INVISIBILIZAÇÃO DO TRABALHO DOMÉSTICO FEMININO: PERCEPÇÃO E VALORIZAÇÃO PROFISSIONAL EM CACOAL, RO

The current paper had as general aim to deepen the knowledge about housekeepers in the Cacoal city, State of Rondônia (Brazil), and thus understand this category in the cacoal work culture. The objective was to identify the degree of valuation about the housekeepers, their profile, perceptions, meanings, as well as their relevance to the local economy. In virtue of being a social phenomenon, the methodology was interdisciplinary research combination with exploratory, descriptive and explanatory field research, allied to Hegelian inductive and dialectical methods as an approach. The data were collected and tabulated, characterizing the qualitative-quantitative research resulting from a sample of 73 women in the city of Cacoal. A high perception of invisibility was identified related to domestic professionals in the municipality. It was identified that most don’t work as a housekeeper because they like it, but due to lack of opportunity, many have even high school and are university students. They still play the role of the head of the household even without a formal contract. The housekeepers in Cacoal feel contempt for the profession within their own family, neighborhood and commerce, especially when “getting an installment credit plan”. In addition to invisibility, the study identified other problems faced by the majority, namely: Moral and sexual harassment, racism and mainly because the majority of employees identify as black, and other forms of abuse. The study identifies small nuances of changes after the advent of favorable legislation such as the Housekeeper Law in Brazil (PEC das domestics) and the economic effects after Covid-19 pandemic.