The National Domestic Workers Union and the War on Poverty

Authors

Elizabeth Beck, Georgia State University

Abstract

This article explores values, strategies, and tensions found within the War on Poverty and examines a War on Poverty-supported initiative, the National Domestic Workers Union (NDWU). The article makes the argument that the NDWU is illustrative of the War on Poverty in that each held structurally based descriptions of poverty and individually based prescriptions. The article explores the relationship of domestic service to the institutions of racism, classism, and sexism and how the ND WU strategies of training, service, and, advocacy-like those of the War on Poverty-sought to address the needs of individual domestic workers while circumventing larger and more complicated issues.

Recommended Citation

Beck, Elizabeth (2001) "The National Domestic Workers Union and the War on Poverty," The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare: Vol. 28: Iss. 4, Article 11.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15453/0191-5096.2772
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol28/iss4/11