As a consequence of Brazil’s historical and cultural heritage of slavery, inequality and discrimination and as exemplified by the stories of the four Brazilian housemaids as depicted in the movie Doméstica and beyond, the aftermath of Brazil’s mainstream feminist revolution has built a harsh reality for the women whose concerns and life experiences were overlooked by the revolution. Mainstream feminism failed to address the vulnerability of the women who, in addition to being women, are part of other socio-political minorities (Moraes, 2011). Moreover, by disregarding and rejecting the life experiences of discriminated and poor women, mainstream feminism evolved to worsen the situation of these women, who were on demand to work as domestic servants of the “liberated…show more content… The combination of different forms of oppression produced something unique and distinct from any other form of stand-alone discrimination. It transforms into a new specific kind of oppression, which has been called by sociologists call ‘intersectional’ discrimination—having race, class, patriarchy as main pillars. Maids in Brazil, for instance, are among the most discriminated groups in the country, as most of them accumulate the burdens of being not only women, but also poor and black or mestiças.
The oppression experienced by these women has little to do with the oppression experienced by wealthy white women. Thus, their claims are not well expressed neither by mainstream feminism—which is dominated by white women— nor by racial movements or worker unions—which are dominated by men. They are, therefore, left more vulnerable than other minority groups, because participating in those movements would involve the fragmentation of such groups—which is very
