O agravamento da precarização do trabalho doméstico remunerado no Brasil em face da pandemia de Covid-19

Abstract

This research investigates the worsening precarization of paid domestic work in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic, examining how the health crisis intensified inequalities historically structured by relations of gender, race, and class. The relevance of this study lies in the central role of paid domestic work in social and economic reproduction, as well as in the persistence of its invisibility and lack of protection despite the legal advances achieved over recent decades. The research is guided by the following question: To what extent did the COVID-19 pandemic intensify pre-existing processes of precarization in paid domestic work, and which institutional, economic, social, and symbolic mechanisms contributed to this worsening? The study aims to understand the relationship between the pandemic and the deepening precarization of this occupational category, taking the Brazilian context as its analytical particularity while prioritizing the experiences of Black domestic workers. This is a mixed-methods (quantitative and qualitative), descriptive, and explanatory study based on documentary analysis, the collection and analysis of official statistical indicators, content analysis of freely accessible news articles published in Brazilian media outlets, and analysis of posts published on the Instagram accounts @euempregadadomestica and @fenatrad.br. The theoretical framework is grounded in intersectional feminism, the coloniality of power and gender, and social reproduction theory, enabling an understanding of how race, gender, and class structure the social division of labor and produce different levels of vulnerability. The thesis is organized into ten chapters covering the historical development of paid domestic work, its legal framework, structural inequalities, quantitative indicators of the occupation, forms of violence and precarization, the role of the State during the pandemic, workers' strategies of resistance, and media narratives about domestic work. The findings demonstrate that the pandemic did not initiate the precarization of paid domestic work but rather intensified long-standing inequalities, increasing informality, social insecurity, exposure to violence, emotional exploitation, economic vulnerability, and the burden borne by Black women. The results also reveal the inadequacy of the public policies implemented during the period, the persistence of structural mechanisms of subordination, and the importance of collective organizations and digital networks in fostering resistance and political visibility. This study contributes to a broader understanding of the multiple dimensions of the precarization of paid domestic work in times of crisis, providing support for academic debate and for the formulation of public policies aimed at promoting gender, racial, and social equality, as well as recognizing and valuing care work.