Frequent changes of work place

Already during my fieldwork, the importance of domestic work for migrant women became clear. For many women, it turns out to be one of the few niches available to them, or even the only niche.¹⁵⁰ This observation is supported by the fact that almost all research participants worked for some time as domestic workers, generally as internas. The reasons why many migrant women decide to work – at least temporarily – in this special part of the service industry will be discussed later, for instance in chapter 4. However, the work as domestic worker is often not the first job in Portugal for most women. Usually, the research participants had already various other jobs before their employment as interna, as the following two cases exemplify:

149 For an audible impression – Amália Rodrigues:

Estranha forma de vida: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFgctURyGp4&feature=related Gaivota: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP4BnfUm0eI&feature=related

Canção do Mar/Solidão: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-JXKvlGc9U&feature=related [all accessed 28.02.2012]

150 Cp. the analysis of the segmentation of the labour market, earlier in this chapter, and see chapter 4.1 for the global dimension of domestic and caring work also in the Portuguese context.

When LUDMILA arrived in Lisbon, she was able to stay the first nights with a friend of hers. LUDMILA tells that, during her first week, she did not have a proper job yet and managed only to get some occasional work like cleaning for a few hours in private houses. Soon she found a small job as a babysitter: a Brazilian woman who worked every night as a stripper needed someone who stayed overnight with her little daughter. LUDMILA did that for one month, though she did not get much money because the other woman did not have much either. At least it was a beginning, says LUDMILA , and she had a place to sleep. Then she found a position in a casa de repousos, retirement home, outside Lisbon. The directora promised LUDMILA a work contract, which made LUDMILA very happy and content. In spite of repeatedly promising her the contract, it never materialised. LUDMILA stayed three months, sleeping at night on the office floor. She tells that this job was very demanding and physically hard, lifting the elderly people, washing them, etc. Many could not control their bowl movements any more, others had begun to lose their full mental functioning. LUDMILA finds that for her the most difficult was not the physically hard labour but the job "era mais pesado psicologicamente", 'was more difficult to deal with psychologically'. To see "a isolação, a soledade", 'the isolation, the solitude' of the old people deeply affected LUDMILA. She tells that the relatives hardly came to visit, and if they do come, they usually drop in on the weekend for half an hour, with a rushed and cool air about them. Nobody seems to care about these old people, observes LUDMILA. She tells me in length in particular about one woman, an elegant Portuguese lady who enjoyed displaying her wealth overtly. She came every Saturday to see her mother for 30 minutes, bringing expensive perfume and crème and then disappearing again. LUDMILA

saw that she was not caring at all for her mother. LUDMILA felt pity for the old lady and sometimes, when she could arrange a little spare time, put the crème on the lady's face telling her things like "para fazer a senhora bonita", 'to make the lady look beautiful'. She tells that the old lady was very happy and moved then, with tears in her eyes. LUDMILA found it very painful to observe repeatedly over the weeks how much the residents are waiting for the weekend

in the hope of visitors, and then they come and disappear immediately again.

"Me dava pena, muita pena", 'it hurt me, it hurt me a lot', sighs LUDMILA, putting her hand on her décolleté. By coincidence she heard that somebody was needing a doméstica interna and she expressed immediately her interest. Thus, she found her next employment and was relieved to be able to leave behind the job at the retirement home. (FN 29)

LUDMILA then worked as an interna for 16 months. I described LUDMILA'spath into domestic service at length to indicate the multiple reasons the migrant women have to change their work positions. LUDMILA found her work in the retirement home too emotionally challenging and psychologically difficult, she felt very touched by the residents' fate and suffered with them, as she said to me once.

Frequent job changes are also usual for women who got an employment promised by a friend before their departure. Some of them find out upon arrival in Portugal that the work place they came for is not available anymore. This happened for instance to GABRIELA, as I made reference to earlier:

GABRIELA's decision to migrate was triggered by a friend who called and offered her employment in Portugal. When GABRIELA arrived she found out that the job in the pastelaria, bakery, was not available any more. Her friend, however, did not let her down and put GABRIELA up for some months, both women sharing the only bed. GABRIELA's friend did den help to arrangar otro trabalho, to find another job, as ajudante de cocinha, kitchen helper in a restaurant. (FN 15, 16, 20) GABRIELA worked as a kitchen helper for three months but had problems with a cocinha, the female cook and chef, who worked very fast and expected the same from GABRIELA. She tells me that, surely, she always prepared the food at home, for the whole family and friends but that she does not have experience in cooking those large quantities and with the speed needed in a professional kitchen. GABRIELA felt that the cook demanded too much of her and felt very uncomfortable in this job. Thus she

was glad when she found another employment, this time "numa pequena tipografia", 'in a small printing office'. The work environment and colleagues were very friendly. For instance, one of GABRIELA'stasks was to put cards into envelopes and then into plastic covers. She tells that through this work her fingertips got burned by the alkaline and became completely insensitive and numb. Still, GABRIELA enjoyed working there because of her colleagues. Her work situation changed when her friend's husband left his work place and returned to work in Lisbon. Consequently, GABRIELA had to move out and search for a place to stay. She found a room in a shared flat with other migrants;

she had to share one single bed in a tiny room with a young woman. At first, the arrangement seemed to work well as the other woman slept during the day, and got up at 11 pm to work throughout the night. After her first relief to have found a sleeping place, GABRIELA noticed that it was a problem to have to wait every evening till 11 pm until she was able to go to bed, having to sit quietly for not waking the other in the dark and unaired room. Thus after a few months, the possibility to take on a job as interna seemed very attractive as it offered her also a room for herself. GABRIELA started to work for an 'old' Portuguese family

"da sociedade alta, muito alta", 'of the high society, very high', who is nowadays relatively impoverished, yet still trying to live the old style, which includes also to have a live-in maid. GABRIELA'sfingertips remained insensitive for a few weeks after having stopped working in the printing office, then, bit by bit, GABRIELA started to feel again something in her fingertips. She assures me that now her fingertips are ok again. (FN 16, 17)

GABRIELA's case illustrates how far the job situation can be linked to the general living situation, in particular to housing possibilities, their respective problems, as well as to health issues. Among the reasons frequently given by the migrants for a change of employment that are unfulfilled promises for work, too high demands and pressure on them, and the lack of privacy. A frequent issue is also an unsafe and health threatening work environment, often without any social protection, accident insurance or compensation agreements due to the lack of a contract – I will explore this more in detail later. Other

migrants change their work places because of unpaid salaries, general problems with the employer, the employer's refusal to give a work contract, different kinds of exploitation, sexual harassment, discrimination, abuse etc. These experiences will be described and analysed in the following sections. They can lead to a change of work place – but one has to note that many migrant women are not necessarily in a situation that allows them to take this step and, thus, they have to live and cope with continuing risks and/or discriminative behaviour towards them.