Substantive Equality, Social Security, and Domestic Workers: Mahlangu and Another v. Minister of Labour and Others

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 346-351
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Allsop
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Substantive Equality

The Homemaker as Worker

2020 ◽  
pp. 121-147
Author(s):  
Kirsten Swinth
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Household Labor ◽  
Social Value ◽  
Labor Standards ◽  
Fair Labor Standards Act ◽  
Second Wave

Swinth’s essay explores 1970s American feminists’ efforts to revalue household labor as work with economic and social value. It begins by tracing domestic workers’ campaign to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act and secure a minimum wage for household employees. The chapter then turns to liberal and radical feminists’ struggles to recognize housework as labor worthy of wages and fringe-benefits, including most importantly, social security. By altering the valuation of household labor and making social reproduction visible as work, feminists of the era drew on a gender justice framework to put forward successful working alternatives to conventional economics. Swinth bolsters contemporary campaigns to value women’s emotional labor and caregiving by connecting them to the vision pioneered by second wave feminists more than fifty years ago.

Increase of Urban Women’s Work Participation and Quality of Employment in Paid-Domestic Work: A Survey in Delhi-NCR and Kolkata-Asansol

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 410-426
Author(s):  
Tanuka Endow ◽  
Rajarshi Majumder ◽  
Preet Rustagi ◽  
Nandini Mukherjee
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Domestic Work ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Pension Plans ◽  
Work Participation ◽  
Double Burden ◽  
Household Decision ◽  
Household Level ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Female Work Participation

A rise in female work participation in the urban sector creates a vacancy for care work at the household level and triggers a second round of job creation for females. In order to explore whether this process gives rise to decent employment for the female domestic workers (FDWs), a primary survey was conducted among domestic workers in the cities of Delhi, Noida, Kolkata and Asansol. The workers surveyed are, by and large, in low-wage, precarious employment, without social security and have an exhausting routine of work inside and outside the home. Apart from the lack of job security, sickness and disease also add to the uncertainty. Given the double burden of income-earning work and own domestic work, the FDW is crucially dependent on her health and strength, and often incurs health-related expenditure. But they contribute to their household income and have some autonomy in household decision-making. The informal working conditions for these workers, the need for social security and their low wage levels are all areas that need serious attention from policy-makers. Health insurance and pension plans would benefit the domestic workers, given that their work involves a requirement for robust health and the strength that youth brings with it.

Informed but Insecure

2019 ◽  
pp. 55-81
Author(s):  
Erynn Masi de Casanova
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Considerable Improvement ◽  
Extensive Survey ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Main Barrier ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Better Than

This chapter analyzes the most extensive survey to date of domestic workers in Ecuador, with four hundred women sharing information about their working conditions, benefits, and social security. Most useful for informing policy and organizing strategies are the insights about which workers are most likely to know and demand their rights and the evidence that working conditions of current workers are better than those of former workers, which could indicate change over time. Efforts to inform workers of their right to social security seem to have been successful: 88 percent of the survey participants knew that domestic workers are entitled to join the Instituto Ecuatoriano de Seguridad Social (IESS). The main barrier to coverage, however, is the reluctance of employers to enroll workers and contribute on their behalf: nearly a third of survey respondents who were not enrolled reported that their employers' opposition was the reason why. Confirming research findings from around Latin America, working conditions reported by the survey participants are not good. However, they seem to be improving somewhat over time. More than twice as many current workers reported receiving overtime pay when compared with former workers. For vacation time and bonuses, more than four times as many current workers reported receiving these benefits. Despite this considerable improvement, there is still a long way to go for today's domestic workers.

Gender, poverty and the development of the right to social security

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 460-477 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth Goldblatt
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
International Law ◽  
Women's Work ◽  
Limited Attention ◽  
Gender Perspective ◽  
Women’S Work ◽  
Substantive Equality ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThe international right to social security has been given limited attention as a vehicle for addressing women's poverty. This paper highlights some of the issues shaping women's poverty globally that require a more responsive right to social security. It discusses the nature and purpose of social security and examines the international law relating to this right, arguing that recent interpretations lack an adequate framework for ensuring women's interests are fully accommodated. The paper challenges the relationship between the right to social security and traditional conceptions of work that exclude women's labour. It also argues that the right must have application at the transnational level if it is to address the changing nature of women's work. Drawing on ideas of substantive equality, it proposes an approach to the development of the right from a gender perspective including a set of principles to be followed in applying the right.

Organizing in the Shadows: Domestic Workers in the Netherlands

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Margriet Kraamwinkel
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Domestic Work ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Residence Permit ◽  
The Public ◽  
Cash Payment ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
The Devil

In 2009, a small group of domestic workers joined FNV Bondgenoten, the largest Dutch trade union in the private sector and affiliated with the Dutch trade union confederation FNV. The group that joined consisted mainly of women immigrant workers, many of whom did not have a residence permit. FNV’s policy is that we organize workers and do not ask for passports. Still, a group like this brought to light several problems for FNV, both practical and fundamental. The Article identifies three types of problems. The first set of problems concerns the invisibility of domestic workers. Domestic workers work in private houses and are leery of talking to strangers if they don’t have residence permits. This demanded new organizing tactics from the sector, like asking women to bring a friend to a meeting and joining churches. A cash payment of membership fees system was devised, its administration done by handwriting. At the same time, the public debate on immigration toughened; immigrants without residence permits (“illegal aliens”) in particular were depicted as somewhere between a profiteer and the devil. This debate also took place within FNV. The second set of problems is defined by the traditional views in Dutch society on domestic work. The group chose to become union members, since they wanted to better their position in the labor market. Dutch law on domestic work excludes them from full protection of labor and social security law. The inclusion of domestic work in labor and social security law is contrary to cultural and historical traditions and views and therefore contentious. The third set of problems is caused by the connectedness of labor and social security law and immigration law. Domestic workers in the Netherlands work in the shadows in two ways: by not having a residence permit, and by not being protected by labor and social security law. The result of our campaign is that a group of publicly financed care workers will be better protected, but the group of domestic workers that fought for ILO Convention 189 will still be excluded from our labor and social security law and not be able to qualify for a residence permit.

scholarly journals FAKTOR KENYAMANAN KERJA PEKERJA RUMAH TANGGA DI PERUMNAS BETUNGAN KOTA BENGKULU

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 18-22
Author(s):  
LINDA ASTUTI ◽  
VETHY OCTAVIANI
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Work Activities ◽  
Household Activities

This study discusses the factors that determine the comfort of domestic workers in Bengkulu City's Betungan Housing. The aim to describe the behavior of the employer's family, wages, work activities and overview of social security to domestic workers working comfort. The research method used was a qualitative approach survey with data collection techniques of observation and interviews with informants of domestic workers residing in the RT. 12 PerumnasBetungan. The results obtained in the form of: (1) Employers in PerumnasBetungan have good behavior towards domestic workers, (2) The level of wages received by domestic workers in PerumnasBetungan is low between Rp. 500,000. up to Rp. 1,000,000, (3) Household activities carried out by domestic workers in PerumnasBetungan caring for children, cooking, washing, ironing and sweeping the house, (4) Social security received in the form of holiday bonuses, clothes and food. Keywords: domestic workers, work comfort, worker activities.

scholarly journals Being a Female Domestic Worker During the Pandemic Period from the Hope Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-196
Author(s):  
Çiğdem DEMİR ÇELEBİ
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Adaptation Process ◽  
Domestic Worker ◽  
Important Concept ◽  
The Social ◽  
Economic Income

Pandemic processes are important factors triggering the changes in the psychological and sociological structure of society. The COVID-19 outbreak has embodied many variables affecting people's lives in several terms in Turkey as in the whole world. People have appeared to face many psychosocial and economic difficulties due to the social and economic conditions changing with the pandemic period. During this period, domestic workers are the first people who experience these problems in multiple ways. Hope is an important concept in terms of protecting and improving the well-being of domestic worker women who have serious problems in terms of social security, social relations and economic income. Therefore, this research aims at examining the hope mechanisms developed by female domestic workers against the difficulties they experience during the pandemic period between March-June 2020. As it known, hope increases the well-being of people. 15 female domestic workers participated in the research, which was designed in a descriptive phenomenological pattern. The analyses obtained as a result of the interviews held with the female domestic workers revealed that the findings were related to the themes of sources of hope and adaptation process during the pandemic.

New laws offer hope for Mexico’s domestic workers

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
International Labour Organisation ◽  
Seguro Popular ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
Salaried Workers ◽  
Fixed Wage ◽  
Social Security Institute

Subject Domestic workers' rights. Significance The Senate on May 14 passed a bill granting labour rights to Mexico’s 2 million domestic workers. The changes grant such employees the same rights as other salaried workers, including compulsory affiliation to the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), which provides health care and other benefits, a contract, a fixed wage and maximum working hours. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) will now sign the bill into law, though the provisions amending the Federal Labour Law (LFT) and the Law of the Social Security Institute (LSS) will not come into effect till 2020. Impacts The reforms will have only a limited impact in reducing informal employment, which accounts for 56.9% of workers (30.8 million people). IMSS affiliation would immediately benefit some 30% of domestic workers who used to be covered by the dismantled Seguro Popular. Mexico is yet to ratify the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention on Domestic Workers; it is unclear whether or when it will.

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