Decent Work and Domestic Workers in South Africa

Abstract

The majority of domestic workers in South Africa are (black African) women. As long as women do not have the freedom to make their labour market choices, it cannot be said that they are empowered. Ideally, a move away from vulnerable employment into wage and salaried work would contribute towards the empowerment of women. However, the move from the agricultural sector to the services sector in private households hides the limited nature of women's empowerment. This article examines to what degree domestic workers in South Africa are afforded decent work institutionally. To this end, it considers four main challenges. First, the employment deficit: this means that people cannot find work or business opportunities in the formal economy. Second, the representational deficit: due to being unorganized, informal economy workers are excluded from (or under-represented in) social dialogue institutions and processes. Third, the rights deficit: workers' rights relating to freedom of association, collective bargaining, absence of forced labour, and discrimination are insufficient or non-existent. Fourth, the social protection deficit: clearly even though the workers in the domestic sector and informal economy are most in need of social protection, they are unable to access formal social protection schemes due to membership and contribution issues. It has been argued that when attempting to give meaning to the Decent Work Agenda, one may have regard to four strategic objectives, namely, promoting and realizing standards and fundamental principles and rights at work, creating opportunities for women (and men) to secure decent employment and income, enhancing the coverage and effectiveness of social protection for all, and strengthening tripartism and social dialogue. This paper analyses and critically evaluates how these strategic objectives have been pursued with respect to domestic workers and to what extent they have been achieved.