“Look Deep in Your Hearts”

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer N. Fish
Keyword(s):  
Global Economy ◽  
Domestic Work ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Household Labor ◽  
Worker Rights ◽  
Domestic Worker ◽  
Ethnographic Approach ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
Key Players

This chapter sets the stage for the global domestic workers’ movement that is at the center of this book. It examines the landscape of household labor and highlights the key concepts necessary for an understanding of domestic work in the global economy, highlighting the traditional power imbalances that exist between “maids and madams.” The chapter introduces key players in the struggle for domestic worker rights, and the challenges they faced in addressing widespread injustice. An overview of the scholar-activist framework, embedded ethnographic approach, and the author’s particular research journey is also included.

Is outsourcing better? Clients' views on contracting in domestic cleaning services

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
David du Toit ◽  
Lindy Heinecken
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Domestic Work ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Domestic Worker ◽  
Domestic Servants ◽  
The People ◽  
Routine Tasks

PurposeThe nature of paid domestic work is changing, with the growth in companies delivering domestic cleaning services. Few studies have looked at why people opt to use these services and the underlying drivers. As with the outsourcing of non-core tasks in businesses, outsourcing domestic work is motivated by similar, yet different reasons, which have to do with the personal and private nature of domestic employment. This study aims to establish the reasons why “clients”, who were former employers of domestic servants, opted to outsource domestic work to a domestic cleaning service provider.Design/methodology/approachGiven the limited research on domestic cleaning services in South Africa, a mixed-methods research approach is used.FindingsThe findings showed that there are three key motivations: the nature of the domestic cleaning service supplier, the services rendered by domestic workers and the tripartite employment relationships. These three benefits imply that clients have access to functional and numerical flexibility, unlike employing a domestic worker directly. This study contributes to the literature on outsourcing and domestic work by showing that clients not only look to change the economic structure of the relationship with domestic workers, but it allows them to psychologically and emotionally distance themselves from domestic workers.Research limitations/implicationsThis study shows that some people are no longer willing to have a relationship with the people who clean their homes, and that they believe it is simply not worth the effort to maintain a relationship. This is an aspect that needs further research, as this is the one sphere where women are united in their plight, albeit from different worldviews. Thus, a limitation is that this study only focuses on clients' views of outsourcing. Have domestic workers employed by the outsourced domestic cleaning service supplier become just like assembly-line workers, where they are anonymous to their clients, performing routine tasks with little recognition from those whose homes they are servicing? Future studies could focus on domestic workers' views on outsourcing and the effects it has on their working conditions and employment relations.Originality/valueFirstly, studies mainly focus on the Global North where domestic work and outsourcing have different dynamics, regulation policies and social changes when compared to South Africa. Secondly, few studies have sought to establish why people shift from employing a domestic or care worker directly to an outsourced domestic agency when direct domestic help is available and affordable. Considering these shortcomings, this study aims to provide a better understanding of domestic cleaning service suppliers from the perspective of clients, often omitted from the literature. Accordingly, this study aimed to establish what the benefits are for clients (former employers of domestic workers) who use domestic cleaning service suppliers.

Home, domestic work and the state: The spatial politics of domestic workers’ activism

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 367-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim England
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Domestic Work ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Spatial Politics ◽  
Private Space ◽  
Domestic Worker ◽  
Recent Emergence ◽  
Labour Legislation

This article explores the spatialities associated with the recent emergence of a social movement of domestic workers in the United States. Domestic work is rendered invisible, not only as a form of ‘real work’, but also because it is hidden in other people’s homes. The article unpacks the home as a private space beyond government intervention, and as domestic worker activists argue, when homes are workplaces workers should be protected from exploitation. Domestic workers have become active and visible in campaigns to gain coverage under labour legislation at the state and federal government levels. An analysis of the success of their campaigns reveals a set of strategies and tactics that draw on feminist care ethics in a range of different locations, and that thinking spatially has been pivotal in the emergence and continued growth of their social movement.

Like Any Other Job?

2019 ◽  
pp. 105-121
Author(s):  
Erynn Masi de Casanova
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Domestic Work ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Class Relations ◽  
Political Will ◽  
Domestic Worker ◽  
Informal Workers ◽  
Political Effectiveness

This chapter explores some of the challenges that organizers of domestic workers in Ecuador face. Its discussion of domestic worker organizing touches on the three major themes of this book: social reproduction, informal arrangements that render domestic work invisible, and class relations that degrade and dehumanize workers. Workers' engagement in long hours of paid and unpaid social reproduction makes them difficult to reach and organize. Informal arrangements, and lack of political will and political effectiveness to change these arrangements, combine to make the enforcement of existing laws difficult. Moreover, relationships with the left-leaning state, embedded in traditional assumptions about who constitutes the working class—assumptions that leave out women and informal workers—have been fraught. The chapter then shows how domestic workers and their advocates have been organizing, what strategies they have used to demand the rights of these workers, and what the implications of these strategies are for political action and change.

scholarly journals Challenging Disregard: Advocacy Journalism and the Campaign for Domestic Worker Legislation in Indonesia

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 201
Author(s):  
Mary Austin
Keyword(s):  
Media Coverage ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Domestic Work ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Domestic Worker ◽  
Political Opportunities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Advocacy Journalism ◽  
Funded Project ◽  
Media Narratives

<p>This article examines a recent ILO funded project designed to engage more Indonesian journalists and media organizations in advocacy journalism on behalf of domestic worker legislation. Applying Ann Stoler’s notion of ‘disregard’ in the context of post-Suharto<br />democratization, I illustrate how established newsroom practices and patterns of reporting helped maintain distinctions between ‘home’ and overseas domestic workers which impeded progress towards comprehensive legislation. Indonesia’s endorsement of the adoption of ILO Convention 189 in June 2011 opened up political opportunities, provided a framework for re-scripting media narratives and encouraged journalists to give more space to domestic workers’ voices. At the same time, increased media coverage enabled those opposed to legislation to reiterate a gendered disregard for the social and economic value of domestic work.</p>

scholarly journals Profile and Problems of Women Domestic Workers in Mangochi, Malawi

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2S3) ◽  
pp. 1167-1171
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Work ◽  
Research Work ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Socioeconomic Background ◽  
Domestic Worker ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Self Help Groups

Domestic workers - who sweep, swab, wash, cook, take care of the children and look after the elderly – yet, are invisible. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), "A domestic worker is someone who carries out household work in a private household in return for wages." The poor and marginalized women are now joining the growing force of domestic workers in Malawian towns and villages. In this backdrop, this research work aims at understanding the socioeconomic background of women domestic workers and problems faced by them in Mangochi District in Malawi. This particular region was selected for research as it has a large number of women domestic workers due to seasonal employment in Salt and Fishing sectors. 100 women domestic workers were selected as sample through Purposive Sampling method and the required data were collected from them by using a semi structured interview schedule designed for this purpose. The study results show that the poor economic condition of family drives the women to opt for domestic work and they are exploited by the employers in many forms. They possess a very low status both in the workplace as well as in the society. They work for a paltry sum and are at the mercy of their keepers without any rights. The study emphasizes the need for a comprehensive policy and legislations to control the exploitation of women in unorganized workforce. Domestic Work should be declared as a profession and as such all the rights and privileges as applicable to all other workers are made available to them. Establishing Self help groups in their area and giving training in income generating activities will certainly go a long way to empower them.

“They Think You're as Stupid as Your English is”: Constructing Foreign Domestic Workers in Toronto

1997 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
K England ◽  
B Stiell
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Domestic Work ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
National Identities ◽  
Migrant Women ◽  
Domestic Worker ◽  
Foreign Domestic Workers

In Canada, paid domestic work is often associated with (im)migrant women from a variety of countries of origin. We critically analyse Canada's foreign domestic worker programmes, noting the shifting definitions of which nationalities should participate. We note how gendered, racialised, and classed constructions of national identities infuse these programmes. We then turn to an empirical analysis of how foreign domestic workers are constructed in Toronto, where demand is the highest in Canada. In particular, we investigate how the practices of domestic worker placement agencies reinforce images about which national identities supposedly have qualities that make them best suited to certain types of domestic work. Finally, we explore how domestic workers' constructions of their occupation are interwoven with their own national identities, the (partial) internalisation of others' images of them, and how they define themselves in relation to other domestic workers.

Domestic Workers in U.S. History

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa May
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Domestic Work ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Household Labor ◽  
Domestic Labor ◽  
Labor Regulations ◽  
Real Work ◽  
Paid Labor ◽  
Low Pay

Domestic work was, until 1940, the largest category of women’s paid labor. Despite the number of women who performed domestic labor for pay, the wages and working conditions were often poor. Workers labored long hours for low pay and were largely left out of state labor regulations. The association of domestic work with women’s traditional household labor, defined as a “labor of love” rather than as real work, and its centrality to southern slavery, have contributed to its low status. As a result, domestic work has long been structured by class, racial, and gendered hierarchies. Nevertheless, domestic workers have time and again done their best to resist these conditions. Although traditional collective bargaining techniques did not always translate to the domestic labor market, workers found various collective and individual methods to insist on higher wages and demand occupational respect, ranging from quitting to “pan-toting” to forming unions.

scholarly journals Domestic workers in New Zealand and the implications of International Labour Organization Convention No. 189

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Rachel Hyde
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Domestic Work ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
International Labour Organization ◽  
Decent Work ◽  
Domestic Worker ◽  
Human Rights Act ◽  
Low Pay

<p>There are an estimated 52.6 million domestic workers in the world, 83 per cent of whom are women, and many of whom work in poor conditions for low pay. Globally, domestic work is an under-regulated and under-valued sector. In an effort to address the precariousness of domestic work, the International Labour Organization adopted Convention No 189, concerning decent work for domestic workers. The Convention came into force on 5 September 2013. It provides for global minimum standards in areas in respect to which domestic workers should enjoy employment and social protection. The rights of domestic workers in New Zealand are addressed in a number of pieces of legislation, including the Employment Relations Act 2000, the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992, and the Human Rights Act 1993. Although some categories of domestic worker receive protection under the legislation, others do not. This paper argues that the coverage of domestic workers in New Zealand is confusing and incomplete. For many domestic workers in New Zealand low pay and poor working conditions are a reality. If New Zealand’s domestic workers are to receive the same protection as other New Zealand employees and those domestic workers in nations that have ratified Convention No 189, then ratification of the Convention and associated domestic legislative change may be necessary to bring domestic law into line with international labour law. In the absence of ratification there are a number of options that could be pursued to improve the working lives of domestic workers in New Zealand.</p>

“A Little Bit of Liberation”

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer N. Fish
Keyword(s):  
Women Workers ◽  
Domestic Work ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Critical Component ◽  
Domestic Worker ◽  
Informal Workers ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
State Relations ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Potential Shifts

This chapter discusses the impact and outcomes of global domestic worker activism, with a focus on the larger meaning and implications of this global worker movement. It closes the book with an assessment of the application of human rights policies in the everyday lives of women workers, namely migrant domestic workers. An examination of state relations to domestic work illustrates the importance of international policy ratification as the critical component of positive change “on the ground.” The chapter looks ahead to domestic worker organization following the ILO policy discussions, and discusses the potential shifts in the landscape of domestic work amid efforts to improve the conditions of informal workers, migrants, and domestic workers across the globe.

scholarly journals The effect of labour market regulation on domestic workers in Orchards and Soshanguve, Pretoria

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Matjeke ◽  
Jacoba M. Viljoen ◽  
Phillip F. Blaauw
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Domestic Work ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Market Regulation ◽  
Residential Areas ◽  
Domestic Worker ◽  
Employment Conditions ◽  
Managerial Implications

Orientation: Domestic work provides employment to many women. The wages or salaries and employment conditions of domestic workers have raised worldwide concern. Domestic work is an unstable, lowly paid, insecure and unprotected form of employment. Abuse and exploitation are common. The regulation of this sector is the result.Research purpose: The purpose of this article was to analyse and compare the effects of, and level of compliance with, the regulation of the domestic worker sector in two very different residential areas in Pretoria.Motivation for the study: Researchers have conducted all previous micro-study investigations of the topic in Langenhoven Park, Bloemfontein. We need more micro-level studies to investigate the effects of regulating this labour market because areas with different socioeconomic conditions may yield different results.Research design, approach and method: The researchers followed a quantitative micro- research design using structured questionnaires. They used the research methodology applied in similar micro-studies as the basis of the survey to make the results comparable. They used the criterion sampling technique. Respondents completed 87 questionnaires in Orchards and 89 in Soshanguve.Main findings: Evidence suggests that areas in close proximity to one another in the same metropolis yield significant differences in the wages or salaries and non-wage working conditions of domestic workers. A blanket approach to identifying and monitoring the effects of the legislation for this sector is not an appropriate one.Practical/managerial implications: The sector needs micro-studies over an extended period and in different areas to form a more nuanced picture of this multifaceted labour market. This study emphasised the necessity for improved monitoring of the existing legislation.Contribution/value-add: This is the first micro-study to compare the effects of regulating the domestic workers sector of two residential areas with different socioeconomic characteristics. The results will give authorities a better understanding of the level of compliance with, and effects of, the regulation of domestic workers. It will also guide the monitoring of, and enforcement decisions for, this labour market.

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