Care is at the center of our lives from the moment we are born until we leave this world. Without care work—both paid and unpaid—societies would stop functioning. And domestic workers play an essential role in providing the care that we all depend on to maintain our homes and ensure the well-being of our families.
However, care work remains invisible. It is often not regarded as work at all, but rather as an extension of the unpaid caregiving historically assigned to women. And even when it is recognized as work, it is often seen as unskilled labor, naturally assigned to racialized, Indigenous, poor, migrant women from the Global South and other marginalized groups. This social and economic undervaluation of care work lies at the root of the precarious working conditions typically faced by paid domestic workers around the world.
Most of us have grown up taking care work for granted and filled with misconceptions about who should care for us and how. For decades, our movement has been fighting to change the way we understand care. Steven’s story demonstrates that domestic workers not only make all other work possible but also contribute to making our dreams come true. His testimony encourages us to envision a future where employers and societies at large value the essential role that caregiving occupies in our lives and dignify the domestic workers who care for us.
