Pre-Departure Commentary: Domestic work

Domestic work is one of the oldest and most important occupations on the planet. It is an indispensible part of any labor market, as its performance allows the economy outside of the household to function. Data from the International Domestic Workers’ Network (IDWFED) indicates that the higher the development of the country, the more important the domestic service sector is. Domestic work includes services within private households such as cleaning, gardening, childcare, driving, taking care of the elderly and more. However, despite the vital nature of this work, domestic workers are often undervalued, underpaid, and exploited. Domestic work is easily accessible to those without legal status and recognized formal skills; because of this, women and migrants make up the vast majority of domestic workers.

Accurate data regarding domestic workers is difficult to obtain due to the differing definitions of domestic labor as well as the informal nature of the work. Global estimates in 2010 by The International Labor Office indicate that domestic work as a percentage of total employment is highest in Latin America, with domestic workers constituting 7.6% of total employment (WIEGO). Women are disproportionately represented in the realm of domestic work, with Women in Formal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) stating that, as of 2010, women accounted for over 83% globally of counted domestic workers. WIEGO explains:

"Women from poor households or disadvantaged communities often have few employment opportunities, and may face discrimination based on gender, caste or class, race or ethnicity. Cleaning, cooking, and caring for children and the elderly is almost universally regarded as women’s work, so men rarely compete in this job market. Low levels of education and few marketable skills also play a role."

Increasing levels of rural poverty in many countries also push young women to move into urban areas in search of employment. Domestic work is relegated to private homes, and is thus highly unregulated and contributes to the relative invisibility of domestic workers. Power imbalances between employer and employee – often exacerbated by differences in race, class and citizenship – lead to highly unequal relationships and leave workers vulnerable to exploitation, including withheld wages and passports. Live-in domestic workers face greater isolation, more limited mobility, work longer hours and often have a portion of pay deducted for room and board. Due to the lack of regulation in the realm of domestic work, pay fluctuates greatly across the spectrum. Incomes earned in domestic services in Latin America reach 40% of the level of incomes earned as an average by the working population. Further, women working in domestic services in Latin America are typically only paid 73% of what is paid to men in the same occupation (WIEGO). This is in part owing to the fact that male domestic workers are able to access positions that women are unable to access, such as gardener or chauffer.

Peru is no exception in terms of incidence of maltreatment and exploitation of domestic workers. La Casa de Panchita, an organization that advocates for the rights of domestic workers, states on their website:

Muchas trabajadoras del hogar son menospreciadas por su cultura de origen, alejadas de sus familias, maltratadas, acosadas sexualmente, privadas de sus documentos personales y amenazadas en caso de querer abandonar la casa de los empleadores.

Many domestic workers are devalued due to their culture of origin, are kept away from their families, abused, sexually harassed, threatened, and deprived of their personal documents in the case that they wish to leave the house of their employers. Indeed, “due to their legal, economic and social status and work and living conditions, domestic workers in Peru are considered as the ‘most marginalized citizens’” (Mick, 189). According to data from the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica e Informática, in the year 2000 nearly 72% of domestic workers in Peru were internal migrants from the Andean part of the country that had traveled to the Pacific coast, particularly Lima, in search of employment. Most are women, and many are minors. Domestic workers in Peru are typically employed cama adentro (accommodation included) and are thus vulnerable to the arbitrary treatment of employers. In a series of interviews with 32 domestic workers at La Casa de Panchita, among whom the average age of arrival in Lima was 15 years old, one woman described:

"A lot of ugly things happen when someone does not have family in Lima. The employers do whatever they want. Because they have money and a good position they think that they can buy the persons who come from the province. They think that they own them and that they can work and work until they break down. The day they break down, they kick them out like an animal. They do not care about these persons." (Mick, 194)

The women in these interviews described their feelings of inferiority in Lima on the basis of regional differences, with the limeños – the persons from Lima – existing in contrast to the provincianos – or the persons from the province. Other differences, including economic, educational and linguistic, were equated with this binary spatial categorization: being poorer, less educated, and Quechua or Aymara-speaking was equated with the provincianos, while wealth, education, and the speaking of “correct” Spanish was equated with the limeños (Mick, 192).

According to the Peruvian Ministerio de Trabajo y Promoción del Empleo, current legislation surrounding the rights of domestic workers in Peru dictates that they have the right to: work no more than eight hours per day, six days per week; at least 15 days of vacation per year as well as time off for holidays; compensation for their work; and access to social security assuming they work for at least four hours a day. Despite these basic regulations La Casa de Panchita asserts: “Los servicios del Estado no están diseñados para atenderlas, o no cuentan con el soporte institucional adecuado que debería proteger sus derechos. // The services of the state are not designed to address [domestic workers], or do not have the adequate institutional support which should protect their rights.”

Works Cited

International Domestic Workers Federation, (IDWFED). "Domestic Workers Worldwide Summary of Available Statistical Data and Estimates." (2010)Web.

La Casa de Panchita. "Trabajadoras del hogar." Web. <http://gruporedes.org/trabajadoras-del-hogar/>.

Mick, Carola. "Discourses of 'Border-Crossers': Peruvian Domestic Workers in Lima as Social Actors." Discourse Studies 13.2 (2011): 189-209. Print.

WIEGO. "Domestic Workers: Size, contributions and challenges&nbsp;" Web. <http://www.wiego.org/informal-economy/occupational-groups/domestic-workers>.