When Maria Roa arrived in Medellin 10 years ago, her primary focus was to provide a better life for her three children. She took a job as a domestic worker, as many Afro-Colombian women do, but quickly realized the position was underpaid and overworked. Despite the nature of this physically and emotionally challenging work, domestic workers like Maria have been successful in their organizing efforts to form a new union, the Union of Domestic Service Workers (UTRASD), to combat workplace discrimination, improve benefits and establish job security.
What makes this story remarkable is that Maria and her sisters face not only a challenging job, but one of the most challenging organizing environments in the hemisphere. The most recent U.S. Department of State Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Colombia noted that “most serious human rights problems were impunity and an inefficient judiciary, corruption and societal discrimination,” particularly against indigenous persons and Afro-Colombians.
The report continued, “Other problems included extrajudicial killings, insubordinate military collaboration with members of illegal armed groups, forced disappearances, overcrowded and insecure prisons, harassment of human rights groups and activists, violence against women, trafficking in persons and illegal child labor.”