Despite Major Legislative Advances, Colombian Domestic Workers Still Suffer
Tuesday, Apr 5, 2016, 11:44 am
Despite Major Legislative Advances, Colombian Domestic Workers Still Suffer
BY Anna-Cat Brigida
“Why did you bring me another black girl?" These were the words that greeted 16-year-old Claribeth Palacios Garcia from an employer when she moved to Medellín to work as a maid years ago. The hateful words stung, but didn’t break her. Instead, she says, they left an emotional scar that fuels her fight for respect, dignity and labor rights for all Colombia’s domestic workers.
“It’s important to know your rights because a person can’t demand rights they don’t know they have,” said Palacios Garcia. “I can’t talk about what I don’t know.”
Palacios Garcia is one of more than 750,000 domestic workers in Colombia who often work long hours for low pay while enduring racism, sexual harassment and labor exploitation. 95 percent of these maids are women, many who flocked to urban centers such as Medellín, Bogotá and Cali fleeing violence from the country’s decades-long civil war. The influx of labor workers and lax labor laws made these hardworking women vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. The current peace talks between armed rebels and the Colombian government, due to wrap up at the end of March, have shone a spotlight on the plight of victims of the civil war once again. Domestic workers have made key legislative and cultural advances in recent years, but they remain vulnerable to discrimination and exploitation.
As a young girl in Chocó, a a predominantly Afro-Colombian province in Western Colombia, Palacios Garcia had limited opportunities. Her education abruptly halted at the age of 16, when her mother decided school was no longer an option. So Palacios Garcia accepted an offer to come to Medellín to study, fueled by her deep desire for education. But the shady proposal instead resulted in long, brutal workdays cooking and cleaning in fear of being screamed at by her boss.
More:
http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/19027/colombian_domestic_workers