The Help and domestic workers

Two things right up front: I have worked as a domestic employee for nearly five years now and I have refused to see The Help. And on we go...

The Help came out last year, and this weekend it was nominated for a fair few Oscars. Now, the reason I haven't seen this film is because I think it's harmful. I hear that it greatly sugarcoats the absolute misery of Jim Crow America and largely reduces the African American maids to supporting roles for the young white star. Maybe I should see it and decide these things for myself, but in general I don't like spending money on things that misrepresent history.

All of this has been discussed before, particularly with great eloquence by Melissa Harris-Perry; if you haven't watched her new weekend MSNBC show, you should start. So I'll move along to my point. What The Help has done well is shine a light on domestic workers. While the movie (and book, of course) was about African American maids in the first half of the last century, there are still many issues facing domestics today.

In only one state (New York) is there real protection for domestic workers, and that did not come about until 2010. This was not come by easily, either; groups like the National Domestic Works Alliance launched worked for years to pass the Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights. The same group is currently pushing a similar bill through in California. Domestic workers were excluded from parts of the National Labor Relations Act during FDR's presidency to appease Southern segregationists. The fact that this has not changed in any state but New York is absolutely despicable and terrifying.

As a nanny myself, I spend a lot of time in playgrounds with other nannies. While I may make an absurd amount, I have sat with women who make less than minimum wage with no overtime despite working far more than 40 hours per week. They don't have health insurance or paid time off, despite often having children of their own to care for. Nothing regulates this, and we all benefit from it and are hurt by it. We may love being paid under the table, but every now and then things happen that make us really wish we were accounted for somewhere as an employee. That someone was held responsible.

I'm one of the lucky ones. The worst experiences I've ever had have been sexual harassment from fathers, a few unpaid hours, and the general annoyances of working for bizarre people in their homes. I am paid a decent wage and get to return home to my own apartment at the end of the day. This is not true for most, and it will continue being a distant dream for them as long as they remain underrepresented.