Let’s stand up for domestic workers’ rights

A video emerged online of a woman hitting a female domestic worker with a machete while loudly threatening her. Reports indicated the domestic worker incurred bruises and that blood was actually drawn. The matter is currently in court. However, a majority of domestic workers are not fortunate enough to be able to report such events.

Domestic workers’ interests in Kenya are represented by the Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutes, Hospitals and Allied Workers Union (Kudheiha), which began the clamour for the needs of domestic workers during the colonial times. 

Their advocacy and lobbying have led to increases in the minimum wage countrywide. However, these laws have not been implemented as they should be. A 2017 survey by the union found that 83 per cent of domestic workers earn way below recommended minimums. 

Fifty-nine per cent lack the work safety gear they need. Only 13 per cent have access to the National Hospital Insurance Fund and the National Social Security Fund. Moreover, 95 per cent of workers are on the clock for longer than the agreed times, 87 per cent lack job security such as a contract, and most face discrimination on the basis of gender, religion, HIV status, potential for pregnancy and so on.

Fifty-one per cent have further experienced sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse at work. Statistics from the Africa Labour, Research and Education Institute show there may be at least two million domestic workers in Kenya. 

Harassment and abuse

Unacceptable rates of worker harassment and abuse are, clearly, happening in homes, which hide their status as workplaces under the cover of domesticity. 

Further, heads of households, aided by partners and relatives, mask their duties as employers, citing lack of a professionalised sector as an excuse to avoid professional treatment of domestic workers. This fuels sociocultural insistence on hierarchy, which values management over administrative and support staff, whose work remains essential but unseen due to its feminised qualities.

The rights of domestic staff, as provided in policy and law, fall by the wayside, when they should be the guiding light at any home that doubles up as a workplace. 

Domestic workers’ unions should therefore be funded and empowered to improve welfare and access. Empowered unions would work with the government to ensure domestic workers are not only paid timely wages and given safety gear, but can also report abuse and discrimination, and push for mandated benefits such as sick, maternity and annual leave, off days, raises and health-cost subsidies.

Upholding the rights of domestic workers would also ensure the welfare of their families. It would also set a local, regional and global standard for treatment of all support staff, marking the beginning of recognition of care work as valuable work, which would in turn raise the status of women and all care workers everywhere.

The writer is a policy analyst. [email protected]