Ai-jen Poo

Ai-jen Poo (, ; born 1974) is an American labor activist. She is the president of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. She is also the director of Caring Across Generations, a national coalition of 200 advocacy organizations working to transform the long-term care system in the US, with a focus on the needs of aging Americans, people with disabilities, and their caregivers.

She is a 2014 recipient of the MacArthur "Genius" Award. In February 2015, the New Press released her book, The Age of Dignity: Preparing for the Elder Boom in a Changing America. She has been mentioned as a potential future Secretary of Labor under a Democratic administration.

Biography Ai-jen Poo was born to Taiwanese American parents. Her father, Mu-ming Poo, is a neuroscientist and one-time political activist who emigrated from Taiwan in the 1970s. Her mother Wen-jen Hwu

Poo was born in Pittsburgh, and graduated from Phillips Academy in 1992 and Columbia University, where she was one of more than 100 students who occupied the rotunda in Low Library; this occupation led to the creation of Columbia's Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race.

Post graduation, she worked for an Asian community organization in New York leading her to interview women who included housekeepers from Hong Kong, which expanded to hearing stories from African, Latin American, and Caribbean domestic workers. Her findings included domestic workers that had experienced labor rights violations, racism, and violence, but also "in the face of all kinds of indignities, domestic workers take so much pride in their work and love the children they care for". She attended the 75th Golden Globe Awards in 2018 as a guest of Meryl Streep.

Domestic Workers United Ai-jen Poo began organizing domestic workers in 1996, with CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities, also known as the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence. She is the founder and former lead organizer of Domestic Workers United, an organization of Caribbean, Latina, and African nannies, housekeepers, and elderly caregivers in New York that organizes for "power, respect, and fair labor standards".

By 2007, the Domestic Workers United formed the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) alongside other organizations. In 2010, Domestic Workers United was instrumental in New York state passing the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights into law; this law was the first in the United States to guarantee domestic workers basic labor protections such as overtime pay, three days' paid leave, and legal protections from harassment and discrimination. When asked about her thoughts on hiring a domestic worker for herself, she said "No...My job is to represent domestics’ interests, and it might be hard to do that as an employer. Besides, I couldn’t handle that mixture of intimacy and inequality". The main goal of Supermajority is to "push politicians to adopt an agenda akin to what Richards called 'a women's new deal, with issues like "voting rights, gun control, paid family leave, equal pay, and others" viewed as "soft issues" being seen as "issues that impact everyone". In addition, they intend to educate women about issues such as "pay equity and affordable child care, as well as inform them on "basic organizing skills like voter registration".

Awards She has received the Open Society Institute Community Fellowship, the Union Square Award, the Leadership for a Changing World Award, the Ernest de Maio Award from the Labor Research Association, the Woman of Vision Award from Ms. Foundation for Women, the Alston Bannerman Fellowship for Organizers of Color, the Twink Frey Visiting Scholar Fellowship at University of Michigan Center for the Education of Women, and the Prime Movers Fellowship. In honor of the 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day, Ai-jen was recognized by Women Deliver as one of 100 women internationally who are "delivering" for other women.

In 2009 she was named one of Crain's "40 Under 40" and Moves magazine's "Power Women". In 2010, the Feminist Press recognized her in their "40 Under 40" awards. In 2011 she was named one of Yes!'s Breakthrough 15, and received the Independent Sector's American Express NGen Leadership Award. In 2017, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the New School. She has written for The Huffington Post, The Guardian, and other news outlets.

Literary Works

Books

Critical studies, reviews, and biography

Andrea Cristina Mercado; Ai-jen Poo Domestic Workers Organizing in the United States. AWID (Association for Women's Rights in Development), 2008.