: are things that are continuing beyond the time of her death,
23:29
Speaker 1: which was a lot of these things were happening in
23:32
Speaker 1: the early two thousand's and into two thousand eighteen when
23:38
Speaker 1: some of these things were passed, and into today. So
23:42
Speaker 1: it's not something that has just ended and that you know,
23:45
Speaker 1: a lout of Lena did her work and when she
23:47
Speaker 1: was done, um, everything was great and fine and dandy.
23:52
Speaker 1: So but but her contributions did help a lot in
23:57
Speaker 1: the progress that was achieved and aiding domestic workers the
24:01
Speaker 1: labor rights that they do have today. Like we said,
24:18
Speaker 1: and like you said, this is domestic work is such
24:22
Speaker 1: a often such an undervalued thing and it's so much
24:26
Speaker 1: hard work, and it's so important and it does fall
24:29
Speaker 1: along these gender lines and race lines and class lines, um.
24:33
Speaker 1: And just to fight to get like equal rights for
24:37
Speaker 1: this job that has it's I am sad that people
24:42
Speaker 1: have to fight so hard and continue to fight so hard, um,
24:46
Speaker 1: but it is inspiring to see people in that fight
24:49
Speaker 1: that are like, no, this is important and we need
24:52
Speaker 1: to be recognized and we're not going to go away.
24:54
Speaker 1: So it's just a hugely important and ongoing conversation. Yes,
24:58
Speaker 1: I think it's a fascinating because obviously she was building
25:01
Speaker 1: a foundation for a lot of unions when it comes
25:05
Speaker 1: for unions for domestic workers, because we see that translated
25:08
Speaker 1: in different countries in the United States. We know that's
25:11
Speaker 1: even more recent with some of the big names that
25:13
Speaker 1: have popped up to bring back the issue because it's
25:17
Speaker 1: oftentimes so pushed down um in different policies, whether it's
25:21
Speaker 1: politically like just disbanding the organizations by doing a whole
25:25
Speaker 1: overarching thing or trying to discredit them within. We know
25:29
Speaker 1: that union busters happen for a reason and who profits
25:33
Speaker 1: off of that. But the fact that she started this organization,
25:36
Speaker 1: started the fight so long ago and it's still holding
25:39
Speaker 1: tight to the point that she donated her home for
25:43
Speaker 1: a base, that's pretty phenomenal. That's a whole conversation in
25:46
Speaker 1: itself is as what she stood for and how long
25:49
Speaker 1: her legacy stands still today, And I think that's an
25:53
Speaker 1: amazing testament. Unfortunately that it's still fighting is it's awful.
25:58
Speaker 1: Like there's so many things that you like, you have
26:01
Speaker 1: to look at the positive, but this negative too is
26:03
Speaker 1: like Wow, that must wear on people. And try to
26:06
Speaker 1: have this conversation, um, working as a nanny in general
26:10
Speaker 1: like that showing knowing that kind of in that field,
26:13
Speaker 1: how people use that position. It gets you as if
26:16
Speaker 1: you're not a professional and understanding to stand up for
26:19
Speaker 1: yourself in general feels like a feat being a woman
26:22
Speaker 1: being in a caretaking position. Uh. There's so many levels
26:27
Speaker 1: to trying to stand up for yourself and to fight
26:31
Speaker 1: for your own rights and just get paid what you're
26:33
Speaker 1: worth and being given the time to allow your own
26:37
Speaker 1: life and being able to actually maintain physically, emotionally, mentally
26:44
Speaker 1: in the field like that is so difficult, Uh, to
26:47
Speaker 1: set any boundaries. So for her to be able to
26:50
Speaker 1: come out with be like, I'm gonna not only going
26:52
Speaker 1: to do this for myself, but other people need to
26:54
Speaker 1: be able to do it for themselves as well. Yeah,
26:56
Speaker 1: that's a really good point, Samantha. Like the boundaries because
27:00
Speaker 1: literally the boundary of space and home does not exist
27:04
Speaker 1: when you live in with somebody. Um, And it is
27:06
Speaker 1: a it's a physical job, you know, it is a
27:10
Speaker 1: very physical job. And that's something important to remember that
27:12
Speaker 1: they're literally putting their bodies on the line. So when
27:16
Speaker 1: it is they're very actively fighting for bodily autonomy and
27:23
Speaker 1: rights related to the body when they're putting these demands forth.
27:26
Speaker 1: And also the other thing about it was that, of
27:29
Speaker 1: of course there's this entrenched history that is a strong
27:33
Speaker 1: undercurrent under the views of domestic work. How why people
27:37
Speaker 1: didn't view it or they or wasn't legally counted as
27:40
Speaker 1: a professional category, but also why general sentiment was a
27:46
Speaker 1: lot of the times that this is what they deserve.
27:49
Speaker 1: This is they deserve, you know, come from a time
27:51
Speaker 1: when they weren't compensated, and that was about right for people.
27:54
Speaker 1: That's what they considered to be part for the course
27:57
Speaker 1: and what they desire. And you'll see things like people
28:01
Speaker 1: sending loud alina letters about how I don't think what
28:04
Speaker 1: you're saying is it doesn't make any sense, like this
28:09
Speaker 1: doesn't you don't deserve these rights, But that that was
28:12
Speaker 1: also something that they were actively up against in law
28:16
Speaker 1: laws that specifically said that in plain and clear language
28:20
Speaker 1: that domestic workers should not and will not and do
28:24
Speaker 1: not have the right to collectively bargain and things like that.
28:28
Speaker 1: So that not to mention all of these political ups
28:33
Speaker 1: and downs and dictatorships and difficulties that they had to
28:37
Speaker 1: fight against that were larger, even if they weren't pointed
28:41
Speaker 1: towards them, that made it more difficult for them to
28:44
Speaker 1: get gains like actually being able to unionize and collectively bargains.
28:47
Speaker 1: So it's also nice to see that persistence over time,
28:54
Speaker 1: and even if we don't have a completely full picture
28:58
Speaker 1: of loud Alina's life and everything she was doing every
29:00
Speaker 1: single day of her life, that she always came back
29:03
Speaker 1: to her work for domestic workers, but also was able
29:07
Speaker 1: to translate all of the things that she cared about
29:11
Speaker 1: into other movements and this conjoining of different movements that
29:18
Speaker 1: worked out for the benefit of domestic workers. And she
29:23
Speaker 1: seemed to be the kind of person to who cared
29:25
Speaker 1: about literacy, she cared about education, and she cared about
29:29
Speaker 1: the elderly, and like what it meant for people to
29:32
Speaker 1: age within domestic work, and yeah, so many of those things.
29:37
Speaker 1: So yeah, I'm definitely grateful for her in her story. Yeah,
29:41
Speaker 1: as you were talking about how she did so many
29:43
Speaker 1: things within the community, all the things, I'm like, this
29:45
Speaker 1: is such an intersectional level of advocacy that she was
29:49
Speaker 1: already doing, and I think that's kind of that level
29:52
Speaker 1: of just knowing that she truly cared about others in
29:56
Speaker 1: the community. Again, maybe this is just me projecting, but
29:59
Speaker 1: that's why it seems as she continued to open up
30:02
Speaker 1: more projects too. I'm like, you did a what you
30:05
Speaker 1: did a theater? Just on top of your advocacy for unions.
30:09
Speaker 1: I'm like, what for domestic work. That's a whole different level.
30:12
Speaker 1: But that it seems like such a layered comment about
30:15
Speaker 1: who she was as an individual and knowing that what
30:18
Speaker 1: she wanted to do was better people's livelihoods beyond just
30:23
Speaker 1: her own workplace, a community type of things, like it
30:26
Speaker 1: needs to be an overall bigger thing and there needs
30:28
Speaker 1: to be a massive change. Here's how I'm going to
30:30
Speaker 1: do it individually. Yeah, and I think, I mean, this
30:33
Speaker 1: is a bigger conversation. But we see this all the
30:35
Speaker 1: time of these jobs that are essential to holding our
30:40
Speaker 1: community together that have been primarily dominated by women, and
30:43
Speaker 1: caretaking jobs in specific, and it's like weaponized against women,
30:47
Speaker 1: like but you care, right, so you don't we don't
30:50
Speaker 1: need to pay you because you're getting reward from like
30:53
Speaker 1: caring for people. And this whole idea of if you
30:57
Speaker 1: do care about something, it is hard to not do it,
31:01
Speaker 1: especially if like people's well being in livelihood is on
31:04
Speaker 1: the line, and for her to be like, we but
31:08
Speaker 1: we're people too, and we need to be compensated and
31:11
Speaker 1: recognized for the work we're doing. Um, Like, of course
31:14
Speaker 1: we care, but that doesn't mean we should get paid. Yeah,
31:17
Speaker 1: it's so frustrating to me. It's oftentimes weaponized, and we
31:20
Speaker 1: see it again today again for domestic workers, but also teachers,
31:24
Speaker 1: social workers. You're doing like I was told during I'm
31:28
Speaker 1: so selfish when I've come back to mind, but I'm like,
31:30
Speaker 1: this is what happened. I was in my industry as
31:32
Speaker 1: a social worker, asking if we're gonna get a five
31:34
Speaker 1: percent raise for our thirty five thousand dollar a year
31:38
Speaker 1: salary for working sixty hours a week, and he was like,
31:41
Speaker 1: your your raise. What you should be focused on is
31:44
Speaker 1: helping the kids. That's what you're doing. And if you're
31:46
Speaker 1: focusing on money, then you you should leave. And that
31:52
Speaker 1: was our main leader. But that's the common thing that
31:55
Speaker 1: happens oftentimes when we start questioning our value and say, wait,
31:58
Speaker 1: we're worth more, then people who are making the money
32:02
Speaker 1: aren't aren't doing this job. Start weaponizing your compassion and
32:06
Speaker 1: empathy and they're like, why are you wanting money? Don't
32:10
Speaker 1: you just steel fulfilled? And you're like, mm, well we
32:13
Speaker 1: need to eat, need to Yeah, but I do. I
32:21
Speaker 1: do love how so many times in these episodes, Uh,
32:25
Speaker 1: we do with you, Eaves where it ends with this
32:28
Speaker 1: kind of lasting legacy. It ends with I've done this
32:31
Speaker 1: work and I wanted to continue, like thinking of the
32:34
Speaker 1: next generation. I just think that is a beautiful thing
32:38
Speaker 1: to see. So yes, as always, thanks for bringing this story,
32:44
Speaker 1: happy to bring it. Yes, um, and we can't wait
32:46
Speaker 1: till next time. I hope your trip goes swimmingly. Yes. Um. Well,
32:54
Speaker 1: where can the good listeners find you? Y'all can find
32:57
Speaker 1: me on Instagram at not Aologizing, on Twitter at Eve
33:02
Speaker 1: steff co. And many other episodes of Stuff Mom Never
33:06
Speaker 1: Told You talking about female first in history, and or
33:11
Speaker 1: Eves jeff Cote dot com. Yeah, that's that's it, and
33:17
Speaker 1: definitely go check out all of those things if you
33:19
Speaker 1: somehow haven't already. Listeners, thank you again Eves for coming on.
33:24
Speaker 1: If you would like to contact us, you can our
33:26
Speaker 1: emails Stuff Media Mom Stuff at ihart media dot com.
33:28
Speaker 1: You can find us on Twitter at Mom Stuff Podcast
33:30
Speaker 1: or on Instagram and stuff I Never Told You. Thanks
33:32
Speaker 1: as always to our super producer Christina, thank you, and
33:35
Speaker 1: thanks to you for listening. Stuff Winder util you use
33:37
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33:39
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33:41
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