Between precariousness and invisibility: domestic work relations and legal mobilization in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

The paid domestic work is performed mostly by women and, among them, black women, allowing an analysis that articulates the structural dimensions of the sexual and racial division of work. This dynamic is reproduced in relation to exploitation and domination, translated into the historical precariousness of the social condition of this category, taking in consideration that this is a work that arose during slavery and that was not properly regulated in the legal system until late in the 21st century. Consequently, when analyzing the Brazilian legislation on the evolution of guardianship of domestic work, one notices the vulnerability and asymmetry between the rights of domestic workers and other workers, a situation that has been changing thanks to the struggle of organizations representing the category. In this sense, this research aims to analyze whether the legal mobilization is used strategically by domestic workers to implement the guarantees established in the legal system and to achieve new ones, also using the perspective of understanding how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the dynamics of these work relationships that involve this social group. For this purpose, interdisciplinary bibliographies on the subject will be used, union documentation, interviews, and analysis of the judicial processes of the regional courts of the Labor Court of São Paulo, in the years 2020 and 2021, that will enable the identification of the way in as the power works judiciary on the demands of these workers and, consequently, the understanding of the relationship between law and society with regard to the chosen theme.(AU)