El Sindicato del Servicio Doméstico y la Obra de Nazareth: entre asistencialismo, paternalismo y conflictos de interés, Bogotá, 1938-1960

Organizing housemaids to form a trade union has been quite a difficult task because of the characteristics of this occupation,the lack of school education of its members, and the traditional undervaluation and disdain such an important activity generates. Not many people are aware of a relatively long history of attempts for organizing these workers and that in the 1940s the foundation of the first domestic service union was set by a Catholic Church initiative through the so-called Catholic Action. The purpose of this paper is to reconstruct part of this story, highlighting the paternalistic bias of the organization and, even though the movement had female leadership, activities and development of the union were determined by the support given by the clergy and the ecclesiastical institution. Also, although it was a lay organization in its beginnings, the union served as for the creation of two women religious orders.