Comments on: Peru: Racism at the Beach

By: Maids Still Banned from Swimming at Some Peru Beaches | An American in Lima

Maids Still Banned from Swimming at Some Peru Beaches | An American in Lima — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 00:44:01 +0000

[...] Juan Arellano described in Global Voices Online in 2007, the beaches where this discrimination is practiced are located south of Lima, among them [...]

By: Barbara

Barbara — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 03:34:07 +0000

Does anyone know if protests against the “No Maids” policy are being held in Asia or on other beaches this year?

Please leave word. The blog listed above has no recent entries.

As far as the racism in Lima: It is appalling. And, yes, the labor in Peru is divided on racial lines. Rich white householders, on one hand, and poor indigenous maids on the other. Not allowing maids to swim on the beach is deplorable.

By: Laura

Laura — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 19:21:15 +0000

The beach is public but the houses and the area that sorrounds them are private. It is not a law but the contracts the owners have to sign to get a house there state that maids HAVE to wear uniforms and cannot swim on the beach.

Well, is there any actual race? Race doesn’t exist, it is a social construction. Most maids come from indigenous backgrounds. This doesn’t mean that their employers would be “whiter” than them. Race is contextual in some cases because it involves more than just the color of the skin but the culture, class and origin of the person whose being discriminated. Very complicated. But the maid issue in Peru involves race, ethnicity, class, education and gender.

By: Tarumba

Tarumba — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 04:45:27 +0000

anyways, just to point out that discrimination against maids tagged as racism is a bit confusing…are maids a race? or you’re just assuming all the maids are indigenous people? (which would indeed be racist)

By: Jutta Krawinkel

Jutta Krawinkel — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 01:01:48 +0000

Dear Global Voices.
Im living in Lima (I´m german) and went just for curiosity and work a long work the last week to the Asia beach. For people of Lima the beach time is more or less over, therefore it was not crowed. I was wondering if the prohibition still exists and in general who make this “law”. Its a public beach. All Asian people just decidied to forbit the household employers to swim? How is this working?

By: Global Voices Online » Peru: Film Festival Poster Brings Cries of Racism

Global Voices Online » Peru: Film Festival Poster Brings Cries of Racism — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 05:59:37 +0000

[...] the Peruvian mass media due to complaints or campaigns against it, as we posted here before (see: To the beach against racism, to the Presidential Palace against the death penalty). Yet, many Peruvians continue to suffer racism in their day to day lives, whether it be in subtle [...]

By: Erika Garces

Erika Garces — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 21:13:01 +0000

As a peruvian I was lucky enough to have had maids in my family since I was born. Now, with that said, having a person working for you does not mean you should discriminate against them. Each of them were and still are part of our family. When we go back to Lima we always bring them presents, they ate with us and enjoyed absolutely every activity as one of us. I remember a crazy neighbor I had that came to me and very concerned she told me: “I looked at your window today and I saw Josefa (the name of one of them) sitting in your sofa this afternoon” my response of course was: “so…” I still cant believe she actually said that. While some peruvians are still as racist as when back when most of us in my opinion respect the human race as a whole and are able to see past stereotypes. I am blessed to have had people working in my house that came from different backgrounds than mine and I learned a lot from them. And I know that they were lucky to work with us because they love each one of us as their family as well.

By: gloria

gloria — Fri, 11 May 2007 22:48:00 +0000

Talking about racism, frankly, Jurgen comment sounds to me quite racist….

By: Susana

Susana — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 11:00:32 +0000

i couldn’t agree more with Jurgen…funny cause it’s sad cause it’s true…people in Lima are tacky and wannabes to a ridiculoous extreme, it gets contagious, that’s why i chose to leave…

By: Global Voices Online » Blog Archive » Peru: Maid’s Rights in Lima

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 17:20:48 +0000

[...] After a widely publicized protest against the harsh treatment of maids in Peru’s beach resort communities, Hypathia’s Daughter says the movement for maid’s rights made a visit to the upper-class neighborhood of Miraflores in the capital city, Lima. David Sasaki [...]

By: Global Voices Online » Blog Archive » February in Lima: Carnival, Day of San Valentin and Politics

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 06:37:06 +0000

[...] A previous summary of the Peruvian blogosphere, dedicated almost entirely to “Operation Audacious Employee,” generated several interesting comments which highlighted certain points that were not very clear or that caused legitimate confusion to people who are not familiar with Peruvian society. To add one more opinion to the matter I’ll extract this paragraph from the post “Thinking About Operation Audacious Employee” [ES] from the blog The Other Drum, which was not included in the last overview. Si nos quedamos pensando que el problema son “los pitucos de Asia” no vamos a llegar muy lejos. Tampoco sirve de nada decir “todos somos racistas”. No es solo cuestión de raza. Muchos factores nos hacen sentirnos superiores o inferiores a la persona que tenemos al frente: el sexo, la vestimenta, el modo de hablar, el tamaño, la presentación… Tendríamos que comprender cómo es que estamos siempre midiéndonos con cada persona con la que interactuamos. Por qué nos hemos acostumbrado a hacerlo así. Cómo podemos cambiarlo. Algunos dicen que el mercado es el gran igualador que borra estas diferenciaciones. No lo es. Crea otras. Si una sociedad está programada para jerarquizar y discriminar a la gente, el mercado sólo introducirá nuevas variables de jerarquización y discriminación. El problema pasa más bien por desprogramarla. If we keep thinking that the problem is “those snobs from Asia beach”, we are not going to get very far. Nor does it do any good to say “we are all racist.” It’s not only a question of race. Many factors make us feel either superior or inferior to the person in front of us: gender, clothing, the way we speak, size, presentation … We would have to understand just how we are always measuring up to each person we interact with; why we’ve accustomed to doing so; how we can change it. Some say that the market is the great equalizier that erases these discriminations. It’s not. It creates others. If a society is programmed to hierarchize and discriminate against people, the market will only introduce new variables of hierarchy and discrimination. The problem comes trying to deprogram it. [...]

By: Jurgen

Jurgen — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 03:47:45 +0000

I’ve been in Lima many times and seen this exact thing happen in other aspects of daily life. But I’ve also noticed that its not a white vs Inca thing since there are not many white people in Peru.
It’s more a have vs have-not thing.
Let’s be real, in Peru there are Indians, different shades of mestizos, and half a dozen white people. That is why they make maids ware does stupid uniforms, so that the lady of the house doesn’t get taken for a maid.

By: Juan Arellano

Juan Arellano — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 17:48:50 +0000

Gracias Laura por hacer esa aclaración que la verdad se me había pasado.

Laura: thanks for pointing at that, i had forgot to do it.

By: Laura

Laura — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 23:20:16 +0000

The sign doesn’t exist. It was used for the protest but it actually doesn’t exist, it was an artist creation to make a point.

I think it is difficult for people who don’t live here to understand what we wanted to do with the protest. Maids work AT the beach. The houses are right there and they usually have to be taking care of the children of the owners of the houses at the beach; although they cannot wear swimming suits or just swim with the kids. They have to wear uncomfortable uniforms (believe me, they are very uncomfortable… we couldn’t stand wearing them for the three hours the protest lasted) and cannot swim, not even during lunch time when they can take a break (if they actually can).

As some said it is very complicated here. It is not only racism but also ethnic and class issues that play together.

And, yes, it happens (unfortunately) all over Latin America.

What we wanted was to put this subject on the agenda and, thank God, we did. People talked about it and the issue was discussed. It doesn’t mean that it will dissapear, but at least it is talked about.

You can read my personal experience at http://hypatiadaughter.blogspot.com/2007/01/smart-maid.html

By: isabel

isabel — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 23:57:07 +0000

everyone is missing the point it doesn’t matter what time household cleaners work or how uncomfortabel it might be to be at the beach with and employee but that they have that right! they have the right to go to the beach if they want and nobody can tell them different becuase if they are so bigoted and blided themselves to put that sign there then they are genuine idiots (capatalized)!