»Kaum rechtliche Möglichkeiten für bessere Bedingungen«

Introduction

Improving working conditions for domestic workers is a long-standing concern of the International Labour Organization. The topic first gained prominence in 1936, when the International Labour Conference adopted the Holidays with Pay Convention, 1936 (No. 52), which established the right to six days of paid leave for workers in manufac­turing and a range of other industries. The Convention excluded domestic workers, a shortcoming that prompted the Conference to request that “the question of holidays with pay for domestic servants [be put] on the Agenda of […] a future Session of the Conference […] and to consider at the same time whether other conditions of domes­tic servants’ employment could form the subject of international regulation”.[1] As a delegate argued at the time, “domestic servants […] are wage-earners, and therefore entitled to protection in the same way as other wage-earners”. [2]

While many aspects of domestic work are unique, this argument remains as valid today as it was 75 years ago. However, as this report shows, many domestic work­ers are still excluded from provisions that other workers take for granted with respect to essential working conditions, such as paid annual leave, working time, minimum wage coverage and maternity protection. Moreover, the prediction that “the problem of domestic service is being gradually and slowly solved—by the working-men and women refusing to render such service” has turned out to be false (Rubinow, 1906, p. 504). Guaranteeing these minimum labour protections to the large and growing group of domestic workers and recognizing their rights as workers are at the heart of the Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189), and the accompanying Recommenda­tion (No. 201). Adopted by the 100th Session of the International Labour Conference, these two historic documents are the first international labour standards specifically devoted to domestic workers, a particularly vulnerable and still often neglected group. Within just over a year after its adoption, three countries – Uruguay, the Philippines and Mauritius – have ratified the Convention, which will enter into force in September 2013.[3] Further ratifications are expected in the near future; in the Plurinational State of Bolivia and Nicaragua the Parliaments have already approved the Convention, and in South Africa the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) and the Cabinet have approved ratification. In total, at least 20 other countries have initiated ratification procedures or are taking steps in this direction. [4]

This report provides a benchmark for the situation of domestic workers across the world against which progress in implementing the new instruments can be measured. In its first part, it takes stock of global and regional statistics on domestic workers to answer two fairly basic, yet fundamental questions: How many domestic workers are there? How has their number evolved over time? To arrive at some answers, it starts by defining domestic workers in statistical terms and identifies measurement issues that are likely to create a downward bias in global and regional statistics (see Chapter 2). It then presents new ILO estimates on the number of domestic workers across the world, totalling at least 52.6 million men and women across the world in 2010. This represents an increase of more than 19 million since the mid-1990s. Most strikingly, domestic work accounts for 7.5 per cent of women’s wage employment world-wide, and a far greater share in some regions (Chapter 3).

Extending the protections that are available to other workers to domestic workers will address decent work deficits for a vulnerable group of workers. Many ILO instruments, including fundamental Conventions regarding freedom of association, discrimination and the abolition of child labour and forced labour, apply to all workers and hence already cover domestic workers.[5] However, some are directed towards specific sectors – for instance, industry, commerce and offices, or agriculture – and hence do not cover domestic workers, while others allow for the exclusion of domestic workers from their scope. The new Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189), seeks to close to this gap. Given the highly feminized nature of the sector, the Convention is widely seen as having great potential for achieving greater gender equality in the in the world of work. Providing domestic workers with stronger rights and recognizing them as workers would help to combat gender-based discrimination, and also discrimination on the grounds of race, national extraction or caste that often manifests itself in the sector.

In light of the above, the second part of this report discusses the extent of legal protection for domestic workers with respect to minimum standards for working conditions. The legal coverage estimates presented in Part II of this volume are based in large part on data collected for the standard-setting process and on the ILO’s Database of Conditions of Work and Employment Laws. [6]The findings show that domestic workers are frequently excluded from the scope of the labour laws or are only covered by less favourable legislation (see Chapter 4). This has negative consequences for domestic workers with respect to a number of working conditions, including working time. Indeed, the research conducted for this report confirms that domestic workers are frequently expected to work longer hours than other workers and do not have the same rights to weekly rest that are enjoyed by other workers (see Chapter 5).

Given that domestic workers are particularly vulnerable to exploitation and are among the lowest-paid workers, it is ironic that they frequently find themselves excluded from minimum wage coverage. Domestic workers often also have to accept deductions from their salaries for the costs of housing and food – even when living

in the employer’s household is a requirement that primarily benefits the household (see Chapter 6). Another example of unequal treatment is the exclusion from maternity leave and the associated maternity cash benefits. Given that more than 80 per cent of all domestic workers are women, this is an important shortcoming. While domestic workers often enable others to improve their balance of work and family obligations, domestic workers themselves are often excluded from crucial provisions: more than one-third of all domestic workers themselves have no right to go on paid maternity leave (see Chapter 7). Furthermore, the implementation gaps in many countries means that the effective protection is probably even weaker than these figures suggest.

While this report is clear in pointing out current gaps in protection, it does not fall into a pessimistic tone. Quite the contrary: it provides examples of what governments – and also trade unions and employers’ federations – have done to improve the situation for domestic workers. More case studies can be found in the accompanying publication Effective protection for domestic workers: A guide to designing labour laws (ILO, 2012a) and a number of other materials published by the ILO. These complementary materials are concerned not only with how countries can bring labour legislation into line with the new international standards, but also with the creation of effective implementation mechanisms that can make these rights protections a living reality for domestic workers across the world. Other ILO activities focus on other dimensions of domestic workers’ rights, including their right to join organizations of their own choosing. The appendices to the current report document the methodology that was used to produce the global and regional estimates and the underlying statistical and legal information at the county level. The information can be used as a benchmark for progress made with respect to three important aspects of working conditions – wages, working time and maternity protection – that form the core of the mandate of the ILO’s Conditions of Work and Employment Branch (TRAVAIL). 

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Summary and conclusions  

[…] domestic workers are present in every single county for which data are available. They cook, clean and wash, look after children and elderly people in need of care, and take care of a myriad of other daily duties in households. Based on official statistics from 117 countries and territories, the new ILO estimates presented in this report point to 52.6 million domestic workers across the world at the end of 2010. As a single occupational category, this is a huge workforce. The estimates also provide evidence of that this workforce had grown significantly, by more than 19 million since 1995, when the global count of domestic workers was 33.2 million. Both figures are conservative approximations and are likely to understate the true extent of domestic work because domestic workers often go uncounted in labour force surveys. The figures also exclude the 7.4 million children below the age of 15 years who toil as domestic workers, who are often deprived of access to education and hence see their further prospects in life diminish.

Even though a substantial number of men work in the sector – often as gardeners, drivers or butlers – it remains a highly feminized sector: more than 80 per cent of all domestic workers are women. Globally, domestic work accounts for 7.5 per cent of women’s wage employment, and in some regions as many as one in three (Middle East) and one in four (Latin America and the Caribbean) female wage workers are domes-tic workers. Domestic work is therefore an important entry point for women into the labour market, and so improving working conditions in the sector has broader ramifications for greater gender equality in society. Very low wages, excessively long hours, the absence of a weekly rest day, risks of physical, mental and sexual abuse and restrictions on freedom of movement are some of the problems that have frequently characterized the working conditions of domestic workers worldwide. These can partly be attributed to gaps in national labour and employment legislation and often reflect discrimination along the lines of sex, race and caste.

Research carried out for this report shows that only 10 per cent of all domestic workers (or 5.3 million) are covered by general labour legislation to the same extent as other workers. In contrast, more than one-quarter – 29.9 per cent, or some 15.7 million domestic workers – work in countries where they are completely excluded from the scope of national labour legislation. Between these extremes, a number of intermediate regimes exist. Exclusions and partial coverage result in weaker protection for[7] domestic workers in a number of important areas, including key working conditions provisions. This report has focused on three subjects, namely: (1) working time regulation,   (2) minimum wage coverage and in-kind payments, and (3) maternity protection. For each of these areas, this report has provided new global and regional estimates on the number of domestic workers who are covered by legislation. These estimates are based on statistical data on the number of domestic workers (see Appendix II) and on information on provisions in national legislation that was gathered during the standardsetting process and from the ILO’s Database of Conditions of Work and Employment Laws (Appendix III).

In all areas, large disparities between domestic workers and other workers become apparent. Working time is one of the areas where the principle of equal treatment that is found in Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189), is not yet a universal reality. More than half of all domestic workers have no limitation on their weekly normal hours under national law, and approximately 45 per cent have no entitlement to weekly rest periods or paid annual leave. However, the data also show that many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, in Africa and in the industrialized world have already extended the same minimum protections that apply to workers generally to domestic workers. By contrast, most countries in the Middle East and Asia still have to implement the principle of equal treatment. The recent extension of weekly rest to migrant domestic workers in Singapore might be an indication of future efforts, stimulated by the adoption of Convention 189, towards better legal protection of domestic workers in the region and a signal that countries have begun to revise outdated legislation.

While low wages of domestic workers can partly be attributed to the fact that the formal skills requirements in the sector are usually relatively low, other factors such as the undervaluation of domestic work by society and the weak bargaining position of domestic workers play a substantial role. This is a strong rationale for the setting of minimum wages in order to protect domestic workers from exploitation and unduly low wages. The establishment of a fair minimum wage is all the more important due to the fact that domestic workers face important legislative, administrative and practical barriers to forming trade unions and using traditional collective bargaining methods. However, at present just over half of all domestic workers already enjoy such protection on an equal basis with other workers, and some 5.9 per cent are entitled to lower sectoral or occupational minimum wage rates. This results in a large coverage gap for 22.4 million domestic workers (or 42.6 per cent of the total). Deductions from wages for food and housing is another area of vulnerability. Such partial “in-kind payments” of the minimum wage are common, even where workers are required to live at their employers’ premises. Again, some hopeful signs exist that countries have begun to address the shortfall. For instance, Namibia has recently established a Wages Commission to set new minimum wages for domestic workers and to regulate in-kind payments – a first in the country’s post-independence history.

Finally, given that the overwhelming majority of domestic workers are women, the right to maternity protection is a key area of concern. More than a third of all women domestic workers are not entitled to maternity leave and associated maternity cash benefits. This poses a substantial obstacle for women domestic workers who wish to combine work with their own family responsibilities. The coverage gaps are particularly large in the Middle East and Asia, but shortcomings are also found in other regions. Even where domestic workers are included in social insurance schemes that provide maternity benefits, restrictive eligibility criteria or lack of enforcement can mean that those women do not receive the benefits in practice. However, experience from countries such as Brazil shows that the inclusion of domestic workers into mainstream social insurance funds can be successful and that affiliation rates can be substantially increased. Publically funded benefits are another alternative. To cite Convention No. 189, they can help to ensure “that domestic workers enjoy conditions that are not less favourable than those applicable to workers generally in respect of social security protection, including with respect to maternity” (see Article 14(1)).

In sum, the research carried out for this report shows the urgency of the need to address decent work deficits at the national level though legislation and effective implementation of those laws. The Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189), and the accompanying Recommendation provide a normative framework for these efforts. The new international labour standards have already prompted many countries to review their current regulations and practices with the objective of extending protection for domestic workers. They have also started to impact on law reform in favour of domestic workers.[8] More guidance can be found in the ILO publication Effective protection for domestic workers: A guide to designing labour laws (ILO, 2012a) and a number of other materials published by the ILO. Ultimately, it will be joint actions taken at the national level by governments, trade unions and employers that will bring decent work to the millions of domestic workers across the world. 

Den vollständigen Bericht finden Sie hier (pdf).