Respect Our Job and Our Dignity Because Both Have Always Been Worth Everything By Katy

I begin my workday at five in the morning. For six to ten years, I have been rising in the dark, preparing for a day that will be full of careful, responsible work inside a household that depends on me. I have been doing this quietly and consistently, without complaint, because what matters most to me is the job itself and the family it supports.

My strength comes from my family, and on the hardest days it is the thought of my children's future that helps me through. That connection between my sacrifice and their possibility is the invisible engine behind everything I do. I am moderately hopeful that things will improve for domestic workers. That number reflects an honest view of where things stand today, not where they will always be.

What I want the world to understand is expressed simply and firmly: please respect our job and our dignity. It is a sentence that carries years of experience. The job is real. It requires skill, consistency, emotional intelligence, and physical endurance. And the person doing it has dignity, a dignity that should be reflected in how the work is treated and how the worker is treated.

I believe the world fully understands the value of domestic workers. But understanding and acting on that understanding are two different things, and the gap between them is exactly where domestic workers currently live.

The right I believe must be restored is the right to change employer without restrictions. I identify the inability to stay and settle as the loss that has hurt domestic workers most. These two points speak to the same underlying need: the freedom to choose, to move, to stay, and to build a life that is not permanently dependent on the decisions of others.

The right to change employer without restrictions is at the core of VODW's advocacy for a reason. When I cannot leave my employer without jeopardising my visa status, I lose something fundamental. I lose the ability to say no. I lose the protection of being able to walk away from a situation that is harmful. That protection is not a small thing. It is the foundation of any fair working relationship.

I spend two hours each week worrying about my job and visa situation. I believe raising awareness is how change begins, and I look to workers, the public, and governments all to take that responsibility seriously.

When asked what it would mean if these rights were restored, my answer is quietly powerful. Strength and right. Those two words together say everything. The strength has always been mine. The right is what the system owes me. VODW is the bridge between them, and my voice is part of the reason that bridge is being built.

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