Domestic Workers Are the Backbone of Society and Peace of Mind Is What We Have Always Deserved By Elyn Jean

I have been a domestic worker since January 2004. More than twenty years. Two decades of waking early, of caring for households, of showing up with skill and commitment for families who depend on me. I begin my mornings at eight and I carry into every working day the same message I want the world to hold: I am the backbone of society, and I deserve rights.

My strength comes from my family alone, and on the hardest days it is the thought of my children's future that sustains me. That connection between the daily sacrifice and the long-term hope has carried me through twenty years of this work, and it will continue to carry me forward.

I am completely hopeful that things will improve for domestic workers, giving that belief the highest rating. I also believe the world fully understands the value and dignity of this profession. Every group around me, employers, government, public, and media, offers only a little respect in my experience. The gap between the understanding and the action is significant, and it is what this movement is working to close.

I want the world to know that domestic workers like me are the backbone of society. Without the invisible labour of people like me, the structures of daily life would not hold. The careers enabled, the children cared for, the households maintained, these are the contributions that make everything else possible.

The right I identify as most urgently needing restoration is the right to renew the Overseas Domestic Worker Visa. I rate the urgency of restoring pre-2012 rights at the absolute maximum and consider every right related to domestic work as life-changing. The inability to renew the visa is the most painful single loss because it removes continuity from a life that has already given twenty years to this country.

VODW's campaign for the right to renew the ODW Visa is precisely the kind of structural change that would alter my daily reality. After two decades of service, the right to renew, to continue, to stay without fear should not be something I have to fight for. But fight for it I must, and VODW stands alongside me in that fight.

I spend four hours each week worrying about my job and visa situation. Four hours that could be rest. Four hours that could be family. Four hours that belong to uncertainty instead of living. That number, modest as it sounds, represents years of accumulated anxiety for someone who has been doing this work since 2004.

Workers must speak up and raise awareness. Governments must make laws. NGOs and advocates must use their voice and their reach. Change is collective, and twenty years of experience gives me the perspective to know that real change takes sustained effort from every direction.

If these rights were restored, my answer is both practical and profound. I would have peace of mind and I would be able to work freely. Peace of mind. After twenty years, that is what I am asking for. Not special treatment. Not extraordinary reward. Peace of mind. The quiet confidence of knowing I am protected, valued, and free to do my work without the background noise of legal uncertainty. VODW fights for that peace, for me and for every domestic worker who has given years of her life to this country and deserves to receive security in return.

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