Disposable Domestics: Immigrant Women Workers in the Global Economy.

Disposable Domestics: Immigrant Women Workers in the Global Economy by Grace Chang Foreword by Mimi Abramovitz South End Press. 235 pages. $18.00.

Disposable Domestics shows us how the feminization of poverty is being globalized. Poor women of the Third World don't immigrate voluntarily, Chang explains, but from necessity. They follow the flow of resources out of their countries to the First World, where they become exploitable commodities. Denied citizen and worker rights, they are disposed of when no longer needed.

The exploitation of immigrant women today follows past patterns of discrimination against male immigrants, especially the Chinese and the "Bracero" farm workers, Chang argues. This exploitation threatens immigrant societies, she says. And she points out a cruel irony: Immigrant women who work as domestics are denied adequate resources to rear their own families, even as they care for their employers' families.

Reading this book should inspire feminists to ask: Why are these women paid so little for such important work, and must the liberation of white middle and upper class women come at the expense of poor, immigrant women of color?