Sunday Sep 22, 2024
Sunday Sep 22, 2024
Monday, 16 June 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Celebrating the anniversary of this historic day, at the International Labour Organization we are reflecting on the contributions of women like Erwiana. Since she returned from Hong Kong to her home in Indonesia, Erwiana has been campaigning for the rights of domestic workers.
During her eight months on the job in Hong Kong, Erwiana was violently abused by her employer, and when her injuries prevented her from continuing to work, she was sent home with just $ 9 in her pocket. Erwiana began campaigning for domestic workers just like her, many of them migrant women, most of them still vulnerable in their workplaces across the globe.
There are over 20 million domestic workers in the Asia Pacific Region alone – that’s the population of Sri Lanka – but because these workers are often hidden in private homes, in workplaces that remain unregulated, they are especially vulnerable to abuse. In many countries, domestic workers aren’t protected by the general labour law, and are excluded from receiving the minimum wage. On average, domestic workers earn less than half of average wages; some earn less than a fifth.
Domestic work a fast growing sector
Despite the risks, domestic work is a fast growing sector. There are 19 million more domestic workers today than there were in the mid-1990s – that’s a 30% increase in less than 20 years. Over 80% of these workers are women.
In Sri Lanka too there exists a gender bias in the sector where more women than men including more girls than boys are employed as domestic workers. There are no recent statistics on the numbers of women and men in domestic work in Sri Lanka. However, on analysis, the numbers that have been elicited from Child Activity Survey estimate a little over 3,000 children in the child domestic workers sector.
Being a hidden phenomenon, difficult to capture in a survey, the statistics are only indicative of the challenge. Thus the Government through the Ministry of Labour and Labour Relations has commenced consultations to add child domestic work to a list of 51 hazardous forms of child labour already determined.
"You don’t need to wait for your government to act to improve the lives of domestic workers. If you employ a domestic worker, have a conversation with her about ways to implement the Convention in your own home"
Concurrently, the Ministry of Education has proposed to raise the compulsory school going age from the existing age 14 years to 16 years which is salutary and is expected to keep more girls and boys in schools for a further two years. This is expected to pre-empt more children from leaving school prematurely to take up domestic work.
Concurrently, the Ministry of Labour and Labour Relations has sought the assistance of the ILO to undertake a labour law review which will also identify lacunae that relate to labour rights and protection of domestic workers within the existing legal framework.
Based on the 2012 national statistics, at least 119,000 women departed in the year 2012 to take up domestic work overseas. The Ministry of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare, recognising the need for protecting these domestic workers leaving their shores, has developed a standard employment contract for female domestic workers. In addition, the ILO has supported the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment to develop a Code of Conduct to regulate recruitment agencies and standardised pre-departure training guides for domestic workers seeking employment abroad to empower them to protect themselves while in-service.
The world needs these women
It is evident that the world needs these women. Migrant domestic workers contribute significantly to their home communities, sending remittances that are regularly spent on the education and health needs of the domestic worker’s family, and increasing the GDP and development potential of their countries. Domestic workers enable members of the employer’s household to access paid employment by reducing the time needed for cleaning, cooking, shopping and family tasks.
We need to realise the benefits that domestic work, and migration into domestic work, can offer, and this can only be achieved if these women are in safe and profitable work. A binding Protocol on Forced Labour was passed just days ago at the International Labour Conference, and includes new provisions that aim to increase compensation to victims of forced labour.
The Protocol recognises that these profits should rightfully go to the workers and their families, instead of lining the pockets of recruitment companies that charge excessive or fraudulent fees or exploitative employers who profit from forced labour. The International Labour Organization recently estimated that over US$8 billion dollars in profits are made each year from domestic workers in forced labour.
This is in part because many people still see domestic work as a woman’s unpaid familial duty, or a job for a lower class or caste of women, instead of as productive work for wages like any other. This misconception has slowed the process of recognising domestic workers rights, in international law and in our own homes.
ILO Convention No. 189
On 16 June 2011, the first convention recognising the rights of domestic workers was adopted. Today, we commemorate that moment where the international community finally and positively stated that ‘domestic work is work.’
So far, 14 countries have agreed to enshrine basic rights for domestic workers by ratifying ILO Convention No. 189. On the anniversary of its adoption, I call on all governments to consider ratification of the Convention and the inclusion of domestic workers in the general protections provided by the labour law.
But, you don’t need to wait for your government to act to improve the lives of domestic workers. If you employ a domestic worker, have a conversation with her about ways to implement the Convention in your own home. Recognise her right to a full day of rest each week, reasonable working hours, and fair wages in line with the minimum wage.
Refuse to employ children under the minimum age for work and allow young workers to combine work and school. Encourage your domestic worker to join a network or association of domestic workers. Provide holiday and sick pay, freedom of movement, and payment in cash. Respect your domestic worker’s right to privacy, and make sure she has a lockable bedroom if she lives in your home.
Erwiana shouldn’t stand alone
I admire Erwiana’s courage. She stood up and fought for her rights and dignity as a human being, and for the rights of other domestic workers like her. Erwiana shouldn’t stand alone. Stand with her by protecting the rights of domestic workers in your home and your community.
Call on your government to ratify the Convention and ensure that women have safe and profitable access to these much-needed jobs. If we don’t acknowledge domestic workers as the valuable members of society that they are and protect them fully under the law, how many more cases like Erwiana’s will there be?
(The writer is ILO Regional Director
for Asia and Pacific.)
