Hard Work Pays Off When You Have the Rights to Make It Count By Jackielyn Bielgo
- thevoiceofdomesticworkers
- 5 minutes ago
- 3 min read
I have been a domestic worker for six to ten years, beginning in December 2017. I rise at six o'clock each morning and bring to my work something that has defined my entire journey in this profession: the belief that hard work must pay off. Not as a hope, but as a principle. And increasingly, as a demand.
My strength comes from my family, from my knowledge of my rights, and from my hope for a better future. Those three sources of strength speak to someone who is both personally motivated and structurally aware. I know why I work. I know what I am working toward. And I know what the rules say I should be able to expect in return.
On my hardest days, it is the thought of my children's future that keeps me going. There is something clarifying about that kind of motivation. When things feel uncertain or heavy, I come back to those faces and that future, and the path forward becomes clear again.
What I want the world to know is also a demand, simple and non-negotiable. I deserve equal rights. Not extra rights. Not special treatment. Equal. The same protections, the same standing, and the same basic respect that any worker in any other field would receive without question.
I rate the world's current understanding of domestic worker dignity and value at only two out of five. That is a low score, and it is an honest one. The gap between the contribution I make and the recognition I receive is one of the most persistent injustices in the current labour system, and I have been living inside that gap for years.
The rights I believe must be restored are the right to change employer without restrictions and the right to renew the Overseas Domestic Worker Visa. I identify the inability to renew the visa as the most damaging loss, and rate the urgency of restoring pre-2012 rights at the highest level. I consider the right to settlement and the path to citizenship as life-changing.
VODW's campaigns for employer freedom and visa renewal are precisely aligned with what I need. The right to change employer without restrictions means that I do not have to stay in a situation that harms me. The right to renew the visa means that continuity is possible, that I can plan for the future rather than simply managing the present from one uncertain arrangement to the next.
I spend five hours each week worrying about my job and visa situation. Five hours that could be rest, family time, or simply peace. The government offers only partial protection to migrant domestic workers. Workers must speak up. Governments must make laws. NGOs and advocates must raise awareness. The work of change belongs to everyone.
If these rights were restored, hard work pays off. Those four words are my whole philosophy. I have been working hard for years. I deserve a system that rewards that work with rights, stability, and the confidence that what I give will be met with something real in return. VODW is fighting to make sure it will be.
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