Drawing on ethnographic research in Tanzania, this contribution illustrates the relationships of hierarchical interdependence between domestic workers and the people they work for. From their childhood, the women I interviewed move from rural to urban areas to work as domestic workers in (kin and non-kin) households. Working conditions vary from situations where female workers are exposed to severe forms of exploitation (labour, psychological, physical and sexual abuse), to others where they are able to negotiate better conditions, e.g. a wage (albeit minimal) or the possibility of attending school. For some women, establishing new relationships with well-off people in the city may be a way of obtaining some form of protection that would otherwise be inaccessible. The interpersonal relationships they create with employers are often ambiguous: a negotiated hierarchical interdependence where practices of power, domination, subordination, care and protection coexist. Many employers tend to describe themselves as protective “family members” offering poor village girls opportunities for a better life in the city. The rhetoric about fostering practices, the display of compassionate sentiments, and the emphasis with which employers describe welcoming practices towards women, contribute to masking labour relations. Domestic servants are seen as people who are indebted to those who provide hospitality. Moreover, for many employers, having female workers in their employ is a way to strengthen their personal prestige and that of their family in society. Domestic workers, on the one hand, define the people they work for as protective persons to whom they show gratitude and recognition. On the other hand, they threaten to leave the household of their employers, feeling over-exploited in terms of both work and social gratification. The contribution reflects on hierarchical relations of interdependence by referring to both the testimonies of domestic workers and those of the people they work for.
