Claiming Our Voice Panel Discussion with Gulnahar Alam (lead organizer and founder of Andolan: Organizing South Asian Workers), Jennifer Pritheeva Samuel (filmmaker & director of Claiming our Voice), YaliniDream (performance artist featured in the film) and Sheila Bapat (author of Part of the Family? Nannies, Housekeepers, Caregivers and the Struggle for Domestic Workers' Rights) offer remarks on domestic workers' rights. Learn about the challenges and successes of South Asian worker organizing efforts in the United States. This discussion is moderated by Preeti Mangala Shekar. This event was co-sponsored by Reimagine Race, Poverty and the Environment and ASATA (Alliance of South Asians Taking Action) and held at Oakstop Coworking in the heart of downtown Oakland.
Claiming Our Voice is a film about South Asian domestic worker organizing.
There are more than 1.8 million domestic workers in the United States, many of whom toil in often unregulated and exploitative work conditions hidden from view in the homes of employers. Immigrant women of color constitute a disproportionate number of these domestic workers.
Claiming Our Voice interviews the women of Andolan, an organization founded and led by South Asian immigrant low-wage workers in New York City who organize collectively against exploitative work conditions. The film joins the women as they prepare to share their stories in a multi-lingual theater performance directed by YaliniDream.