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Book Reviews
the editors introduce the reader to some of the current debates and questions generated in discussions about the literature of U.S. Latinas. Questions of which works get canonized or what body of literature is considered part of a particular tradition are important because the answers to these questions determine to a large extent which literature gets recognized, receives literary attention, and thereby becomes institutionalized. When considering a literature that is marginalized to begin with, as is U.S. Latina literature, these issues become, quite literally, questions about whether the literature finds an audience or not. Breaking Baundarles is a stimulating collection which engages in these debates and concurrently introduces the reader to the diverse range of writers and concerns that comprise the literature of U.S. Latinas. LOURDESTORRES
SUNY AT STONYBROOK SWNY BROOK, NY, U.S.A.
MUCHACHASNo MORE: HOUSEHOLDWORKERS1~ LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN,edited by Elsa M. Cha-
ney and Mary Garcia Castro with a bibliography by Margo Smith, 486 pages. Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1989. US34.95 cloth. Muchachas No More is a valuable contribution to the literature on women’s work in Latin America and the Caribbean. The book gives voice to a previously unacknowledged segment of the female work force, domestic workers-women who usually work alone, are generally excluded from legislative protection, and are undervalued and unreflected in the country’s GNP. This is a distinctive book in that it includes the voices of researchers, advocates, and domestic workers themselves. It thus provides a kind of forum on domestic workers, making their accomplishments and struggles more than the mere statistics. The 22 essays of Muchachas No More discuss in a thorough and critical manner the uneven relationships and the low status domestic service imposes on women. In addition the authors thematic coverage of relations between employee and employer, the challenge domestic service poses to feminism, and the place of domestic worker organizations in the labor union movement is yet another benefit of this book, and should aid those in feminist education, policy making, and development work. Authors Castro, Duarte, Galvez, Todaro, and Le6n in particular, address substantial theoretical questions regarding the unique features of domestic work, such as the sex/gender, cultural, and class relationships. According to Le6n, “Domestic labor becomes wage labor when the arna de cm-a delegates part of her responsibilities to another woman who, within the very same ideology of service to others, seeks payment for performing the same work of reproducing the labor force, but for the a,~a de casa’s family and in the woman’s house” (p. 324). This is compounded according to Duarte, by the domestic worker’s literal “double day” as she not only assumes responsibility for someone else’s family, but retains her own family responsibilities, thus, relieving the ama de cam of her double day.
Furthermore, the domestic worker mediates between certain gender relationships of women and men from a different class, and in addition she provides cheaply services that relieve the society in general of the responsibility for creating formal institutions such as nurseries, laundries, and other social services. As one university professor who employs a domestic worker confides: “ I realized that domestic work reveals the nature of the relations between the sexes. The presence of the domestic worker eliminates those contradictions. By putting the work on another woman’s back, women avoid confrontation with their husbands over these chores, which are part and parcel of life” (p. 263). The continued low status and devaluation of domestic work is further sustained by some organizations meant to provide supports for domestic worker. Several contributors in this volume delve into the ideology of service, and how this service is reinforced or challenged by organizational supports for the domestic workers. Some of the low status reinforcement comes through organizations such as Opus Dei, a conservative Catholic organization which supports traditional values of service and humility. The challenge comes from more radical organizations such as Juventud Obrera Catolica (JOC), and other more militant organizations on the left, including fledgling unions which offer workers placement services, legal advice, recreation, and housing between jobs. Domestic workers that live out (puertas ufuera) appear to have wider access to these supports than do those live-in domestics (puertas adentro). Although the authors make no pretense of completely defining and solving the problems of domestic workers, they do challenge us to examine our treatment of women workers, professions, and collaborative efforts. Clearly more dialogue is necessary to understand the nature of these relationship tensions and the valuing of women’s work in the private as well as the public domain. This book begins the process of discerning more heterogeneous collaborative strategies for change by providing us with valuable insights into the nature of relations between the sexes and classes through the liver of domestic workers. The domestic workers position with regard to home, family, and job should challenge us beyond research implications to practical questions of sisterhood that crosses barriers of class, race, and cultures. The authors’ collaborative effort between researcher and domestic workers provides a splendid model for continued cooperation for understanding and change in this regard. DIANA BRANDI INDIANA, PA, U.S.A.
LUCHA: THE STRUGGLESOF LATIN AMERICAN WOMEN, edited by Connie Weil, 201 pages. Prisma Institute,
Minneapolis,
1988. US$10.95
paper.
Given the continuing global trends of the internationalization of capital, militarization, environmental degradation, and patriarchal power, it can be said, to borrow a phrase from a contributor to this collection, that to be a woman in this world is “to die slowly.” Nevertheless, as editor Connie Weil points out in her introduction,