Workers or servants? The exclusion of the domestic service from trade unionism. Barcelona, 1870-1939

Historiography has paid little attention to the situation of the domestic sector. From the last third of the 19th century, this already feminized sector was, after the textile industry, the one with the greatest number of female workers in Barcelona, mostly young, single and immigrant girls. Until 1931, the sector was excluded from labour legislation and social protection so it became progressively more insecure. During this period, the labour movement, in both its anarchist and socialist variants, urged women workers to join workers’ organizations. However, since it viewed domestic employees as servants and not as workers, it excluded them from its trade union programmes. This article analyzes trade unionism’s views on domestic service and its exclusion from working-class organizations.