Participation in this event is open to Gender in the Global Community student fellows only.

The Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination's Project on Gender in the Global Community (GGC) will host Ai-jen Poo, Executive Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and a 2014 MacArthur Foundation “genius” fellow, as guest speaker at the GGC student fellows bi-monthly meeting on Tuesday, November 7, 2017, from 9:00-10:00 a.m. in 020 Robertson Hall. Ms. Poo will be at the Woodrow Wilson School from November 7-8 as a Leadership Visitor.

Ai-jen Poo is a labor organizer whose compelling vision of the value of home-based care work is transforming the landscape of working conditions and labor standards for domestic or private-household workers. The estimated 1–2 million domestic workers—housekeepers, nannies, caregivers for the elderly or disabled—in the United States today are excluded from most federal and state labor laws, including collective bargaining; occupational safety and health protections; sick and vacation pay; and protection from discrimination and sexual harassment. Combining a deep understanding of the complex tangle of human relations around domestic work with keen strategic skills, Poo has created a vibrant, worker-led labor movement and spearheaded successful legislative campaigns at the national and international levels. As lead organizer of the New York City–based Domestic Workers United (2000–2009), she spent countless hours in parks, buses, and other gathering places for domestic workers, creating opportunities for these largely isolated women to share their experiences, guiding mistreated workers to appropriate legal channels, articulating the vital economic role of domestic workers, and developing with workers a framework of legal standards for the industry. In 2010, New York enacted the Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights—which entitles workers to overtime pay, one day of rest per week, protection from discrimination, and three days paid leave per year—after a hard-fought seven-year legislative campaign led by Poo and a dedicated group of workers and advocates. The bill also drew support from an unlikely coalition of domestic workers, their employers, and other unions forged by Poo’s ability to leverage common interests across diverse groups.

Ai-jen Poo received a B.A. (1996) from Columbia University and began her work in organizing in 1996 with the Women Workers Project at the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence. She co-founded Domestic Workers United in 2000 and served as lead organizer until 2009, and she joined the National Domestic Workers Alliance as executive director in 2010. She is also co-director of Caring Across Generations.