Ai-jen Poo: Domestic Workers and the Roots of Exclusion

Ai-jen Poo: Domestic Workers and the Roots of Exclusion

Ai-jen Poo: Domestic Workers and the Roots of Exclusion

Domestic workers, many of them women of color or undocumented immigrants, are one of the most vulnerable labor pools when it comes to workplace abuses and sexual violence.

Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky
Pocket
Email

 

Domestic workers, many of them women of color or undocumented immigrants, are one of the most vulnerable labor pools when it comes to workplace abuses and sexual violence. In this video produced by Francis Reynolds and Emily Douglas, activist and director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance Ai-jen Poo talks about some of the issues surrounding domestic workers. She points out that the exclusion of domestic workers—the dramatic undervaluing of their work, the lack of protection from sexual violence and discrimination—has its roots both in the legacy of slavery and in the devaluing of women’s work. "We don’t even recognize all that work that’s happening inside of homes to make the economy run," Poo says, because it is women who are doing and who have done this work.

Jin Zhao

Support The Nation’s June Fundraising Campaign

With the midterm elections now firmly upon us, the question is whether Democratic candidates will do more than merely occupy ballot lines as mild alternatives to the red-hot crisis that is Donald Trump.

As Trump spends over $1 billion a day on a globally destabilizing war on Iran and admits that he doesn’t “think about Americans’ financial situation,” millions across the country are struggling with the surging costs of essentials. Democrats must seize this moment and advance bold, small-“d” populist ideas—not settle for cynical caution that once again snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.

The Nation elevates progressive ideas, movements, and elected officials achieving real change across the country into the national conversation. At the same time, our journalists are exposing how crypto and AI-funded super PACs are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to knock out candidates they oppose, reporting on the devastating impact of the Supreme Court’s evisceration of the Voting Rights Act, and sounding the alarm on attempts by red states to quickly redraw electoral maps, disenfranchising Southern Black voters.

We can play this critical role because of support from readers like you. This June, we’re raising $20,000 to power The Nation’s independent journalism in the run-up to November’s immensely consequential elections.

It’s in our power to build a more just society, and your support at this critical moment brings us closer to that bold vision. I hope you’ll donate today.

Onward,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editor and Publisher, The Nation

Ad Policy
x