Among the women now working as CHIRLA organizers is Juana Nicolas, 49, who came to California eight years ago from Mexico, where she was a teacher. She worked as a housekeeper and nanny in five homes, and said she was routinely underpaid.

"Because of my background, I knew what my rights were," said Nicolas. "Can you imagine the people with no information, what they go through?"

Another CHIRLA organizer, Guatemala-born Telma Gutierrez, 44, worked for 16 years as a live-in housekeeper before wearying of abuse. She said her last job paid less than $50 a day for six days of work that included cleaning, baby-sitting, raising chickens, and gardening duties that left her back aching.

Her employers, she said, had two sides.

"In front of other people, they pretended to be nice — they'd say you're part of the family," she said. "But in the end they still abuse you."

For some women, however, domestic work is a path to self-sufficiency.

Esperanza Sanchez, 43, came to Houston from Monterrey, Mexico, 16 years ago and has worked in more than a dozen homes as a housekeeper. She now has two steady clients and can make up to $550 a week.

Her practice is to inspect a house firsthand before accepting a job, then negotiate wages.

"I prefer a businesslike relationship," she said. "When employers cross the line and try to be my friend, there's often an attempt to have more control over me."

Despite her success, Sanchez is frustrated, wishing she could go to college and find a more challenging career. In Mexico, she was an accountant — but says she earns more as a housekeeper than she would doing bookkeeping in Monterrey. And yet, as a noncitizen, she has no medical insurance and no prospect of Social Security.

"I don't know if I can save enough for retirement," she said. "There's no safety net at all."