remittances were equal to more than 10 percent of GDP in 2006, and in six countries, they constituted more than 20 percent. Domestic work can also have a significant racial dimension. The ILO found evidence of wage discrimination between migrant domestic workers in foreign countries, with Filipinos often paid better than others. South Africa is the obvious case where—under were almost no paid work opportunities for black women outside of domestic work in white households. In Brazil too, domestic workers are predominantly Afro-Brazilians. Of the 6.6 million domestic workers in Brazil in 2008, 94.3 percent were women and 61.8 percent Afro-Brazilian, many of who had no or only partial education at elementary school level. Indeed, domestic work was the single largest occupational category in the workforce and the single largest occupation for women. There are many aspects of domestic workers’ situation that desperately need legal protection. Live-in domestic workers have little control over their hours of work and little protection against verbal, sexual and physical abuse and other forms of exploitation. In Brazil, according to Gomes and Bertolin, domestic workers are the second biggest group of female victims of domestic violence after housewives. Sexual harassment is particularly problematic, aggravated by the fact that workers are afraid to denounce their employers. Living and working in an employer’s home has a major impact on a worker’s personal autonomy and might make it difficult to have their own families, or acquire their own homes. The ILO points out that one consequence is that, on retirement, they may not have children to provide them with personal or financial support. The demand for domestic workers is closely bound up with work-life reconciliation provisions. In Brazil, the high incidence of domestic workers takes place against a backdrop of both a patriarchal society which discouraged women from working in the paid labour market until the 1990s, and the lack of publicly funded social supports such as day care. In order to take up paid work outside the home, many women have delegated their child-care and housework responsibilities to other women, who have fewer resources. Gomes and Bertolin point out that domestic workers often leave home to work in other people’s homes, leaving them no option but to delegate their own child care and domestic tasks to their older children, usually their daughters. At the same time, the employers of domestic workers are often women working in low paid and precarious work themselves. The framing of
remittances were equal to more than 10 percent of GDP in 2006, and in six countries, they constituted more than 20 percent. Domestic work can also have a significant racial dimension. The ILO found evidence of wage discrimination between migrant domestic workers in foreign countries, with Filipinos often paid better than others. South Africa is the obvious case where—under were almost no paid work opportunities for black women outside of domestic work in white households. In Brazil too, domestic workers are predominantly Afro-Brazilians. Of the 6.6 million domestic workers in Brazil in 2008, 94.3 percent were women and 61.8 percent Afro-Brazilian, many of who had no or only partial education at elementary school level. Indeed, domestic work was the single largest occupational category in the workforce and the single largest occupation for women. There are many aspects of domestic workers’ situation that desperately need legal protection. Live-in domestic workers have little control over their hours of work and little protection against verbal, sexual and physical abuse and other forms of exploitation. In Brazil, according to Gomes and Bertolin, domestic workers are the second biggest group of female victims of domestic violence after housewives. Sexual harassment is particularly problematic, aggravated by the fact that workers are afraid to denounce their employers. Living and working in an employer’s home has a major impact on a worker’s personal autonomy and might make it difficult to have their own families, or acquire their own homes. The ILO points out that one consequence is that, on retirement, they may not have children to provide them with personal or financial support. The demand for domestic workers is closely bound up with work-life reconciliation provisions. In Brazil, the high incidence of domestic workers takes place against a backdrop of both a patriarchal society which discouraged women from working in the paid labour market until the 1990s, and the lack of publicly funded social supports such as day care. In order to take up paid work outside the home, many women have delegated their child-care and housework responsibilities to other women, who have fewer resources. Gomes and Bertolin point out that domestic workers often leave home to work in other people’s homes, leaving them no option but to delegate their own child care and domestic tasks to their older children, usually their daughters. At the same time, the employers of domestic workers are often women working in low paid and precarious work themselves. The framing of
RoletEqualityandNonDiscriminationLawsinWomensEconomic.docx