Doméstica

Book Review by Molly McCary

Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo reveals the unknown world of domestic workers in her book Doméstica: Immigrant Workers Cleaning and Caring in the Shadows of Affluence. This nonfiction look at the lives of domestic workers (aka nannies), living in Los Angeles, uncovers a way of living not many know exists. Sotelo is Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Sociology at the University of Southern California. She has a strong passion for writing about the lives of immigrants and domestic work and has written numerous books on the topic. Doméstica, however, is unique in the way that it delves deeper into the homes where nannies are finding work and also finding themselves into large amounts of trouble and unhappiness. While Doméstica may get quite clinical and specific at times, it is also filled with personal stories from actual domestic workers and even a few of their employers. The book is rounded out by Sotelo’s equal voice on each topic, choosing to not give leniency to one side or the other.

Sotelo explains that Domestic Employment Agencies are basically comprised of office desks, chairs, tables, lots of paperwork, and many Polaroids. But, she explains, where one might assume to find a receptionist or secretary, there are usually older white men. People like to know that they are getting a nanny who will be proficient and caring, and they feel like working through an agency that sounds like they are strong and affirmative. And so, men are usually the ones who find jobs for more nannies. Employees are put into the agency and organized by race, age, nationality, job experience and qualifications. All of these components help when an employer is choosing a nanny. Agencies serving the “top level” of society usually place Americans, Australians, Irish, or British “middle-class” white nannies into these homes. These women usually work solely as nannies—not housecleaners or keepers. They rely on the agencies to place them into such homes as well. The next tier consists of Latina immigrant women who are placed into nanny positions that also have housekeeping responsibilities. At the very bottom of the ladder lie the Latina women who are just starting out in the industry, lack experiences, and maybe even lack the ability to speak English.

The placing of domestic workers into their respective working environments is a challenging one. There has to be a balance between the employer and the nanny so that peace resides in the house. This placement is sometimes more selective than others and many times, an agency has no idea how well the who groups will mesh until they actually start working together. Choosing an agency is kind of like choosing a nanny. You have to know just the type of people that they are in order for you to get the most out of what you’re paying for. In a way, matching up employers and nannies is like matching up college roommates, and there is only so much you can tell from a piece of paper—so, much of the process is done face-to-face.

While domestic workers are hired to make people’s lives easier, many times they cause more harm than good. Most nannies will admit that they’ve had at least one “blowup” encounter with an employer in their lifetime. The job terminations that result from these blowups indicate the extent to which paid domestic work is not treated as a “real job.” As Sotelo explains and illustrates from many interviews, blowups can happen to domestic workers living in a house for five months or five years. Time really isn’t an issue. But when a blowup happens very late into the nanny’s career with one family, it is usually nastier because all of a sudden all of the repressed anger and issues start to come to the surface. Many of the stories told to Sotelo go against the grain of how women subordinated by race, class, and citizenship are supposed to act. But in private domestic work, the incidents are not unusual at all.

Blowups are most likely to occur in houses where the nanny is a live-in because it is in those houses where the nanny and employer have daily interactions. Also, when a nanny cares for a child, the relationship becomes more complex not just between the adults but also between the nanny and child as well and conflict increases dramatically. Sotelo explained that because blowups usually reflect poorly on the employer very few came forward and told their stories to her, whereas she had numerous nannies’ stories to choose from. Many employers feel that since they are paying for their nanny as well as their nanny’s room and board, they feel like they in a way “own” their nanny. But when nannies express that they have their own life and families, that when even more problems arise.

Many nannies swear, after a blowup, that they’ll never work as a nanny again and resort to only housecleaning. Many who take care of children avoid getting too attached for risk of having their heart broken if a blowup does ensue. Some make themselves less vulnerable by maintaining multiple jobs to even out their commitments. Although weekly housecleaning is more strenuous on the body, many prefer it to the emotional trauma sometimes found in being a nanny.

For the brave soul who decides to jump into this book, I give you fare warning. Though wonderfully eye opening, it at times made me feel like I was reliving my high school drama days. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to be mystified by this insane working field and relationship of employers to employees. It is a revealing and imperative read for anyone looking into hiring a domestic worker or nanny.