At 90, domestic leader says it is still necessary to fight – 03/27/2023 – Market

Nair Jane de Castro Lima, 90, often compares the trajectory of domestic workers in Brazil, in their search for equal rights, to a patchwork quilt —the PEC das Domésticas, which turns ten years old this April 2, would be one of the most of this history stitched together by different hands and with a lot of struggle.

A woman, black and from the Northeast, she has a story that is reminiscent of many other Brazilian women who see domestic work as their only chance of survival.

Born in the interior of Maranhão, she started working as a nanny at the age of nine. It was by taking care of the children of other families in Rio de Janeiro that she understood how to be a worker and went to seek equal rights by presiding over associations and helping to organize a base.

Later, this experience would make her play a fundamental role in the mobilization of domestic workers during the drafting of the 1988 Constitution.

Nair Jane also collaborated with the construction of the CUT (Central Única dos Trabalhadores), helped to found the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Domestic Workers and the union of the category in Baixada Fluminense.

Her trajectory was told in the documentary “Eu Sou Nair Jane – The Struggle of Domestic Workers”, produced by Cedim/RJ (Rio de Janeiro State Council for Women’s Rights), and in the minidoc “Colcha de Retalhos”, by CPDOC at FGV (Fundação Getulio Vargas) —available on YouTube.

In testimony to Sheetshe says she is proud of the rights won by the category in Brazil and the role she played in this change.

I was born at a time when racism was even stronger and this issue of work analogous to slavery was not even discussed. I left Imperatriz, in Maranhão, and soon started to work as a nanny. It was 11 years working in exchange for room and board.

It’s curious, I had affection for this first family of bosses. She ate lunch and dinner at the table with them and, despite everything, was able to study. She was so young that she didn’t quite understand the concept of domestic work, she didn’t have a salary, but she thought she was part of that house.

When I went to work for another family, I already saw myself as a worker, I felt part of the domestic category. I became aware of who I was, the rights I didn’t have and what I could do to improve our situation. I already understood that it was not possible to say that that house was mine, but only the place from which I took my livelihood.

As she was a nanny and did no other job besides taking care of the child, she had more time available and used that time to research labor rights. My struggle began when we joined the JOC (Catholic Workers’ Youth).

Over time, we founded our associations, I was president of the Professional Association of Domestic Workers of the State of Rio de Janeiro and we also helped found CUT.

It was exciting to see other girls, who once saw themselves as part of the furniture, begin to see themselves as workers.

The struggle during the Constituent Assembly started a little in Rio and a little in Brasilia. We faced the [ex-presidente da Câmara dos Deputados] Ulysses Guimarães and his gang. I was not the leader of that movement, but there was always a constituent who tapped me on the shoulder and called me to talk.

They called us ‘little ants’. The maids filled Brasília, those who had nowhere to stay slept on pieces of cardboard, on an improvised bed in a daycare center, some stayed at the house of [parlamentar] Benedita da Silva.

We were not able to equalize the rights of housemaids, but we left our mark in the struggle for women’s rights, which would bear fruit in the following years. The important thing is that we were there.

When President Lula was elected for the first time, in 2003, we started sending letters to Brasília, asking when they would match the domestic workers’ vacation, and we did.

With each new victory, we always asked ourselves: ‘what now? we also want FGTS, unemployment insurance, family allowance’.

Our fight is a patchwork quilt, it didn’t come all at once and each piece of fabric is the result of a lot of struggle. The Housekeeping PEC and the complementary law helped us a lot, but not everything is resolved, we want equality in unemployment insurance and the domestic worker continues without access to daycare, struggling to have a place to leave her children safely and be able to work in peace.

I could say that I have good hopes with Lula’s return, but the president doesn’t solve everything alone. We have to keep thinking about how to act.

On the last March 20th, I was honored by the City Council of Rio de Janeiro with the Chiquinha Gonzaga Medal, which made me very proud and happy to be remembered while still alive. But I think this is not the end point, I still have a lot to do.

testimony to DOUGLAS GAVRAS