From Silence to Affirmation:Domestic Workers in Uganda from Fieldwork to Empirical Agenda:An Intersection of Class, Gender, and Ethnicity

Abstract: The system on migrant domestic workers in post-industrialist countries has been widely researched, and extensive material exists on migrant domestic service from the Philippines and Eastern Europe. However, the system on domestic work performed by local women other than housewives or nonmembers of the family in the household(nonkinship) has rarely caught the attention of mainstream research communities.This study explores domestic labour in developing countries with a particular focus on Uganda. Neoliberal economic policies in Uganda cater to urban middle-class households. In these households, middle-class women have become consumers of labour provided by local women, while teenage girls and children perform domestic work in local women’s households. The study explored the blurred relationship between pseudo-family members and their employers, with a focus on middle-class women and their relationship with their live-in domestic workers. I conducted fieldwork from February 9 to March 10, 2010. The purpose of the fieldwork was to understand the employer/employee dynamic and to establish what constitutes paid and unpaid labour in the urban middle-class household. Secondary data were collected to establish an understanding of how to conduct fieldwork, using feminist methodology as a reference. Primary data showed that the influence of social strata is strong. An analysis involving an intersection of gender, class, ethnicity, and age was used to uncover the hidden power relations among the different segments of society.The theoretical framework was based on analysis using feminist sociological perspectives and is viewed through an intersectional lens to analyse the interview materials.