Abstract

BOFILL-POCH, Sílvia  and  PORRAS, Raúl Márquez. Defenselessness, injustice and deservingness regarding domestic workers: analysis of two judicial cases. Etnográfica [online]. 2020, vol.24, n.1, pp.225-244. ISSN 0873-6561.  https://doi.org/10.4000/etnografica.8487.

Domestic workers in Spain occupy a vulnerable position in the labor market, and in society in general, due to economic, legal and cultural factors. Because of this vulnerability, they are frequently accused of crimes by their employers, in particular theft, robbery or fraud. These accusations, in fact, hide work-related motives and reveal the defenselessness of the workers in the face of the justice system, as well as unequal dynamics in their relationships with employers, legal and state agents. We address two judicial cases reconstructed from direct testimonies. Showing overlaps in the legal and moral dimensions of law, we highlight the banalization of criminal accusations by employers; the use of the frame of deservingness by all parties; the cruelty in the action of employers and their representatives; and the objective risks that the workers are submitted to when performing their work in private homes. We also address the stigmas and prejudices related to gender, class and race that give credibility to the lawsuits and determine, to a large extent, their outcomes. Contrary to what we might expect, the law becomes an instrument of aggression to sustain injustice, defenselessness and vulnerability.

Keywords : domestic work; lawsuit; theft; morality; injustice; deservingness.

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