Based on his early childhood, Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón’s film Roma centers on domestic worker Cleo, portrayed by actress Yalitza Aparicio. The film has won critical acclaim not just for Cuarón’s directing and Aparicio’s acting, but for portraying the lives of domestic workers with dignity, humanity, and accuracy. And while Cleo’s life in Mexico City exists only on black-and-white film, domestic workers in the U.S. are hoping she can help them in their ongoing fight for fair treatment.
In the U.S., the majority of domestic workers, nannies, and other home workers are immigrants and women of color. But despite numbering two million strong here, they remain excluded from federal protections, leaving them vulnerable to discrimination and abuse. Still, domestic workers and their allies have been able to make important wins at the state level over the past several years, and now Roma has become part of the push to help them over the finish line.
“We intend to introduce a National Domestic Workers Bill of Rights,” Sen. Kamala Harris of California, Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, and National Domestic Workers Alliance leader Ai-jen Poo wrote in a CNN op-ed last November, “because the time has come to ensure that protections and benefits give all domestic workers the respect and dignity they deserve.” The bill, they continue, “would close legal loopholes excluding domestic workers from certain federal labor and civil rights laws.”
The legislation would also create meal and rest breaks, and establish fair scheduling practices, as well as strengthening support networks for domestic workers who are survivors of workplace sexual harassment and assault. It would include grants for domestic worker training programs and calls for paid sick days, affordable health care and retirement savings, whether the worker is employed by a big company or an individual household. It would strengthen rules to prevent employers from retaliating against workers for reporting problems or violations of rights. And, finally, it would create a new federal task force to enforce domestic workers' rights.
The bill of rights would be a win for nannies like Audrey Mora. “Despite the vital work that we do, our lives as domestic workers exist in the margins of society,” the Domestic Workers member writes. “Many of us are low-income women, immigrants, and women of color. We often face low wages, long work hours, poor working conditions, and a lack of respect. Even the good employers, with the best intentions, don’t always know how to treat their homes like fair and just workplaces.”
Just as importantly, the bill of rights would give domestic workers the recognition they deserve. They care for homes, children, entire families, yet their roles are often unseen—or ignored. It’s time for change. “The change that is in the air today is contagious,” Harris, Jayapal, and Poo continue. “We must extend protections to those who have been silenced and overlooked for decades. Because it's not just what we do in the public eye that matters, but what we do behind closed doors—and change begins at home.”