Progress and prospects ten years after the adoption of the Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189) Copyright © International Labour Organization 2021 First published 2021 Publications of the International Labour Office enjoy copyright under Protocol 2 of the Universal Copyright Convention. Nevertheless, short excerpts from them may be reproduced without authorization, on condition that the source is indicated. For rights of reproduction or translation, application should be made to ILO Publications (Rights and Licensing), International Labour Office, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland, or by email: [email protected]. The International Labour Office welcomes such applications. Libraries, institutions and other users registered with a reproduction rights organization may make copies in accordance with the licences issued to them for this purpose. Visit www.ifrro.org to find the reproduction rights organization in your country. Making decent work a reality for domestic workers: Progress and prospects ten years after the adoption of the Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189) International Labour Office – Geneva: ILO, 2021. ISBN 978-92-2-031955-0 (print) ISBN 978-92-2-031954-3 (web PDF) domestic worker / domestic work / decent work / working conditions /labour statistics / social protection / labour legislation / ILO Convention 13.11.6 ILO Cataloguing in Publication Data The designations employed in ILO publications, which are in conformity with United Nations practice, and the presentation of material therein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the International Labour Office concerning the legal status of any country, area or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers. The responsibility for opinions expressed in signed articles, studies and other contributions rests solely with their authors, and publication does not constitute an endorsement by the International Labour Office of the opinions expressed in them. Reference to names of firms and commercial products and processes does not imply their endorsement by the International Labour Office, and any failure to mention a particular firm, commercial product or process is not a sign of disapproval. The ILO endeavours to use paper sourced from forests managed in an environmentally sustainable and socially responsible manner. Code: DIN-ROS-PMSERV X Contents Preface xi Acknowledgements xiii Executive summary xvii Introduction 1 Part I. Global and regional statistics 2 X Definitions, sources and methodology 4 The definition of domestic workers in Convention No. 189 4 The statistical definition of domestic work 6 X Chapter 1. Global and regional estimates 8 Global overview 10 Role of service providers 21 X Chapter 2. Regional estimates of domestic workers 24 Americas 27 Asia and the Pacific 31 Europe and Central Asia 34 Arab States 37 Africa 41 X A look towards the future 45 Growing demand for direct and indirect care services for households 45 Fair recruitment and the role of service providers 46 Rise of the on-demand economy in domestic work 46 Domestic work as a source of employment in a COVID-19 pandemic recovery plan 48 Part II. Extent of coverage by labour and social security laws and regulations 50 X Methodology 53 X Chapter 3. Scope of national labour legislation 56 Global extent of legal coverage in 2020 59 Regional extent of legal coverage in 2020 61 Progress in legal coverage since 2010 65 Summary 67 iv X Making decent work a reality for domestic workers X Chapter 4. Laws and regulations governing working time 68 Normal hours of work 72 Weekly rest 80 Paid annual leave 88 Summary 93 X Chapter 5. Laws and regulations governing minimum wages and payment in kind 94 Minimum wages 99 Payment in kind 109 Summary 115 X Chapter 6. Laws and regulations governing social security, including maternity protection 116 Maternity leave 129 Maternity cash benefits 136 Summary 142 Part III. Decent work for domestic workers: Making it a reality 144 X Introduction 146 X Chapter 7. Working time, wages and social security 148 Working time 150 Wages 153 Good practices in working time and wages 160 Social security 165 X Chapter 8. Promoting occupational safety and health and preventing violence and harassment in domestic work 170 Occupational safety and health 172 Violence and harassment in domestic work 176 X Chapter 9. Informality and formalization 186 Informality in domestic work 189 Decent work deficits among informal domestic workers 193 Formalizing domestic work 204 Contents v X Chapter 10. Voice, representation and social dialogue 220 Domestic workers’ organizations 223 Employers’ organizations 225 Bipartite agreements 227 X Chapter 11. Impacts of and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic 230 Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on employment, working time and wages 232 Other impacts 234 Challenges and good practices 236 X Conclusion 240 Summary of the situation of domestic workers 242 Identifying sources of vulnerability 243 Paving the way forward 243 Annexes 249 References 317 vi X Making decent work a reality for domestic workers List of boxes Box 0.1 Domestic work as care work 6 Box 1.1 Comparability of ILO global and regional estimates over time 12 Box 1.2 Enumerating children in domestic work 18 Box 1.3 Estimating the number of domestic workers in China 21 Box 4.1 Article 10 of Convention No. 189 70 Box 4.2 Ensuring equality of treatment for live-in and live-out domestic workers 76 Box 5.1 Opinion of the CEACR on the use of payment in kind 98 Box 5.2 Sector-specific wages 103 Box 5.3 Relationship between wages and hours 104 Box 6.1 Article 14 of Convention No. 189 121 Box 6.2 Ensuring employment injury coverage and health protection in Italy 126 Box 6.3 Unemployment and maternity insurance for domestic workers in South Africa 127 Box 6.4 Paternity rights for male domestic workers 132 Box 7.1 Collective bargaining agreement in São Paulo, Brazil 164 Box 7.2 France: Service voucher or service cheque for domestic workers 167 Box 7.3 General Labour and Social Security Inspectorate of Uruguay 168 Box 7.4 Raising awareness among employers of domestic workers in Zambia 169 Box 9.1 Decomposing the total coverage gap 200 Box 9.2 Comprehensive package of measures in Costa Rica 209 Box 9.3 Using behavioural insights to promote formal employment in Argentina 213 Box 9.4 Article 15 of Convention No. 189 216 Contents vii List of figures Figure 1.1 Percentage of domestic workers in total employment and as a percentage of employees, 2019 11 Figure 1.2 The gender dimension 13 Figure 1.3 Gender-based occupational segregation among domestic workers, 2019 14 Figure 1.4 Distribution of domestic workers compared with the distribution of employees by income group of countries, 2019 (percentages) 20 Figure 2.1 Distribution of domestic workers across regions, 2019 (percentages) 26 Figure 2.2 Domestic workers in numbers in the Americas, 2019 28 Figure 2.3 Domestic workers in numbers in Asia and the Pacific, 2019 32 Figure 2.4 Domestic workers in numbers in Europe and Central Asia, 2019 35 Figure 2.5 Domestic workers in numbers in the Arab States, 2019 38 Figure 2.6 Domestic workers in numbers in Africa, 2019 42 Figure 2.7 Number of active domestic work platforms globally by year of foundation, 1950–2020 47 Figure 3.1 Coverage of domestic workers by national labour legislation across the world, 2020 (percentages) 60 Figure 3.2 Coverage of domestic workers by national labour legislation by region, 2020 (percentages) 62 Figure 3.3 Domestic workers who would be covered today had the laws not changed since 2010 66 Figure 4.1 Limitation of normal weekly hours of work for domestic workers, 2020 73 Figure 4.2 Limitation of normal weekly hours of work for domestic workers by region, 2020 (percentages) 74 Figure 4.3 Limitation of normal weekly hours of work for domestic workers, had the laws not changed since 2010 80 Figure 4.4 Entitlement to weekly rest for domestic workers, 2020 82 Figure 4.5 Entitlement to weekly rest for domestic workers by region, 2020 (percentages) 83 Figure 4.6 Entitlement to weekly rest for domestic workers, had the laws not changed since 2010 87 Figure 4.7 Paid annual leave for domestic workers, 2020 89 Figure 4.8 Paid annual leave for domestic workers by region, 2020 (percentages) 91 Figure 4.9 Entitlement to paid annual leave among domestic workers, had the laws not changed since 2010 93 Figure 5.1 Extent of minimum wage coverage of domestic workers, 2020 101 Figure 5.2 Extent of minimum wage coverage of domestic workers by region, 2020 (percentages) 107 Figure 5.3 Extent of minimum wage coverage of domestic workers, had the laws not changed since 2010 108 Figure 5.4 Extent of provisions on payments in kind, 2020 110 viii X Making decent work a reality for domestic workers Figure 5.5 Extent of provisions on payments in kind by region, 2020 (percentages) 112 Figure 5.6 Extent of provisions on payments in kind had the laws not changed since 2010 115 Figure 6.1 Number and percentage of countries with some legal social security coverage for domestic workers and percentage of domestic workers legally covered, 2020 123 Figure 6.1 Number and percentage of countries with some legal social security coverage for domestic workers and percentage of domestic workers legally covered, 2020 123 Figure 6.2 Number of countries with some legal social security coverage for domestic workers that provide coverage for migrant domestic workers, 2020 123 Figure 6.3 Number and percentage of countries with legal social security coverage for domestic