Domestic employees and COVID-19: intersectionalities, pandemic and the "new normal"

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic was responsible for aggravating the precariousness and vulnerability of domestic workers, affecting several areas of their lives and their guarantees of social rights. Therefore, the reality of paid domestic work in Brazil is discussed from its intersections and inequalities, given the colonial heritage that the country carries. Although this research was carried out two years after the beginning of the pandemic, its relevance lies in the need to contextualize all the phases experienced in this moment of crisis, from emergency measures to the beginning of the relaxation of restrictions and until the present moment, where we return to the “new normal”. For this, the objective of the research is to demonstrate that, in a pandemic context, intersectionality influences economic conditions, the workforce and the protection of the social rights of domestic workers. For this purpose, a descriptive and qualitative approach was used, using methods of bibliographic-documentary review and data analysis. The results achieved allow us to infer that the pandemic brought economic losses and social costs, generating new problems and aggravating other implicit and naturalized ones, such as inequality, the devaluation of domestic work and its legitimation by the State, work analogous to slavery and the absence of public policies aimed at these women. Therefore, it is concluded that the "new normal" does not have a novelty character as announced.