Disposable Domestics

Illegal. Un-American. Disposable. In a nation with an unprecedented history of immigration, the prevailing image of those who cross our nation's borders in search of equal opportunity -- in particular women of color of child bearing age -- is that of a drain on society.Grace Chang's vital account of immigrant women's experiences proves just the opposite: that the women who perform the least desirable work -- as nannies, domestic workers, janitors, farm workers, and factory workers -- are the most crucial to our economy and society. Yet, as Chang shows, they are among the most vulnerable and exploited workers.Chang dismantles recent arguments in favor of curbing immigration and eliminating access to education, health care, and welfare, such as the anti-immigrant Proposition 187 in California. She unravels the twisted history of U.S. immigration policy and its role in drawing much-needed workers to the land of opportunity, then discarding them when the need has passed.Most importantly, Disposable Domestics highlights the unrewarded work immigrant women perform as caretakers, cleaners, and servers in the context of the broader need for jobs with justice and dignity for all. Chang's clarity and intelligence are a welcome intervention in the debates over immigration and work in the new global economy.

Grace Chang is a writer, activist, and mother of two who lives in Oakland, California. Her essays and articles on immigrant women, welfare, and work have appeared in Radical America, Socialist Review; and the anthology Dragon Ladies: Asian American Feminists Breathe Fire. She is a co-editor of Mothering: Ideology, Experience, and Agency.