UC Sociology Professor Earns Rockefeller Residency

Erynn Masi de Casanova, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Cincinnati, has spent years studying housework. Specifically, she researches how domestic workers — typically women and typically poor — fare in Ecuador, a country where the low-paying jobs are mostly filled by Ecuadorians.

Her research and work on an upcoming book on the topic landed her a prestigious writing residency from the Rockefeller Foundation for spring 2017. She’ll be working alongside a range of other academic writers, artists, and researchers at the Bellagio Center on the shores of Lake Como in northern Italy. The center houses conferences and residency programs for scholars, artists and other leaders. 

Casanova began researching Ecuadorian domestic workers more than six years ago after seeing media coverage of their working conditions and learning that little was known about what kind of laborers took those jobs and why.

“Nobody says, ‘My dream is to clean somebody’s house for a living,’ ” she said. “It’s kind of a last resort job that doesn’t have a lot of barriers to entry and doesn’t require a formal education.”

Since 2010, Casanova has been partnering with a domestic worker organization in Ecuador in efforts to gather data and raise awareness about issues of workplace inequality. Through surveys and interviews, she and her team discovered that most Ecuadorian domestic workers are single mothers toiling away and yet denigrated because their jobs are seen as menial  “women’s work.” These women live on the margins of society because of poverty, racism and lack of education, she said.

Studying inequalities in the workplace comes naturally to the College of Arts and Sciences associate professor, who is interested in the mechanisms that keep inequality in place. During her residency, she will work on her book, "Dust and Dignity," in which she explores domestic work and the struggle for women to retain both dignity and employment.

She noted that the requirement for Ecuadorian domestic workers to be part of the national social security system is not consistently enforced. It is essentially up to employers to ensure their employees are covered. Without social security, domestic workers are left without health care options or benefits for retirement.

“In a job like domestic work, where there is physical labor, you can’t do it until you’re 90. I mean you can, but you probably shouldn’t,” said Casanova. “So what are those workers going to do when they get too old to do the work and cannot get hired because of their age?”

Domestic work in the United States and in Ecuador are similar, says Casanova. In both countries, the work is invisible, not well regulated and laws are not enforced. However, most domestic workers in the U.S. are migrants, while in Ecuador most workers are natives. No matter the background of the worker, though, domestic jobs are still exploitative, she said.

“There is still something inherent in the work that leads to these bad working conditions,” she said. “You can’t just say, ‘Oh. it’s just because they are migrants that people ignore their needs and treat them badly.’”

Casanova said she is looking forward to thinking across academic disciplines with scholars, artists, and activists who have radically different specializations as she writes about her research and findings.

“The residency will help move me forward into new areas, not as far as topics, but as far as how I put the project and work together,” she said. “I’m excited because it’s going to push me to do things in a different way than I have before.”