SOCIAL MARKERS OF INEQUALITIES: THE INVISIBILITY OF DOMESTIC WORK AND THE STRUCTURING OF GENDER AND RACE INEQUALITIES

Abstract

In Brazil, considering reports from the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (Continuous PNAD) (2022) and the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea) (2022), paid domestic work is predominantly performed by women, covering approximately 5.9 million workers, which is equivalent to 16.8% of the female workforce. Among them, 61% are black women. Historically, domestic workers have faced various forms of exclusion, such as low wages, precarious employment relationships, and racial and gender discrimination. By addressing this theme, we emphasize the subjectivity inherent to social phenomena, adopting a dialectical and historical perspective on the relationship between individual and society, within a specific historical context. Through the review and bibliographic studies, in which categories such as race, gender and domestic work intersect, it was possible to understand the domestic worker not only as a reflection of the social conditions in which he is inserted, but as an active agent in the construction and transformation of this reality. Thus, this research seeks to contribute to the critique of the hegemonic ideology that perpetuates the subordination of these professionals and keeps them in a status of precarious citizenship, without full recognition of their rights.