Mary Romero - Maid in the USA: 10th Anniversary Edition

PRAISE FOR MAID IN THE U.S.A.

[A]rticulate and insightful.

The Womens Review of Books

Romeros fascinating history of household work reveals that poor, rural, and immigrant women in America have labored for pitiful pay and under manipulative direction since the earliest days of America.

Utne Reader

Romeros book is a huge step forward in understanding, not only of domestic work, but of work in the informal economy. Her plea is that all employers of domestic workers should think of their employees with more awareness.These employers need to understand that their homes are workplaces and that they must dispense with the attitude of benevolent maternalism and substitute an attitude of responsible employers.

Affilia

[A] sweeping theoretical and historical survey.

Journal of American Ethnic History

[I]nsightful Romero analyzes domestic work as a socially and historically constructed occupation, one shaped by the interplay of race, class, and gender.

Feminist Studies

PERSPECTIVES ON GENDER
Series Editor: Myra Marx Ferree, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Pleasure, Power, and Technology: Some Tales of Gender, Engineering, and the Cooperative Workplace
Sally Hacker

Black FeministThought Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment
Patricia Hill Collins

Understanding Sexual Violence:A Study of Convicted Rapists
Diana Scully

Feminisms and the Women's Movement Dynamics of Change in Social Movement Ideology and Activism
Barbara Ryan

Black Women and White Women in the Professions-Analysis of Job Segregation by Race and Gender, 19601980
Natalie J. Sokoloff

Gender Consciousness and Politics
SueTolleson Rinehart

Mothering: Ideology, Experience, and Agency
Evelyn Nakano Glenn, Grace Chang, and Linda Rennie Forcey (editors)

For Richer, For Poorer: Mothers Confront Divorce
Demie Kurz

Integrative Feminisms: Building Global Visions, 1960s-1990s
Angela Miles

Rock-a-by Baby: Feminism, Self-Help, and Postpartum Depression
Verta Taylor

School-Smart and Mother-Wise.Working-Class Women's Identity and Schooling
Wendy Luttrell

Community Activism and Feminist Politics: Organizing Across Race, Class, and Gender
Nancy A. Naples (editor)

Grassroots Warriors: Activist Mothering, Community Work, and the War on Poverty
Nancy A. Naples

Complex Inequality: Gender, Class, and Race in the New Economy
Leslie McCall

MAID IN THE U.S.A.

10th Anniversary Edition

Mary Romero

First published 1995 by Routledge

Published 2016 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

First issued in hardback 2015

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Copyright 2002 by Routledge

Sections of appeared in the following:
Coping with Exploitation of Domestic Workers, in Sociology. Beth B. Hess, Elizabeth W. Markson,and Peter Stein (eds.) pp. 32223. New York: MacMillan Publishing Company (1991).
Sections of appeared in the following:
Sisterhood and Domestic Service: Race, Class, and Gender in the Mistress-Maid Relationship,Humanity and Society (1988) Volume 12, Issue 4, pp. 31846.
Sections of appeared in the following:
Not Just Like One of the Family: Chicana Domestics Establishing Professional Relationships withEmployers, Feminist Issues. (1990) Volume 10, Number 2, pp. 3341.
Chicanas Modernize Domestic Service, Qualitative Sociology. (1988) Volume 11, Issue 4, pp.31934.
Day Work in the Suburbs: The Work Experience of Chicana Private Housekeepers, In Worth ofWomens Work: A Qualitative Synthesis. Anne Statham, Eleanor Miller, and Hans Maulksch (eds.).pp. 7791. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press (1988).

Abridged Version Reprinted in John J. Macionis and Nijole V Benokraitis Seeing Ourselves Classic, Contemporary, and Cross-Cultural Readings in Sociology pp. 17480. Englewood, NJ: Prentice Hall (1989).

Sections of appeared in the following:
Domestic Work in Transition from Rural to Urban Life: A Case of La Chicana, Womens Studies.(1987) Volume 13, Issue 3, pp. 199200.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notices
Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.

Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Romero, Mary.

Maid in the U.S.A. / by Mary Romero. 10th anniversary ed.
p. cm. (Perspectives on gender)

Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-415-93541-8 (pbk)
ISBN-13: 978-1-138-13940-4 (hbk)
1. Women domesticsUnited StatesHistory. 2. Hispanic American womenEmployment History. 3. Minority womenEmploymentUnited StatesHistory. I. Title: Miad in the USA. II. Title. III. Perspectives on gender (New York, N.Y.)

HD6072.2.U5 R675 2002
331.481640460973dc21 2002021960

This study would not have been possible without the constant support and encouragement of my husband, Eric Margolis. He has lived with the book as long as I have and willingly provided the everyday love and humor needed to write a book. He read every draft carefully and offered supportive criticisms and suggestions. We both knew the end of the book was near when we both preferred to do housework rather than to write, read, or talk about it.

I owe countless debts to my family, who have always given me their love and support and in every way enriched my life. My mother, Amalia Romero, my sister, Frances Romero, and my sister-in-law, Trinnie Romero, helped me make initial contacts with Chicanas currently employed as household workers and shared their own work experiences.

Many colleagues have contributed to the development of my ideas. I am particularly indebted to Arlene Daniels, who encouraged me to explore the importance of the labor process in workers experiences of domestic service and their struggles and resistance against demeaning housework. Over the last six years, I have benefited from the ongoing dialogue with Judith Rollins, Evelyn Glenn, Phyllis Palmer, Elaine Kaplan, Bonnie Thornton Dill, and Margo Smith.

I appreciate the careful reading and valuable comments that Myra Marx Ferree offered on each manuscript draft. I am fortunate to have found a series editor who understood my concerns and offered important criticism to strengthen my arguments. I also want to thank Lisa Freeman for her extensive comments and constant encouragement throughout the project.