Northwestern University Library Evanston, Illinois 60201 LI L MAIDS & MADAMS MAIDS & MADAMS A Study in the Politics of Exploitation Jacklyn Cock JOHANNESBURG RAVAN PRESS Published by Ravan Press (Pty) Limited, 409 - 416 Dunwell, 35 Jorissen Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg 2001, South Africa. © Copyright Jacklyn Cock First Impression April 1980 Cover art: Bill Ainslie- 1 Typesetting: Dorothy Wheeler r, ISBN 0 86975 177 8 (cloth) ISBN 0 86975 121 3 (paper) Printed by National Book Printers, Goodwood, Cape Acknowledgement: The publishers gratefully acknowledge the co-operation of all the women who participated in the making of the photographs for this book. t' U14 To Mother, Kathie, Margaret and Bill THE MAKING OF A SERVANT I can no longer ask how it feels To be choked by a yoke-rope Because I have seen it for myself in the chained ox. The blindness has left my eyes. I have become aware, I bave seen the making of a servant In the young yoke-ox. He was sleek, lovely, born for freedom, Not asking anything from any one, simply priding himself on being a young ox. Someone said: Let him be caught and trained and broken in, Going about it as if he meant to help him. I bave seen the making of a servant In the young yoke-ox. He tried to resist, fighting for his freedom. He was surrounded, fenced in with wisdom and experience. They overcame him by trickery: 'He must be trained.' A good piece of rationalisation can camouflage evil. I have seen the making of a servant In the young yoke-ox. He was bound with ropes that cut into his head, He was bullied, kicked, now and again petted, But their aim was the same: to put a yoke on him. Being trained in one's own interests is for the privileged. I have seen the making of a servant In the young yoke-ox. The last stage. The yoke is set on him. They tie the halter round his neck, slightly choking him. They say the job's done, he'll be put out to work with the others To obey the will of his owner and taskmaster. I bave seen the making of a servant In the young yoke-ox. He kicks out, trying to break away. They speak with their whips. He turns backwards Doing his best to resist but then they say: 'Hit him.' A prisoner is a coward's plaything. I have seen the making of a servant In the young yoke-ox. Though he stumbled and fell, he was bitten on the tail. Sometimes I saw him raking at his yoke-mate With his horns - his friend of a minute, .his blood-brother. The suffering under the yoke makes for bad blood. I have seen the making of a servant In the young yoke-ox. The sky seemed black as soft rain fell. I looked at his hump, it was red, Dripping blood, the mark of resistance. He yearns for his home, where he was free. I have seen the making of a servant In the young yoke-ox. Stockstill, tired, there was no sympathy. He bellowed notes of bitterness. They loosened his halter a little - to let him breathe, They tightened it again, snatching back his breath. I have seen the making of a servant In the young yoke-ox. I saw him later, broken, trained, Pulling a double-shared plough through deep soil, Serving, struggling for breath, in pain. To be driven is death. Life is doing things for yourself. I have seen the making of a servant In the young yoke-ox. I saw him climb the steepest of roads. He carried heavy loads, staggering The mud of sweat which wins profit for another. The savour of working is a share in the harvest. I have seen the making of a servant In the young yoke-ox. I saw him hungry with toil and sweat, Eyes all tears, spirit crushed, No longer able to resist. He was tame. Hope lies in action aimed at freedom. I bave seen the making of a servant In the young yoke-ox. The Making of a Servant and other Poems by J.J.R. Jolobe. Translated from Xhosa by Robert Kavanagh and Z.S. Qangule (Ophir, Ravan Press, Johannesburg, 1974) Contents List of tables x List of figures xi Preface 1 PART I: THE ULTRA-EXPLOITATION OF DOMESTIC WORKERS Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 PART II: Chapter 6 PART III: Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Introduction Tbeory and Researcb Procedures 5 Experiences The Experiences of Domestic Workers 26 Relationships Relationsbips between Domestic Workers and their Employers 87 Self Imagery The Self Imagery of Domestic Workers 104 Employers The Employers of Domestic Workers 125 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW Changing Patterns Domestic Service as a Reflection of Cbanging Patterns of Domination 1 73 THE ULTRA-EXPLOITABILITY OF DOMESTIC WORKERS Discrimination: Race and Sex Discrimination on the Basis of Race and Sex 231 Education for Domesticity 265 A Strategy of Survival Conclusion: Domestic Service as a Strategy for Survival 307 Footnotes 322 Appendices 377 Bibliography 396 LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Albany Divisional Council area 21 Table 2. Bathurst Divisional Council area 21 Table 3. Sample proportions 22 Table 4. Numerical and percentage distribution of monthly wages of full-time urban domestic workers 29 Table 5. Size of employer houses 32 Table 6. Numerical and percentage distribution of monthly wages of full-time rural domestic workers 39 Table 7. Wages of domestic workers in selected areas "40 Table 8. Numerical and percentage distribution of working hours of full-time domestic workers 42 Table 9. Time of starting work of a sample of domestic workers 43 Table 10. Time of stopping work of a sample of domestic workers 43 Table 11. Time off during the working day of a sample of domestic workers 44 Table 12. Numerical and percentage distribution of full-time rural domestic workers' working hours 45 Table 13. Days off per week of a sample of full-time domestic workers 46 Table 14. Annual holiday of a sample of domestic workers 47 Table 15. Number of children of a sample of domestic workers 50 Table 16. Number of children in school of a sample of domestic workers 50 Table 17. Lengh of service of a sample of domestic workers 77 Table 18. Number of jobs in domestic service of a sample of domestic workers 77 Table 19. Length of service with present employer of a sample of domestic workers 79 Table 20. Age range of a sample of domestic workers 81 Table 21. Educational attainment of a sample of domestic workers 82 Table 22. Size of white households 126 Table 23. Employers' account of hours of starting work of a sample of domestic servants 148 Table 24. Employers' account of hours of stopping work of a sample of domestic servants 148 Table 25. Employers' account of rest periods of a sample of domestic servants 149 Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table 26. Rates of pay for domestic workers (1850) (European) 184 27. Cape Slave Compensation 194 28. Some 1828 and 1829 female contracts of service 205 29. Wages in the Eastern Cape (unskilled) 1821 - 1862 208 30. Skilled European wages in the Eastern Cape, 1820- 1855 212 31. Numerical distribution of domestic servants in the Cape Colony by race, 1891 226 32. African household subsistence levels, 1976 239 33. Higher white education in South Africa 268 34. Black university education in South Africa 268 35. Level of educational attainment among Africans in South Africa (1976) 269 36. The percentage of African male and female secondary school pupils in Durban, 1970 272 37. Number of black pupils in post-primary schools 272 38. Sex ratios of Lovedale pupils (1939) 299 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. The role of domestic work in the reproduction of labour power and the relations of production 14 Figure 2. Annual holiday of a sample of 175 domestic workers 48 Figure 3. Level of educational attainment among Africans in South Africa in 1976 270 Figure 4. The percentage of African male and female secondary school pupils in Durban in 1970 271 Figure 5. Summary of argument 318 Preface Two centuries ago Lady Chudleigh commented, 'Wife and servant are the same, but only differ in the name.' This book sets out to examine this equation in the South African context. 'Maids' and 'madams' are both victims of discrimination in this society - discrimination which maintains them in a subordinate and dependent position. Nevertheless, they experience this dependence very differently. The employment of maids frees madams in various ways, not only to play golf and bridge, but to undertake paid employment, to be involved in the community and to engage in academic research. This book tries to raise some questions about the cost of that freedom. The research on which it is based was undertaken in the belief that sociologists in South Africa have a particular obligation to record the injustice and exploitation that surround us and of which we are too often a contributing part. If the book has any value it is that it allows the voices of domestic workers to be heard. These voices need, however, to be located in terms of the social structures and historical processes which have silenced them for so long. A danger in this kind of sociological analysis is that the living nature of the feelings, ideas and hopes of the people studied becomes frozen and obscured in academic jargon and long computer sheets covered with endless statistics.