Latina nannies save lives and sanity in Southern California

Ethnographic moment in time

2009-08-25T12:23:00.000-07:00

On the way to my car I introduced myself to the new neighbor. She stood in her doorway alongside a Latin American woman who held a soapy cleaning brush. A tan Rottweiler lounged on the driveway nearby. “Welcome to the neighborhood. I’m Ann.” “Oh hi, I’m Karen, and this is Lulu.” “Nice to meet you. What’s your dog’s name?” I asked. “Lulu,” she repeated. (October, 2006, Manhattan Beach, CA).

This ethnographic moment helps illustrate the invisibility experienced by Latina household workers in Southern California. Latina women immigrants have become one of the fastest growing migrant populations in the United States in recent decades, and domestic service–and particularly childcare–is an area in which they concentrate. Though a growing but still small number of studies have examined these workers’ motives and experiences, not enough is known about female employers’ motives for hiring “nannies,” and employer-employee relationships.

To Clean or Not to Clean

2009-08-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

Employees passionately debate the issue of childcare versus housecleaning. Most nannies in this study state emphatically that children come first and lament the fact that the employer wants it all. I asked Alicia, “Do you do any housecleaning, light housekeeping?” 

"Nooo, well that’s a problem, that’s not a very good job of cleaning, then they complain it’s not clean enough. Then you do a bad job of child care AND cleaning. Light housekeeping starts when the baby is small. It’s bad because it starts when the baby is cute and sweet and sleeps a lot, so there is time to clean a little here and there. Then they stop sleeping so much and the nanny has a lot of work because now the employer expects it."

Alicia says Latina nannies “need to talk about this” because most are too afraid to discuss it with employers. The job grows along with the child, and cleaning becomes exploitation, as Alicia explains, “They want you to be a childcare provider and also you are a housekeeper. It’s two separate jobs and you get paid for one.” Alicia advocates for herself and all nannies. "The employer asked me to come and clean while they were gone on vacation. But I said I need a rest. Then I will be ready for you when you come back. I explain, I show her the human side. I do things with human value."

When employers say the children should come first but expect cleaning too it impacts the nanny more than the children. During a lull or naptime when she should take a break or rest, she must do housework instead. Exploitation occurs when the employer does not know labor laws that specify both documented and undocumented workers are entitled to a break after a certain number of hours.

Food can be a problem

2009-08-06T14:53:00.000-07:00

Food is a major stumbling block for uninformed employers who are accused of hoarding it, wasting it, or simply not providing any. Food issues amplify the exclusion employees feel when employers forget, buy the wrong kind, or put certain foods off limits (Hondagneu-Sotelo 2001: 35). Guadalupe labors 48-50 hours a week without a car and proper food to eat. She explains, “A lot of parents only think of food for the kids, not for the nanny. Sometimes they have all non-fat because they think that’s good for themselves, but it’s not good for the kids.” Juanita describes this subtle affront. "Sometimes in the house there are not good foods for us to eat and it's not fair. We are with the kids and [the employer] hasn't bought anything for us to eat. We don't eat the same foods as kids."

Nannies have dietary needs more similar to employer mothers than to children and fail to conceive of their home as a workplace. This is a blind spot that Alicia urges fellow Latina immigrant employees to address. Alicia implored Cristina and Juanita, "They (nannies) need to work. But are you happy with how your employer treats you? Do you have food in the house that you like to eat? Tell her how you feel at your work!"

Employers who fail to stock their homes with appropriate food could simply direct the nanny to go shopping or reimburse her. However, consistent with previous studies, about half (n = 6) employers keep shopping for themselves.

Emotionally invested

2009-08-05T09:20:00.000-07:00

Latin American nannies who work in this community describe childcare as a job that should be done only by those who love children. The main task is “watching”, not necessarily actively engaging with them (Wrigley 1995: 39). However, childcare is unusual because employers expect a large emotional investment for a small salary, and low-paid jobs typically involve little worker commitment (P. 87). I observed “difference” between employers and employees in the park as this example illustrates. A boy pushed a toy car, fascinated, touching every part of it as his mother narrated. Another boy explored the bushes near the fence while his nanny followed him silently. The nanny spoke perfect English but did not consider talking and teaching as part of her job.

Caring work is inherently relational, involving attachment, patience, and attending. Talking and listening are instrumental to effective care (Hondagneu-Sotelo 2001: 10). The importance of this part of a nanny’s job cannot be overlooked. It often occurs in microseconds throughout the day. For example, a Latina nanny changes a toddler’s diaper on the cold concrete picnic table. The baby paws at her and cries, “Mama.” She responds patiently, “No not nice.” (Field Notes 12/19/06)

For the most part I discovered nannies with tremendous emotional investment in the lives of their client children. Nannies must be emotionally prepared for anything. Eloisa had worked for Ray’s African American family only three weeks when a crisis occurred. Eloisa came to work that morning at 8:00 to find ten police cars surrounding the house. Officers restrained a white man in the front yard. Driving completely nude behind the wheel of a pickup truck, he had crashed into the employer’s garage door damaging her car parked inside.

Part of the equation

2009-08-03T08:37:00.000-07:00

The nanny is a key component in Nicole’s full time telecommuting job in IBM software sales. She works sporadic hours from home pulling eight-hour days that begin at 5:30 a.m. Beth and her husband have high security jobs in the aerospace industry. Sydney holds two jobs as a flight attendant and emergency room nurse. She describes the binding demands of the working mother. "My dream is to be home with my kids full time. But it can’t happen. I have to work, but my mom stayed home and raised us. It’s ironic. My mom would’ve given anything to be employed in an office, would have thrived."

But her husband told her emphatically, “You need to work.” She elaborated, “He let me cut back when our second child came, but then 9/11 happened, money got tight, …so I began classes for nursing.” Airline officials escorted Sydney and fellow crewmembers to Ground Zero a week after 9/11. She was relieved to have begun nursing, and determined to hang onto her nanny. “Even if I quit the airline job I would find a way to employ and keep Miracle.”

How Nannies Gain Experience

2009-08-01T11:55:00.000-07:00

Employers tend to lump women from Latin America into one convenient label and think they are nurturing and caring, qualities associated with women’s “natural” expressions of love for family. In fact they come from widely diverse backgrounds and may have no experience in actual childcare. Only when they came to America did many take on the role of nanny or housecleaner. Over half (n = 6) the employees in my study identified factory work as their previous job. Others listed security guard, fast food restaurants, and elder care. Eloisa admitted having no experience with American children as young as the three she cared for. Maritza describes her job experience, “The truth is what experience I have I didn’t learn in school; I use the intuition of a mother like the way I am with my children.”

Gloria is glamorous

2009-05-13T17:50:00.000-07:00

Gloria, 52, wore a brimmed hat, sunglasses, and exuded style. With her winning smile and perfect teeth Gloria projected an easy confidence. When we first met she instantly offered me her apartment, a vacation rental, in Oaxaca City. Although I met Gloria at the Children’s Library, I conducted our interview at another playground within the community. She has been coming here for many years and gets together with other park nannies in her off-hours. Gloria declares proudly, “I am famous in this park!”
Gloria has three grown children, all surgeons, though she herself completed only six years of school in Mexico where her children’s natural father lives. He insists on remaining there on the grounds that it costs too much to live in the United States where “all the money goes to food and rent.” With only one 10 month-old baby girl to watch, Gloria went into detail about her early years in America. Her boyfriend of 18 years had been unfaithful with three girlfriends over an extended period of time. He told her he was moving out to marry one of them. She described being “sick with menopause and diabetes,” aggravated by the food she had been eating while traveling abroad with her former client family. One of her sons stepped in to support and advise her, and they now share a rented apartment. With three children who were surgeons, a 401K, a vacation rental in Mexico, and a swinging senior social life, Gloria’s profile was like no other.

Dreaming of America

2008-09-29T14:52:00.000-07:00

Elena, 55 and divorced, grew up in La Paz, Bolivia. She never had children and lives alone in a rented apartment, but all her family are here in the US. She immigrated 18 years ago following her sister. “I was always dreaming of America. One day I am going to go. I would have dreams in which I would see the freeway with green and ivy, so when I came, I saw the green grass from in my dreams.” Elena made the following observations about other immigrant groups. “Asians are not waiters, or housekeepers, or restaurant workers. It’s only us. They are smart. They try to learn English to get a job as fast as they can.” She also drew these conclusions regarding the Latino model of immigration. “I like Chinese people because they’re hard-working people. When they come to this country, first they go to school. They learn English. They get a job, then get friends and family a job. Latinas are not that way.”

Eco Nanny post

2008-09-11T15:18:00.000-07:00

A rusty steel water fountain jutted out of the sand and soft surfaces of the playground. One day I watched a toddler girl run under it and bump her head on the horizontal portion. She crumpled to the ground and held her hand to her head as tears rolled down sandy cheeks. Her nanny came running over and swept her up. The L-shaped fountain was meant for water play, but its sharp edges needed repair, and it looked out of place among all the plastic play structures.

A few Latina nannies I polled suggested replacing it. I took their request to the City Council via my friend and councilman, Richard. He immediately set plans into action to remove, renovate, and replace the fountain in the interest of safety. When it was completed it looked almost exactly the same except for fresh paint and sanding and blunting the sharp corners.

I asked a few nannies what they thought of the new fountain. Better, said one, but another was less enthusiastic. She noticed that it was too high for the ages of the children here, who were too short to drink from it but too tall to run underneath without getting clipped. She never let her client children play with water because she believed it to be wasteful. She continued that we should conserve resources due to global warming, and neither play in nor waste water. In her country, Mexico, “We always think about it and conserve, because we never have enough.” She thought children here should be taught more about energy conservation, and noted that both the children and the parents she works for lack awareness and frequently leave the lights on, let the water run, etc. She suggested a school or community program to teach young children conservation at a young age.

As green practices spread to all sectors of the economy and all strata of consumers it is useful to consider that lower/middle class immigrants may have brought simple measures with them to this country. I recalled how Lourdes’ mother made soap out of ashes from the kitchen fire. I found it ironic that my ambitious fountain repair actually exacerbated the sort of water waste this nanny identified. However it empowered the nannies to create positive change in their work environment.

Eco Nanny

2008-09-09T15:52:00.000-07:00

The child in the middle

2008-09-05T15:04:00.000-07:00

My collaborator Lourdes and I dropped by a different children’s playground within the same park complex. With low trees and big rocks, it features a natural setting. We sat at a concrete picnic table and Lourdes struck up a conversation with a talkative Latina nanny who fed her blonde client toddler. She spooned out pasta in tomato sauce from a plastic container she had brought from home. The boy gobbled it hungrily while strapped into his stroller. As I sat down beside them, the nanny explained to Lourdes that the mother never fed her son real food, only gave him formula and Gerber baby food, yet he was 15 months old. There was very little food in the house, and everything was nonfat or lowfat, she added. The boy often acted very hungry, always crying for food when the nanny ate something, so she had begun to bring him food from her home on a daily basis. He told her he was full and she took him out of the stroller. We studied the boy anxiously, straining to determine if his height and weight were normal. At first glance he appeared diminutive, but then I noticed his head looked too large for his skinny body. Lourdes compared him to her grandson who is 12 months and much larger, eating absolutely all foods, no formula and way past baby food jars.

Children should begin to use a spoon and sample new strained foods between 4 and 6 months of age. Cereals are first, followed by vegetables and fruit and finally, by 7 or 8 months, meat and protein alternatives. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises introducing babies between 8 and 12 months to finger foods and mashed and ground up table foods. By 15 to 18 months most children can feed themselves with a spoon and no longer need help. Conventional wisdom dictates the child should be eating the same meals as parents by approximately one year of age.

The nanny pulled a bag of fresh pineapple slices from her bag. Suddenly the boy ran up and reached for them and made a sound. “You want some? Ok,” and she gave him a slice. What does the doctor say about this, Lourdes and I asked. His mother is a doctor, she replied. This is an only child, so the mother is doing what she thinks is right. And the nanny is doing what she thinks is right. She buys and brings food for him without permission and without compensation. Clearly, communication between employer and employee is compromised.

A mother was depriving her child of proper nourishment, and the nanny had grown so accustomed to the situation she chatted about it with total strangers. Did she want someone to report it? I should have asked how long she had worked for the family, how long she had carried on this secret mission. She was very affable and somewhat amused by her employer’s lack of knowledge and experience. She had spoken to Lourdes in Spanish not knowing how much I could understand. As the nanny walked away to join her friends sitting on a picnic blanket with the other children, they eyed me seriously and the boy wolfed down his pineapple. They were in collusion, sharing the blame, the food, the confusion. The nanny found support in her labor network. But it illustrates how employees and employers need to work together.

On the employer’s side, this echoes themes in Searching for Mary Poppins, 2006, Hudson Street Press, in that this mother could be isolated in her professional life without an employer network or parenting classes in which to share information and get feedback. If she is indeed a doctor, her position may make it difficult to reveal her lack of knowledge and ask questions about certain topics such as infant nutrition. With families flung far apart, there may be no family member she could ask. Whatever the circumstance, this mother is alone making potentially harmful decisions about a child’s welfare, and the nanny uses her power and influence to counter them.

Perspectives: born in the U.S. v. born south of the border

2008-08-28T16:56:00.000-07:00

Both Geralda and Carolina bring age and experience to the child caregiver position. Acting as advisers or maybe more like friendly helpful aunties, both women in their sixties counsel other Latina women. They have the same perspective, yet Carolina was born and raised in California, while Geralda hails from Central America. Carolina’s parents were Mexicans living and working in the Imperial Valley. Her native tongue is English, but she learned Spanish in order to connect with other immigrant nannies in the park. First and foremost she asks her employer to respect her. A former aerospace industry employee, she lets her employer know she does not work for the money. Carolina suffered injury on the job and now receives disability. Rather than sit and home, watch tv, and collect her money, she wants to work. She asks that the employers respect her and not treat her like a nanny. She actually prefers to be “treated like family.” Carolina looked on the internet and found this nanny position on Craig’s List.

Her job history prepared her well to negotiate up front for the same kinds of benefits she received at her aerospace job. As a result, she gets a salary, not an hourly wage, paid sick days, and paid vacation when it is convenient for her, a distinct departure from most who only get vacation when their employers leave town. Carolina’s employer also pays taxes and Social Security. Carolina displays candor and confidence in negotiating. The mother had a new baby and revealed that she wanted to quit her job and stay home. “I said, ‘Go ahead. I don’t need this job. I just do it ‘cause I want to.’” The mother reconsidered because she gets better insurance benefits than her husband.

Most importantly, nannies need back-up, Carolina advises. She lives alone and sets a fine example of self-sufficiency and planning for the future with other income, retirement, and disability pay.

In contrast, Geralda, 58 years old, was born a twin and raised by her grandmother in a rural Central American village. Another nanny moaned about her employer, a teacher, who did not want to pay for childcare over the summer. Geralda sympathized and encouraged her to ask for help with paying taxes. "It’s important when you try to get your papers. Shows you are contributing to this country even though you are undocumented. Pay taxes for your own records and history, not for the employer’s benefit. It’s about respect for yourself and for this country. And you need something for the future."

If there were such a thing as a job review, Eloisa nailed it

2008-08-28T16:54:00.000-07:00

Most employers don’t give nannies six-month reviews for their job performance, and few receive regular pay raises commensurate with amount of time employed or cost of living increases. For example, during this study bus fare increased from $3.00 per day to $5.00 in July 2007. Not a single interviewee paid or received a raise.

Paid private childcare has a job requirement usually reserved for motherhood or other intimate family relationships. It is emotional labor, difficult to measure, evaluate, and compensate for. Like eldercare, childcare eludes standardization and regulation, but when it’s done well, it’s easy to spot. Eloisa’s 14-month-old client child had trouble connecting with children and adults. His former babysitter seemed to delay his social development by driving him around in her car for hours until he fell asleep. One of three children of full-time working parents, he didn’t come to the park until Eloisa got the job. When I met her she had been with this family for only four months and knew very few park nannies. The boy cried frequently, struggled with sharing and taking turns, and rarely talked or laughed.

Within two months, he had a best friend, smiled easily, and, “He doesn’t cry anymore,” reported Eloisa proudly. I watched him venture off to explore the playground with confidence. His family had gone on a weeklong vacation giving the parents a chance to spend lots of time with him. The change had become evident. When they returned his mother related to Eloisa how pleased and happy she was with his progress. With relief and gratitude she revealed, “We didn’t know what to do.” Curious about how Eloisa had achieved this transformation in her son, she came along with them to the park a few days ago. Eloisa’s park labor network had benefited him greatly. She had used her social ease and connections to promote change in the boy. Eloisa had grown close to Maritza and Carria and their client children had become fast friends.

Mommy has OCD

2008-08-14T13:52:00.000-07:00

A nanny overheard our lively discussions one morning and her curiosity was piqued. I explained my study analyzing relations between mothers and nannies, and when I showed her my student ID card, she opened up. Julia had two jobs, both Monday through Friday. One was every morning and the other was every afternoon. She first spoke of the disabled little boy who was very dear to her. She had been with this family for many years. Next she told me about her morning job. The blond haired client baby about two years old looked at me quizzically from his stroller. Julia calmly began, his mother is very strict, organized, everything has to be perfect. The first year was very hard because she had to learn many things, or do them over repeatedly until she got them right. The mother, an attorney, wanted things done exactly a certain way. Then Julia told me about the handwashing. The mother instructed her to wash her hands three times each time for a certain number of minutes. Without a trace of disrespect she told me that the mother opens doors in her own house without touching the doorknob directly, using her shirt or something else. It must be difficult to work for her, I sympathized. “She is very aware of bacteria, hates bacteria, and doesn’t want to get any on her hands.” I wonder how this mother could have sex, have a baby, or change a diaper under these conditions. Life is messy. The nanny addresses my concern saying, “She knows she has a problem, she takes medicine for it.” This mother had found a patient, remarkable employee and I hoped they appreciate each other. We said goodbye and she pushed the stroller towards home.

Nadia and the big boo boo

2008-08-14T13:50:00.000-07:00

Nothing upsets a nanny more than an injury. An injury may cost her the job. She will tail a toddler all over the park for hours just to catch him when he falls. She may freeze in fear as blood runs down the face of a three year old who was attacked by a shovel-wielding playmate. Nadia had been with the two boys she babysat for at least two years. The oldest boy was 3. He came over to say hello and show me the big cut on his knee. Nadia helped by pulling down his jeans so I could see the very large colorful bandaid. He demonstrated how it happened—he slipped on the wet sidewalk by the water fountain. I asked Nadia what it was like to tell his mother. She said it was ok, they’re good about that, but she had to write it down in the notebook like she does each day. Both parents work long hours. Three nannies share the childcare duties, two during the week and one on the weekend. Nadia leaves in the afternoon when the other nanny’s shift begins, and before the parents get home, so she must write the events of the day in a spiral notebook. In the best English possible, she scrawls what happened, what they ate for breakfast and lunch, where they went, and who got injured. “I don’t mind,” she confided, “because I get to work on my writing English so I learn.” Two months later, Nadia was replaced. The boy brought his new nanny over to meet me.

Carria goes all out

2008-08-12T12:20:00.000-07:00

Some people have a gift for connecting with children. The nanny I call Carria embodied the intimacy of emotional care, the emotional investment she was making each day. She was young, but most of the time she showed good judgment and the kind of energy working parents often cannot muster. She had lived-in with her client child and his single working mother since he first came home as a newborn. Eddie was adopted. The mother worked very long hours, so they formed a close bond. One day I saw her rolling in the grass with Eddie and another boy. Later a nanny put her child on Carria’s back and they played peek-a-boo with Eddie. Another time she entertained Eddie and his friends with a sand toy. She picked up a small plastic rake and silently raked imaginary sand off her shoulders, arms, and legs, very Charlie Chaplinesque. Then she handed it to Eddie to do the same. One day she playfully sat Eddie’s friend in a child’s toy stroller meant for dolls and pushed him across the grass. Eddie took the handles and pushed the little boy a few steps. Suddenly an English-speaker, possibly a mother, came over and said, “I’m sorry, but I need to take this.” Someone took the child out and the mother whisked the stroller away and placed it on top of a table where no children could reach. Carria had a rueful smile on her face as I walked over. She dismissed the mother’s concerns saying, “It was fun for them. If it broke I’d just buy a new one. It’s not real or expensive.” It was an awkward moment because Carria had missed a few cues. The stroller posed a danger because it was not built for real children. It belonged to another child and she had not asked to borrow it. Carria and the other nanny displayed a sense of entitlement I had not seen before.

A mother's conflicted emotions

2008-08-09T20:48:00.000-07:00

Shawna expressed a sentiment many mothers face—fear of turning your child over to someone you don’t know and possibly can’t understand. She really wants the free time a nanny could provide, but she struggles and asks herself, how could I let a stranger do this job? “My sister had a lot of success with her Filipina nanny so I found a lady a few weeks ago, and I should have hired her, but I didn’t. I’m overthinking this, but…” On the other hand, Shawna feels her sister is missing out on years and experiences she will never have again. It’s caused a rift between them. “I was kind of amazed really. I mean, weren’t we raised in the same house, under the same roof?” Shawna brings many conflicting views into consideration. Here at the park she notices a toddler crying for about the third time in twenty minutes. He is here with his Latina nanny. Shawna says, “She should take him home, go for a walk or something, but she stays so she can talk to friends.” She adds, “And they’re illegal. They don’t get paid very well, and have no benefits. No wonder they don’t do a good job.” A few days earlier I’d seen her with a temporary babysitter. Shawna pushed the baby in one stroller while a Latin American woman pushed the older child in another. How are you, I asked. “Good today, I have help,” Shawna answered. I encouraged her to meet more parents and nannies and keep talking in order to resolve her frustration. Privately I hoped she would come to appreciate the value of Latina nannies’ labor. Later I ask the crying child’s nanny what happened. His communication skills are underdeveloped and he really benefits from time in the park with other children and adults. The nanny explained that he cried because another boy refused to share candy.

Paulina wants something more for her own

2008-08-07T23:37:00.000-07:00

The park is sunny this Tuesday morning. Paulina is dwarfed by the plump baby she carries. She is less than five feet tall while the five-month old boy in her arms is big for his age. Her cell phone rings and she takes it. Her husband, a soldier stationed in Bakersfield, can only make calls at this hour. He moves from state to state while she works two jobs and leaves their 3-year-old daughter in the care of her mother. I ask her what her job is like. “It’s difficult!” The baby is heavy, her back hurts, and she misses her daughter. The baby’s older sister often questions Paulina’s authority when she wants to do something potentially dangerous. Paulina says “no” and the girl says, “Mommy says ‘yes.’” But Paulina has a good response: When you’re with me, I can’t let you do that. Her employer supports this declaring, “We work as a team.” Paulina wants her daughter to go to school and college so she will not have a job like this “with pain.” She showed me a photo of a disabled child she cared for many years until the family moved. They still stay in touch, send holidays cards and pictures. “She couldn’t move anything, or talk, and lived in a wheelchair. I learned a lot from that, about patience, caring.”

A nanny can make a big difference

2008-08-04T15:09:00.000-07:00

One morning Eloisa fed her 14-month-old client child strapped into his stroller. I considered her one of the most well-qualified nannies because she exhibited both warmth and intelligence. She spoke good English and had taught herself a few words in several other languages: Japanese, Arabic, and was currently reading the Bible in Hebrew. Raised a Catholic, she now practiced Judaism. She had also sampled the Church of Latter Day Saints upon arriving in the US. I asked how she prepared for this job? To my surprise Eloisa had never been a caregiver for children as young as the three boys in this family. She had three children of her own, ages 25, 23, and 12, and simply applied her good judgment. When she first started working for the boy's family, he did not talk at all. The previous babysitter never took him to the park, and instead induced sleep by driving him around in a carseat for hours. She neglected to teach him how to talk or repeat words with him, Eloisa explained. She felt his full-time working mother did not talk or teach him either. When the mother spoke, she gave commands as opposed to making conversation, or teaching through gentle repetition. "I teach him to speak [by repeating,]" she says. English or Spanish I ask. "Both." During my year of research in the park, the boy blossomed from quiet and unsociable to confident and relaxed, and Eloisa got a raise. Her self-instruction indicates that Eloisa aspires to much more than babysitting. But in the end fulfillment came from the boy's progress. Nannies and mothers share similar goals.

Dreams of making pupusas

2008-07-03T12:45:00.000-07:00

Maritza, 42, emigrated from El Salvador 14 years ago when her oldest daughter was 6. Her younger daughter, 10, translates for us during this interview. Maritza's job does not require much English because her patrona is Spanish from Argentina. The two girls she watches, ages 5 and 2, also speak Spanish. Cleaning the house and washing clothes are not required, only taking care of the children three days a week for six hours a day. "I do light cleaning but it's not my obligation, I do it from the heart."

When asked what she likes most about her job, Maritza answers, "Everything. I like the children, I like not cleaning. I adore the children."

Annthro: What do you like to buy, spend your money on?
Maritza: Comer (food!)

Her sister also babysits in Manhattan Beach, so they meet for lunch at the farmer's market and dine on pupusas with their client children. Maritza is known for her former informal job selling pupusas in a neighborhood store.

Annthro: What are your longterm goals?
Maritza: I want to make my own business making pupusas, no more children. There will be no time to care for them.

Cleaning, waiting, Juanita

2008-07-02T10:57:00.000-07:00

Juanita came from Jalisco, Mexico and has been waiting for her papers to be approved for 12 years. Her employers try to help her through their connections. She is 33 and holds a university degree. "Here I study English. I'm trying to get my education recognized from Mexico. I got a degree in Graphic design, and I finished, but I can't do anything here. I need to start all over again--They told me I need to finish my GED. I started working, got married, had a baby, I quit. For now, it's hard."

With all her advantages, she faced the same obstacles as less educated immigrants. "I didn't have work, I didn't have papers, couldn't find anything, and I couldn't speak English. I started caring for kids in my house."

Juanita babysits two small children three days a week for $12/hr. "If it's for children only it should be $12 an hour. For cleaning also, it should be more. I clean the house, Monday, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day, almost every day I clean the house."

What she likes least about this job is the cleaning. Says Juanita, "I can't take care of the kids and clean. I try to clean when the child is with me. I can't! Sometimes they [employers] don't appreciate what we do. They just say, 'I'm paying her, she can do whatever I want.' They don't see that it's too hard for me. I was working when I got pregnant. And I was cleaning too. I stopped working two weeks before I gave birth. So it's hard work. There are a lot of people like me. They work when they're pregnant and they just keep going..."

Juanita is another who quietly endures the indignity of no food provided. "Sometimes in the house there are not good foods for us to eat and it's not fair. We are with the kids and [employer] hasn't bought anything for us to eat. We don't eat the same foods as kids." This seems like a blindspot for employer mothers. Nannies have dietary needs more like their own and less like the high-fat high-cholesterol mac and cheese preferred by children.

Carria is the beginning and the end

2008-07-01T16:02:00.000-07:00

I met Carria when I began to explore the nannies' labor network in the nearby children's playground. This became a pilot study for the thesis I'm writing now. Carria had faltering English since she had been here only a year, but she was young and didn't seem to know many people. She was taking English at a nearby adult school and since she was willing to talk, I interviewed her. Carria had a live-in job watching the 4-month old son of a single working mother. She was the last of ten El Salvadoran brothers and sisters to join their mother here in LA. Her sister had a job waiting for her when she came, which demonstrates the family network as a means of procuring jobs. Carria brought the baby to the park twice a week. She was hungry for social interaction with anyone, adults or children. I interviewed her again 16 months later. The boy was 20 months old. They visited the park every day. Her English had greatly improved, she had moved out and now lived in her own apartment, drove to work, and planned to ask for a raise in a year. This job paid $11/hr. She worked four jobs to afford her rent. She loved her job and the little boy. The next time we met she told me her employer gave her two weeks to find a new job because the boy would enter preschool. Carria was shocked and hopeful. The employer promised to help her make ends meet. This never happened, but a few months later she had found two partime jobs. Carria was now very disillusioned. For example, a potential employer wanted childcare for 3 kids plus lots of cleaning for only $12/hr. I happened to interview a different nanny who was troubled by the set-up with her own employer. Sometimes the mother would hide under the bed so she wouldn't have to be with her own children, or ask the nanny to say she wasn't home. When this nanny left at the end of the day, another would come take over for the evening shift. Another came on weekends, and this mother did not hold a job. The night shift nanny was Carria. I felt my study had come full circle.

Investigator on the beach about half mile from the research site, a children's park in the South Bay

2008-05-13T09:06:00.001-07:00

Introduction rewrite

2008-05-12T21:52:00.000-07:00

International migration among women has grown at a higher rate than male migration over the last 20 years. In Latin America, women now represent 50.5% of migrants, a new historical marker in which female migration assumes a more important economic role in the global economy (Ramirez, Dominguez, and Morais 2005:4). Previous analyses of immigrant labor market outcomes in the U.S. have focused on the economic performance of men. In contrast, this study examines female Latin American immigrants as they perform childcare in American homes, while maintaining strong ties of reciprocity and solidarity with families and communities of origin. Through their monetary, social, and collective contributions, remittances, I will link US migration policy, security doctrine, and global capitalism to the experiences of transnational nannies in Southern California, and prove that they now function as primary economic providers for their families.

“I want to pay taxes, to put things in order.”

2008-05-06T19:41:00.000-07:00

Olga is anxious to acquire proof she is working and paying taxes in order to gain citizenship. Her employer claims it is “too much paperwork.” Olga shares her home with her three children, husband, sister-in-law and neice. House payments total $1400 monthly. Ten years ago when she worked for a factory, taxes and social security were deducted from her paycheck. She wants to pay taxes again so “I will have money when I’m 70.” The IRS sends a letter every year asking about employment. I gave her Form 1099 and 1096 printed instructions from my accountant and the internet, and when I saw her next several months later, she smiled broadly. Her employer had given her a raise and some clerical work in the home office, and began to pay taxes. Olga was elated.

Nanny gender issues come with economic independence

2008-05-06T19:37:00.000-07:00

Olga (not her real name) went to school in El Salvador for nine years, the closest thing to a high school degree. She has lived in California for 14 years and now wants to return to school, but her husband doesn’t support this. He is from Mexico and according to Olga, he does not believe education is important for her personally or professionally. He told her, “ My children need you. You cook, you clean, be there for them.” He doesn’t care about education and neither do his brothers. It was very different in Olga’s family.
"My sister is a grad student and another is an RN, a nurse. My brother works for the organization, Working for Food, and he’s a technician. We like education. I think it’s good to improve and make more money… I like taking my kids to the library, and to read at night. But my husband, he doesn’t do this. He doesn’t value education. I told him I can go to school at night, then I’ll make more money. No, he doesn’t want me out of the house. Machista! That’s what we call them (macho men from Mexico.)"
Olga proudly points out she makes as much as her husband working in a clothes factory. She enjoys economic equality but not equal rights within the home. She shook her head in frustration.

How the job description grows but not the salary

2008-05-04T22:11:00.000-07:00

Annthro: Do you do any housecleaning? “Light housekeeping?”
Alicia (not her real name): "Nooo, well that’s a problem, that’s not a very good job of cleaning, then they complain it’s not clean enough. Then you do a bad job of child care and cleaning."

"In our culture (Guatemala) they never teach you how to defend yourself, how to stand up for yourself, your rights. Here, they want you to be a childcare provider and also you are a housekeeper. It’s two separate jobs and you get paid for one. The employer asked me to come and clean while they were gone on vacation. But I said I need a rest. I’ll do it when I get back. I explain, I show her the human side. I do things with human value. The kids are important. They are the future of this country. I do that job. I don’t get paid for all the off hours stuff like taking to sports practices, music lessons. But this is how I do my part for this country."

Light housekeeping starts when the baby is small. "It’s bad because it starts when the baby is cute and sweet and sleeps a lot,” so there is time to clean a little here and there. Then they stop sleeping so much and the nanny has a lot of work because now the employer expects it.

Sotelo, Rivera, and others have noted exploitation like this among workers who do paid domestic work one-on-one in private homes. However, Alicia is experienced and tries to educate others.

Alicia: "When other women say, 'She makes me do this, do that,' I say no, you speak up. Don’t fight back and be aggressive. All these ladies are very resentful, saying, 'These ladies are lazy…' They resent the employers but they need the job, but they don’t know the right behavior. The nannies suffer from the employer but they need the work, for example, when they are waiting for the employer to come home and she is late. Are you happy with how your employer treats you? Do you have food to eat? Do you tell her how you feel at your work? Tell her. If the house is clean, the employer is happy. But the kids should come first. It’s nannies who know this, not the mothers."

Other nannies in my study noted that employers say the children should come first, but often expect cleaning to be done too. It can compromise the children, but most likely it compromises the employee. During a lull or naptime when the nanny could take a break or rest, she must do the housework without complaint.

What it's like for the children

2008-05-02T13:34:00.000-07:00

Geralda works 45 hours/wk. caring for two children. Their mother and father work full time outside the home. Geralda and I talked about her life as a twin growing up in Guatemala. This is not her real name. "We were born when my mother was 16. She was too young and could not raise us so we were brought up by my grandmother. My mother was around, but she didn't treat us like a mother, more like a sister. That's why I understand what it's like for the children [I care for] to not have their mother around because she is working, I understand and I help them with it."

Here Geralda refers to the client child who confided in her, "I spend more time with you than my mother." Most nannies try to assuage his or her guilty feelings. But the nannies I spoke with often choose to say nothing of these fears to the child's mother, because it may result in job loss. They handle it as best they can. Gerarda said gently, "Your mother is thinking about you right now. She is doing very important things at work. She looked for someone very special to be with you. Because I am very expensive!"

Geralda is well-qualified to address issues when both parents work, because she had no mother when she was young, and missed her very much. She later said, "My mother left us...She wasn't around, then she had another family. She didn't act like a mom, more like a sister... Later I talked to her about it when I was grown. My mother asked for forgiveness."

Is Geralda's exemplary emotional care appreciated by her employer? Geralda: "She is ok with how I talk to the kids, treat the kids. But when we are alone with each other, we clash. We are different types of women. She is controlling."

"Also I try to tell the Latinas who have left their children behind in their countries that they shouldn't. It is terrible for the kids. They grow up without their mothers and they feel alone, and eventually they feel nothing. Then resentment, hatred. It's not a good way to grow up. And when they get to be 20s or 30s, they come here [to the US] and they don't feel attached, they join gangs."

"Many women left children in home countries with a grandmother. Grandmothers send letters like this--I've seen them--'If you don't send money, we are going to put your child on the street!' I don't trust grandmas, and I don't trust aunts!"