When Leonora found herself working as a maid in the United States, the familiar line between employer and servant blurred. Rather than being pleased by the democratic nature of her new American home, Leonora (a pseudonym) thought of her inclusion into the family as an intrusion into her personal space. She was brought up as a servant in Brazil, and was more comfortable with a clear delineation between her employers and herself.
Leonora's experience is part of a larger picture that shows how globalization and transnational migrations are changing the way women think about work and how it affects their lives and social position. Stories told by Brazilian immigrant women, many who transitioned from being domestic employers to domestic employees, will be presented as part of a symposium on women's multiple roles on Thursday, January 27, 2000 at the 11th International Congress on Women's Health Issues held in San Francisco. The Congress is sponsored by the University of California, San Francisco's School of Nursing in affiliation with the International Council on Women's Health Issues and other co-sponsoring institutions.
"From our conversations with Brazilian women, we found that moving to a different country and assuming new positions in life can provoke a thoughtful reevaluation of what work actually is and how it shapes a person's social status," said DeAnne Hilfinger Messias, RN, PhD, director of graduate studies in nursing at Indiana Wesleyan University and principal investigator of the study. "Situational changes influence how women view their own work and their own worth."
As part of a qualitative research study, Messias interviewed 26 Brazilian women, 22 to 60 years in age, who had come to the United States between two months and 17 years ago. The majority were partnered or married when they moved and about half had children. Most women left Brazil between 1985 and 1994, a time of pervasive economic instability with hyper-inflation, low wages, and high costs of living, said Messias.
Migratory movements have had a profound affect on the work and employment patterns of women, and the Brazilians were no exception. Some of the participants were well-educated, professional women who, in Brazil, had employed maids and servants of wtheir own. In the United States, they suddenly found themselves working as house cleaners, baby sitters, or restaurant workers.
"Domestic or service-type work is one of the few options available for immigrants, particularly for those who are undocumented," said Messias. "Middle class women had to work jobs they considered to be lower class. Their work experiences brought up a variety of gender, class, and cultural issues."
The Brazilian women began to see both paid and unpaid work differently than they had before, said Messias. Domestic chores and child rearing, which they hadn't classified as work in Brazil, quickly took over many of their lives, and they realized how strenuous and time consuming those jobs really are, said Messias.
"Domestic work, such as housework, child care, and elder care -- the prototype of women's work -- is characteristically undervalued and invisible," said Messias. "'Women's work' is often dismissed as not being work at all, or not considered skilled work, and is generally devalued. Here we had these middle class women who now understood what invisibility felt like and realized that all kinds of work goes unrecognized.'
Messias believes that a broader definition of work needs to be acknowledged not only by women themselves, but also by health care providers.
"When nurses consider issues related to women's work, they need to broaden their definition of work beyond employment," said Messias. "To fully understand the multiple relationships between women's work and women's health, we need to recognize all aspects of women's work and reflect on the nature and experiences of all women," said Messias.
The symposium on women's multiple roles will also include research on the perceived quality of multiple social roles in black and white women, the impact of intimate partner abuse on women's employment, and the emotional health issues associated with being a lesbian in a university setting.
NOTE TO MEDIA: DeAnne Hilfinger Messias will be available for interviews during the 11th International Congress on Women's Health Issues. Please call Rebecca Sladek Nowlis at (415) 476-2557 to arrange an interview or to attend the Congress.