Colombian Maids: work for room and board

Taken originally from the Blatter des Informations Zentrum Dritte Welt, Bern, Switzerland (May 1979), this piece is reproduced in ISIS in English translation from Second Class, Working Class, a women's international reader, published by the People's Translation Service, 4228 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, Ca. 94609, USA. See Resource listing for further details of this publication.

In Colombia in 1973 over half of all working women were employed in the service sector. Of these, three fourths are hired as domestics. They are called chicas de servicio or muchachas. Almost all of them come from the countryside. A few of them have been meeting regularly for half a year to put an end to the kind of treatment they suffer.

A women's movement, as we know it in the US, does not exist in Colombia. Women's organizations have formed within the various political parties — bourgeois and leftist — but rarely do specific woman's issues or activities become public. While the women of the middle class mainly occupy themselves with charity events and the like, the women of the left join strikes against companies that hire mainly women. Besides those groups, there exists a diversified range of independent women's groups which concern themselves with such problems as self-experience, the role of women within traditional Colombian literature, or sociological and psychological reflections on the situation of Colombian women in the family and in the area of work outside of the household. 

In December 1978 a national Women's Congress took place in the town of Medellin. Nineteen women's groups showed up to discuss for the first time the oppression of women within the context of Colombian history. The women agreed upon certain basic themes: sexuality and reproductive rights, the class struggle, parties and the liberation of women.

More concrete, however, are the struggles which directly confront the situation of women in the work place. The strike of 1976 at Vanitex, a textile factory in which mostly women are employed, indicated that women have decided to fight together against the inhuman work conditions and the low wages ($1-1.50/day). We know that the company earns millions. In only one work hour each one of us produces what we earn in a week. The company began in 1955 with $56 million and today has more than $500... And who made that? We workers.

Life for women in the rural areas, especially if they are farm workers, is often hard. Selling coffee and vegetables generally brings in only a little money, and rarely is the money available for their own use. 

Even more gruesome and brutal, however, is the struggle to survive for the women who move from the country to the city. In 1964. 40% of all migrant women were between the ages of 15 and 19. They come to the city hoping to find a better life. If they're lucky they may become street merchants, garbage collectors, prostitutes or maids.

The chicas des servicio, constitute an integral part of the Colombian middle class household. The number of maids varies according to the income of a household. Only around 10% of all women in Colombia are employed, half of them work in the service sector, a majority of those are domestics. About 30 chicas from Bogota have been regularly meeting with each other for over two years in order to discuss their economic and personal situation and to find means of organization and operation. They share a common background and plight.

A Colombian girl from the country is doubly disadvantaged because of her sex and the poverty and underdevelopment of the rural sector. At an early age both boys and girls participate in the difficult harvest and housework. The women and girls often become the object of sexual harassment - daughters are frequently raped or impregnated by their fathers. 

Thus, it is often the fear of the father or the extreme poverty and hopelessness that pushes the girls to wander to the city. Through the promises of advertisements, stories from friends or through offers from rich city dwellers, who combine an outing to the country with the purchase of an inexpensive maid, the city life becomes the answer to a girl's dreams and wishes.

Because the manner of exploitation and living habits in the city are so foreign, life becomes that much more frightening. The fear of being raped or murdered forces the young women to search out a family. In exchange for hard work the woman receives a roof over her head. Usually the women are paid for their housework in the form of room and board. That is particularly true for the youngest. On the average a chica earns 800-1000 pesos ($25-27) per month, living and eating with the family.

This fundamental bondage to the work place makes a slave out of the woman. Regulated times for work and leisure are unknown to a maid. Usually her work day begins around 5-5:30 a.m. and goes into the late night hours; she works up to 19 hours daily, at times without a break. She does everything from cooking to serving, housecleaning to child caring. She must even wash the family's laundry by hand.

What the women are especially rebelling against is the inhuman treatment they experience at the hands of many families. For the mistress of the home, they are no more than a machine; for the sons and husbands they are mere sex objects. A pregnant maid is considered as useless as a sick one. In both cases she is usually thrown out in the street. Social security is not available, although on paper she is legally protected. (There are laws regulating work time, vacations, sick leave, etc.) However, the employer pays little attention to these stipulations and the maids are generally unaware of their rights. Usually they have no medical benefits, no unemployment insurance, and no retirement plan.

A maid can work for a family until she dies - during her last years she receives free room and board without salary since she is no longer fully 'capable' of working. Or she can end up on the street as a prostitute or beggar.

The lack of education is a major problem for these women. Most of those that come from the country cannot read nor write. Some have had at the most two years of elementary education.

The social norms set by employers are seldom questioned. The extreme fear of a father authority common to Colombian culture is transferred to the employer. Often the
chica is forbidden to go around with a young man if he is not acceptable to the family or if they fear losing a cheap form of labor. Few women can use marriage as an escape. First, because most men view them as socially inferior. Second, they rarely have the opportunity to have contact with men. The women have on the average one day off every two weeks, and must work on all holidays. Since most of the houses are located out-side the city center, the women have little opportunity to ever leave their restricted work areas, making it nearly impossible for them to meet people. In order to compensate for their feelings of social inferiority, a few sacrifice their free time and their money for courses such as stenography, typing or sewing. Thus, during their so-called free time the women are further exploited by throat-cutting institutions. They harbor the illusion that with a bit of education they will go further and improve their lives.

But some women have come to another conclusion. They define themselves as women who, because they do not have the opportunity for self improvement, belong to the most exploited sector of society. However, this exploitation is not strong enough to break their will to rebel against the miserable living conditions. These women, who meet every two weeks on their day off, are, as they express it, fighting "for human dignity", so that they no longer "have to be treated worse than animals".

The goal of these women is the establishment of a union in order to defend their rights. Their demands are clear: 1) regulated working hours (10 hours per day), 2) a minimum wage (about $42/month), 3) health insurance; 4) protection of rights, and 5) living quarters away from the work place. One of the biggest problems within the organization appears to be the lack of publicity. Because of their isolation and separation within the family, it is almost impossible to acquire a large number of women. Contacts are usually made through friendship with other maids. It's not possible to reach each other by phone since they fear the repression of the family. Moreover, the group oi chicas works independent of political parties. In spite of everything, they have managed to contact women in other cities and to send women to various congresses in order to drum up some publicity for their work.