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Searching Outside of the Live-in Environment: The Switch to Household Day Labor

Female migrants seeking a form of employment less restrictive than domestic work often turned to household day labor, to work as laundresses. Within this field women felt as though they had more control over their tasks; they felt they "owned" their work. They had the freedom to direct their tasks in the manner they chose, as opposed to taking orders from the wife of the house over the course of a day. As Velma Davis explained, "When I got to work by the days, I'd work my way….People took to day work to finally get to work by theyself" (Clark-Lewis 206). In addition, household day labor released women from the isolation of the domestic arena. With their new mobility, women had the power to make more social contacts, to communicate more effectively. Their realm of physical space became more fluid as well. Instead of living alone, with a white family, a position as a laundress allowed the worker to move into a boardinghouse, where other day-laborers lived, therefore providing a variety of social networks. Clark-Lewis argues that, with the onset of household day labor, "the structure that had created social marginality among African-Americans….was slowly being dismantled" (Clark-Lewis 205).

Searching Outside of the Live-in Environment: The Switch to Household Day Labor

Female migrants seeking a form of employment less restrictive than domestic work often turned to household day labor, to work as laundresses. Within this field women felt as though they had more control over their tasks; they felt they "owned" their work. They had the freedom to direct their tasks in the manner they chose, as opposed to taking orders from the wife of the house over the course of a day. As Velma Davis explained, "When I got to work by the days, I'd work my way….People took to day work to finally get to work by theyself" (Clark-Lewis 206). In addition, household day labor released women from the isolation of the domestic arena. With their new mobility, women had the power to make more social contacts, to communicate more effectively. Their realm of physical space became more fluid as well. Instead of living alone, with a white family, a position as a laundress allowed the worker to move into a boardinghouse, where other day-laborers lived, therefore providing a variety of social networks. Clark-Lewis argues that, with the onset of household day labor, "the structure that had created social marginality among African-Americans….was slowly being dismantled" (Clark-Lewis 205).