Brazil’s domestic workers cut adrift in pandemic

Days after Brazil registered its first coronavirus death in March, the country began to close down. Businesses and restaurants were shuttered and people were told to stay home.

That’s when Rosangela Jesus dos Santos’s life changed unimaginably. The 47-year-old diarista, or daily housekeeper, was fired by most of her employers.

“They said it was because of the virus,” she says. “I went to a different house every day of the week and some clients are elderly, I understand.”

Rosangela is scared. She hopes she can return when the outbreak is over but, for now, she’s been left working just one day a week. Her remaining employer gives her a mask but at no point have they told her to stay home for her safety. She’s wary of the virus but she knows if she doesn’t work, she won’t get paid. Brazil has now seen more than 670,000 cases and almost 36,000 deaths.

“I need to work – my family is big, that’s the truth,” she says, adding: “I would like to be working and I’m used to it, going out early and coming home late.”