Domestic workers not receiving proper maternity leave or pay
Most of the world’s domestic workers — 76% — are women.
Domestic workers often have low incomes, and are excluded from basic labour rights and employment benefits like pensions and paid leave.
There are more than 76-million domestic workers globally, representing between 1-2% of the global workforce.
About 80% of domestic workers work informally. Of all working women in SA, about 12% work as domestic workers with little or no safety nets.
This work takes place in people’s homes. It is therefore difficult to make sure the sector applies regulatory frameworks.
Domestic workers often depend on the goodwill of their employer to access components of maternity protection.
The International Labour Organisation offers a definition of comprehensive maternity protection. It includes health protection at the workplace and maternity leave.
Women should get cash payments and medical benefits while on maternity leave.
They should have job security and not face discrimination.
Daily breastfeeding breaks and childcare support are also part of the protection package.
My colleagues and I recently described what maternity protection is available to non-standard workers in SA. This category includes temporary, parttime and casual workers.
We focused on domestic workers as a vulnerable subgroup.
SA’s laws and regulations incorporate some elements of global maternity protection recommendations.
Non-standard workers are supposed to get health protection in the workplace, maternity leave and job security. They should not be discriminated against. But the policy framework is fragmented, and difficult for employers and employees to interpret.
Domestic workers struggle to access maternity protection benefits — particularly cash payments while on maternity leave. This is because of gaps in the legislation, and employers not complying with relevant laws. Women may lose their income for the months they are on maternity leave.
Employers need to be encouraged to go beyond minimum national requirements.
Workplaces, employers, managers, and members of society should contribute to supportive environments for women to be able to combine their work and family responsibilities.
This could result in improved breastfeeding practices, which would play a role in improving the health and development of future generations.
Maternity protection is available in SA for some non-standard workers. These provisions are dispersed across various documents and government departments.
We identified 29 policy and legislative documents with provisions on maternity protection relevant to non-standard workers. Most of these documents were from the department of employment and labour.
The components of maternity protection are scattered through many policy documents. For example, to understand the cash payments domestic workers are entitled to on maternity leave, you need to consult a number of different laws. These include the Unemployment Insurance Act (2001), the Unemployment Insurance Contributions Act (2002) and the Sectoral Determination for Domestic Work (2002), among others.
There is weak alignment within government. For example, the national department of employment and labour is responsible for labour legislation, which contain provisions on maternity protection.
The national department of health implements health policy — some of which is relevant for maternity protection. But there is no clear co-ordination between the two departments.
Implementation, monitoring and enforcement of existing maternity protection policy are inadequate.
When women do not receive some form of cash payment while on maternity leave, they are not able to make full use of the maternity leave period available to them. They often return to work earlier than recommended, which has consequences for their newborn.
It also interferes with the establishment of breastfeeding. All components of maternity protection must be available and accessible for working women to be able to recover from childbirth, care for their baby and establish breastfeeding.
Women in the informal economy make up a significant proportion of the workforce, especially in Africa.
The department of employment and labour needs to ensure that the efficiency and accessibility of current social protection mechanisms like the UIF are improved.
One way could be making it easier for employers to find information on how to comply with relevant labour legislation, including that which enables access to maternity protection.
Lessons learnt from the SA context could be applied to other low- and middle-income countries where non-standard employment is common and similar challenges to access maternity protection are experienced.
Making comprehensive maternity protection available and accessible to all women has potential long-term benefits to women’s and children’s health and development.