How can we achieve lasting social and political equality for women? Leda Pérez tackles this thorny question in Searching for Democracy by interrogating egalitarianism in Latin America, where nearly 20% of women work in domestic service. She examines how women's participation in society, labor, and politics continues to be conditioned by their relationship to domestic and care work.
Pérez argues that women's relationship to these spheres of life is indicative of a nation's development and democracy. She provides a comparative focus on the socio-cultural valuation of this labor and the experiences of women in Bolivia, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay, among other countries. Pérez asserts that it is only by changing sociocultural views on this "women's work" that nations can create political change, foster equitable legislation, and ensure implementation of effective policies that benefit women.
Searching for Democracy shows why real and lasting equality cannot be achieved without fully enfranchising women in the lowest tiers of employment and closing the equality gap among women. Pérez's models for gender equality are relevant for women around the world.
About the Author :
Leda M. Pérez is Associate Professor in the Department of Social and Political Science at the Universidad del Pacífico in Lima, Peru. She is the coeditor of Mujeres, trabajadoras y mucho más: Los desafíos del trabajo del hogar en América Latina and editor of La economía del cuidado, mujeres y desarrollo: perspectivas desde el mundo y América Latina.
Review :
"At a time when, across the world, domestic workers are struggling to have the value of their work recognized socially and economically, Searching for Democracy is a valuable contribution to this struggle. Providing an extensive analysis of the working conditions and lives of domestic workers across Latin America, Leda Pérez demonstrates how their 'search for democracy' has profound implications for the organization of social reproduction and is a struggle that affects all women."—Silvia Federici, Professor Emerita and Teaching Fellow at Hofstra University and author of Revolution at Point Zero: Housework, Reproduction, and Feminist Struggle
"Searching for Democracy is a major contribution to feminist political economy and social reproduction theory in Latin America. Leda Pérez offers a theoretically rich and empirically grounded analysis of how care, reproductive labor, and women's work in precarious sectors shape the boundaries of citizenship, rights, and democratic participation. By placing social reproduction at the center of democratic analysis, this book powerfully redefines key debates on inequality and inclusion and will become an essential reference for scholars of gender, labor, and democracy." —Karina Batthyány, Professor of Sociology at the University of the Republic (UDELAR), Uruguay, and author of Políticas del cuidado
