The rights of female domestic workers are severely violated due to the lack of regulations.
Domestic workers — nannies, baby sisters, and other caregivers — are a part of the informal economy that contributes tremendously to the effective functioning of the larger economy. Not only do they create a great influence on the childhood of the future generation, but they are also capable of freeing parents to enter the labour force and participate in labour activities. The harsh reality is that while the baby sisters make it possible for professional couples to pursue their career and balance their life between family and work, the baby sisters themselves are often marginalised from their own family as they often cannot take time to be with their own child during their previous childhood.
Despite the important role they played in our society and the tremendous sacrifice they make, they are often overlooked as they form a part of the informal economy that toils out of public view in private houses. This meant that they are extremely vulnerable to exploitation from employer. Because they are not legally recognised as part of the formal labour force, the usual legal protectors offered to employed workers do not apply to domestic workers, making them extremely vulnerable to mistreatment and discrimination. They are excluded from the China’s Labor Law in China and the federal labor law in the United States. The problem is especially severe to this group of largely immigrant and female workforce as they struggle with gender norms. The paid holidays, sick days, overtime payment, and collective bargaining right that most workers take for granted are often unavailable to domestic worker.
Taking a quick glimpse at the course of human history reveals a striking similarity between the tools that workers wield to improve wages and working conditions — unionisation. However, the act of unionisation itself is uncommon in China for domestic workers. In other developed countries like the United States, domestic workers are forbidden from unionisation act by the National Labor Relations Act. This, accompanied with their lack of education and support, makes it very hard for domestic worker to improve their employment status.
A report published by he ChineseAcademy of Social Sciences (CASS), Gender and Law Research Center vividly portrays the dilemma faced by domestic workers with the result of the 20 case studies they conducted in Beijing.
Initially, the low barrier of entry into domestic worker meant that few requirements for formal skills and working experience is required for domestic worker. Therefore, this group of worker has limited access to education opportunities. The majority of domestic workers interviewed by CASS only finished middle schools. It is a generally accepted social norm for women to drop out of school to work or marry. The limited access to education binds them to the work of domestic worker as they are highly occupationally immobile. They lack the skills and intellectual knowledge to participate in other white-collar industries.
As they are stuck in this industry, their reputation can be very important. Domestic workers usually take deals either through recommendation from previous employer or systematic matching by housekeeping companies. In both cases, they need to flatter their employer, which means sometimes their struggles and poor treatments might be unreported. In an extreme case reported by an anonymous baby sisters, she was placed in the blacklist of the domestic workers industry and banned from taking any deals because she sued her employer for sexual harassment. Thus, domestic workers often either don’t have access to the platform of sharing their voice or are too scared to protest against mistreatments, making it even harder for changes to be made.
Some of the common mistreatments of domestic workers include lack of overtime payment, insufficient break time, and verbal criticisms. In severe cases, it might involve sexual harassment and domestic violence. At workplace, domestic workers are often treated with disrespect because of their low social status. With little bargaining power, they have to cope with poor living conditions. They are sometimes compelled to “sleep in the living room on sofas, on the porch, with the children, and in one case, on a cot placed right in the entryway to the apartment”. One domestic worker stated in an interview that she was “treated like a servant” and had to sleep in a “tiny room that the family used for storing junk”, which explicitly reflects the poor working conditions of domestic workers.
The exploitation in the industry can be linked with the traditional female role. As household work is often unpaid, undervalued, and taken for granted, it is not surprising to see employers constantly trying to get maximise the work done by domestic workers while paying the minimal compensation. This is a typical characteristic of feminized professions, which are attributed with low status. Another problem is the difficulty that lies in the process of quantifying the precise amount of output made by domestic worker, making it difficult to set the standard for a reasonable amount of workload. This standard is often set by the employers based on their subjective perception, which differs from one employer to another. Some might demand the worker to work more than 14 hours a day.
In an attempt to improve the situation, the final section of the article proposes some plausible plans to improve the workers’ conditions. Initially, an organisation is needed to represent the interest of domestic worker to ensure reasonable contracts and protections, which is often done through collective bargaining. As these female workers can foment little influence as individual workers in the informal economy, an interceding organization is needed to better negotiate the terms with employer. The contracts should explicitly state the salary and the limits of work to prevent exploitation. The organisation should also be responsible for imparting legal knowledge to domestic workers, which they can use to communicate and settle issue with their employers.
In addition, there is an urgent need for a change in social attitudes towards this feminized profession. This is crucial to foster respect and equality. To upheld the social esteem of domestic worker, their employment process and the training required should be made more rigorous. Legal and professional skill training should be given to domestic worker at special agency.
Lastly, domestic worker should have greater access to information. They should be informed of their legal rights. In addition, they should know the exact place to seek for support when exploitation occurs. These can be NGOs or government institutions.
In conclusion, domestic workers experience hardship due to the common gendered beliefs, which impacts the genera perception and attitude towards domestic workers. Indisputably, the Chinese government is gradually offering more support to this group of vulnerable worker. However, this does not mean that further actions is not needed. More regulations and supportive programs should be implemented in this industry to promote greater equality and respect.