Muchachas No More

Elsa M. Chaney is Chair of Women in International Development Program and Visiting Professor of Anthropology at the University of Iowa, Iowa City.

"This excellent compilation of 22 essays, several of which are written by domestic workers themselves, addresses a wide range of issues, including the challenge domestic service poses to feminism and the role of domestic workers in the union movement."-New Directions For Women "A number of pieces in the volume make major theoretical contributions to our understanding of the politics which surround household labor, many afford an insightful glimpse into the world view of domestics and several clarify the tensions in the feminist movement over the issue of domestic service. By covering a range of countries and engaging Latin American scholars in the their enterprise, the editors have constructed a volume that will have broad appeal."-Susan C. Bourque, Professor of Government, Director of the Project on Women and Social Change, Smith College "This is the most impressive collection of case material to date on this segment, approximately 20 percent of the female work force in Latin America. The 22 essays from academics and activists, North and South, range from issues of history, ideology, and feminism to discrete country and organizational cases and individual testimonies.... The work will have many applications both academic and practical."-World Development

• Introduction Part I: Domestic Service Yesterday 1. A History of Domestic Service in Spanish America, 1492-1980 Elizabeth Kuznesof 2. Domestic Service in Jamaica Since 1750 B.W. Higman 3. Servants and Masters in Rio de Janeiro: Perceptions of House and Street in the 1870s Sandra Lauderdale Graham Part II: Domestic Service Today 4. Domestic Workers in Buenos Aires Monica Gogna 5. What Is Bought and What Is Sold in Domestic Service? The Case of Bogota May Garcia Castro 6. Where is Maria Now? Former Domestic Workers in Peru Margo Lane Smith 7. Domestic Service in the Latin American Fotonovela Cornelia Butler Flora 8. Domestic Workers in the Caribbean Patricia Mohammed 9. "Just a Little Respect": West Indian Domestic Workers in New York City Shellee Colen Part III: Questions for Feminism 10. Household Workers in the Dominican Republic: A Question for the Feminist Movement Isis Duarte 11. Politics and Programs of Domestic Workers' Organizations in Mexico May Goldsmith 12. Feminists and Domestic Workers in Rio de Janeiro Hildete Pereira de Melo Part IV: Organization and the State 13. Organizations for Low-Income Women in Montevideo: Reenforcing Marginality? Suzana Prates 14. Household Workers in Peru: The Difficult Road to Organization Thea Schellekens and Anja van der Schoot 15. Housework for Pay in Chile: Not Just Another Job Thelma Galvez and Rosalba Todaro 16. Domestic Labor and Domestic Service in Colombia Magdalena Leon 17. Sharpening the Class Struggle: The Education of Domestic Workers in Cuba Elena Gil Izquierdo Part V: In Their Own Words 18. Domestic Workers in Rio de Janeiro: Their Struggle to Organize Anazir Maria de Oliveira and Odete Maria da Conceicao with Hildete Pereira de Melo 19. The History of Our Struggle SINTRASEDOM (National Union of Household Workers, Colombia) 20. The Autobiography of a Fighter (Peru) Adelinda Diaz de Uriarte 21. History of the Household Workers' Movement in Chile, 1926-1983 Aida Moreno Valenzuela 22. In Their Own Words compiled by Mary Garcia Castro 23. Domestic Service in Cross-Cultural Perspective: A Computerized Data Base Margo L. Smith