Closing 2025 in Power and Unity
Dear domestic workers leaders and comrades,
2025 was a year of progress, change and consolidation for the IDWF. From union strengthening to consolidation of our internal structures and secretariat team to global engagement and advocacy wins on the ground. The domestic workers global movement has demonstrated resilience and power in every corner of the world.
We have completed another year together — a year of hard work and key wins for domestic workers globally and regionally. It has also been a difficult year, in which the historical challenges we face have been compounded by economic crises, the rise of anti-democratic regimes, and climate change crises that have deeply affected our members around the world. Yet our struggle has never stopped. Your commitment and resilience have strengthened the grassroots organizing of domestic workers, even in the most adverse contexts.
This year, we have made significant progress in advancing the rights and recognition of domestic workers across regions. At the global level, our movement has gained unprecedented visibility and representation: domestic workers now have a seat at the table in high-level discussions and multilateral spaces where policies and legal frameworks are shaped on domestic work, the care economy, migration, digital labor platforms, gender equality, gender-based violence and harassment, and human rights. The voices of our movement are represented clearly and loud: domestic workers are no longer invisible, no longer victims but advocates and drivers of change.
We have put our demands and priorities in key spaces such as the International Labour Conference (ILC), the sixty-ninth session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69), the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (which recognized care as a human right), the XVI Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Second World Summit for Social Development, the Asia-Pacific Social Forum, the launch of the ILO’s South4Care platform, the UN Women Care Conference, the Global Forum for Responsible Recruitment, and the Second Asia-Pacific Review of the Global Compact for Migration, among others. In all these spaces, our leaders took center stage, articulated the needs and the vision of the movement in compelling ways and achieved remarkable outcomes.
In the regions and at national level affiliates actively strengthened the movement through organising and membership recruitment drives, advocacy for policy and legal reforms, research, high level campaigns, and capacity-building activities. These included trainings on key thematic areas such as decent work for domestic workers, migration, care work, labour rights, leadership, gender equality, and protection against violence and harassment. Together, these efforts have helped to build stronger, more informed, and more consolidated domestic workers’ unions across regions.
This year has also been especially important for us because we brought our Theory of Change to life — the result of a collective process of reflection, visioning, and consultation with all our affiliates across the seven regions. Building on our long history of struggles and victories, building on our lessons and on the knowledge and wisdom that the movement has generated from the ground, now we have a roadmap to guide our action, grow stronger, and make decent work a reality for domestic workers in this new era of care.
Looking back, we can proudly say that we are now harvesting what we have been sowing for so long: rights, recognition, and dignity for domestic workers. We are no longer invisible, our almost hundred years of struggle is truly paying off. And none of this is possible without you: our leaders and domestic workers on the ground, who are the foundation of our collective power. With deep gratitude and warm solidarity, we send our heartfelt greetings to each and every one of you and of course to our dedicated teams in the regions and in the secretariat who work tirelessly to support you on the ground.
As domestic workers and care providers that care for the families of the world, this is your time to rest, to restore and to exercise your right to self care. We wish you a joyful holiday season and a Happy New Year.
A luta continua in 2026!
In solidarity,
The IDWF Executive Committee and General Secretary
