To scholars who are familiar with arguments about the limitations of global governance, cynicism about the United Nations’ International Labor Organization’s (ILO) ability to have a tangible effect on the day-to-day lives of domestic workers is understandable. The ILO functions as a tripartite organization that brings representatives of workers, employers, and governments to the bargaining table to pass labor standards. Convention 189, which passed in 2011, represents the first international bill of rights for domestic workers, but UN member states vary widely in both their power and their willingness to uphold the ILO’s measures. To take the United States as just one example, the 1935 National Labor Relations Act stipulates that workers involved in domestic service are not to be treated as employees and granted the right to engage in collective bargaining. As a result, the United States must amend the 1935 Act—a depressingly unlikely prospect in 2018—or remain in...

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