Research Network for Domestic Worker Rights
Newsletter No. 13
Conference and Project Presentation Equal opportunities
on the threshold of Czech homes, Prague, June 13, 2014
Dear colleagues,
You are reading the thirteenth
newsletter of the Research Network
for Domestic Worker Rights, including
information on the implementation
process of the ILO Convention,
campaigns, and news from the world
of research. Contributions for the next
newsletter are welcome.
1. Upcoming
Conferences and
Panels
Justice in the Home: Domestic Work
Past, Present, and Future, October
16-18, 2014 at BarnardThe US-based
National Domestic Workers Alliance
has partnered with the Barnard Center
for Research on Women to organize a
conference about the domestic work
Aug. 2014
industry. Full information about the
conference program can be found here: Content
http://bcrw.barnard.edu/event/justice-
in-the-home-domestic-work-past-
1. Upcoming Conferences
present-and-future/.
Registration is free and open to the
and Panels
public. The participation of scholars
(both independent and academically 2. Campaign News
affiliated), domestic worker organizers,
domestic workers, and other low-wage 3. Publications
worker organizers is encouraged.
Registration: https://www.eventbrite. 4. Research Reports
com/e/justice-in-the-home-domestic-
The Newsletter includes contribu-
work-past-present-and-future- tions from Nina Trige Andersen,
tickets-12197173073. Eileen Boris, Katerina Dederov,
Dan Gallin, Claire Hobden, Sabrina
Marchetti, Walter Gam Nkwi, Karin
2. Campaign News Pape, Nicola Piper, Helen Schwen-
ken, Sonal Sharma, Aoife Smith,
ILO Verna Viajar
The ILO has compiled a catalogue of Pictures: Katerina Dederov
its key resources on domestic work,
including materials on child labour,
working conditions and methodological
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 Research Network for Domestic Worker Rights
guidelines for conducting research
on domestic work. Starting Monday
25th of August, an email campaign
will be launched, sending one email
every two weeks highlighting a set of
2-4 publications on a specific theme
related to domestic work. To access the
catalogue, and to sign up to the e-blast
series, please visit http://www.ilo.org/
domesticworkers.
Switzerland
On June 12, 2014, the Swiss parliament
voted for the ratification of the ILO
Convention 189 Decent Work for
Domestic Workers. The vote was: 106
in favor, 73 opposed, 6 abstentions. The
socialist, Christian-democrat, Green and
agrarian parties voted in favor, whereas
the main conservative party and the
far-right Swiss Peoples Party voted access to their rights and entitlements.
against the convention. Switzerland will
be the fifteenth country to ratify the
Convention and the third one in Europe
(after Germany and Italy).
Ireland
The gross underpayment and
Conference and Project Presentation Equal opportunities
on the threshold of Czech homes, Prague, June 13, 2014
mistreatment of the au pair worker has
emerged in recent years as a significant
issue in Irish society. The Migrant
Rights Centre Ireland (MRCI) estimate
more than 10,000 au pairs are placed
here per year. The lack of affordable
and accessible childcare is driving the
demand for flexible and cheap labour,
which has led to increased numbers
of au pairs being recruited as child-
minders and domestic workers. This
has created a grey area where workers
are experiencing exploitation and are
unaware they have rights and where
employers are not aware they have
responsibilities under Irish labour law.
In Ireland there is no legal
framework for the au pair. In reality, au
pairs are one of the most vulnerable
groups of workers and are denied
the IDWF as a Special Group.
July 9th Ireland ratified the C189. On
that day members of Migrant Rights
Centre Irelands Domestic Workers
Action Group (DWAG) met Minister
Richard Bruton to welcome Irelands
ratification of the Convention. A legal
opinion obtained by MRCI states that
in Ireland the ILO Convention extends
to au pairs and that they are workers.
MRCIs Domestic Workers Action Group
are working with au pairs campaigning
for au pairs to recognised as workers
with full employment rights.
Information: http://www.mrci.ie/our-
work/domestic/
International Domestic Workers
Federation (IDWF)
In May 2014, the IDWF affiliated to
the International Union of Food,
Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant,
Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers
Associations (IUF) and, in July, to
Women in Informal Employment:
Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO).
The IUF Executive Committee in May 15
and 16 passed the decision to accept
For more information:
http://idwfed.org/activity.
php?id=92&utm_source=IDWF+e-
News&utm_campaign=4c8f181851-
&utm_medium=email&utm_
term=0_90f22dc395-4c8f181851-
146339489&ct=t%28%29
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Research Network for Domestic Worker Rights
In June, the IDWF received the Jaap
Kruithof Award in Belgium this year.
This prize is awarded to a person or an
organization that challenges the social
order and makes changes through
actions. The IDWF was represented
by Pia Stalparet, the President of the
ACV-CSC Service Union in Belgium,
an affiliate of the IDWF, at the award-
receiving ceremony. For more
information: http://idwfed.org/activity.
php?id=91&utm_source=IDWF+e-
News&utm_campaign=4c8f181851-
&utm_medium=email&utm_
term=0_90f22dc395-4c8f181851-
146339489&ct=t%28%29
More news by the IDWF can be found
here: http://www.idwfed.org/
USA
On July 2, 2014 the governor of
Massachusetts, USA, signed the
Domestic Workers Bill of Rights into
law. The Massachusetts Bill will protect
workers and employers by providing
clear guidelines, and imposing
requirements on employers, including
the provision of a written contract, just
cause for termination, maternity leave .
3. Publications
Boris, Eileen & Klein, Jennifer (2014):
Reducing Labor to Love. In: The Nation,
July 2, 2014. Online: http://www.
thenation.com/article/180478/after-
harris-v-quinn-state-our-unions#boris_
klein
Boris, Eileen & Klein, Jennifer (2014):
A Shameful Set-back for home care
worker rights. In: Al-Jazeera America,
July 3, 2014. Online: http://america.
aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/7/
supreme-court-harrisvquinnunionhom
ecarelaborwomen.html
Boris, Eileen & Fish, Jennifer (2014):
Domestic Workers Go Global: the Birth
of the International Domestic Workers
Federation. In: New Labor Forum, 23
(3).
Boris, Eileen & Klein, Jennifer (2014):
The Fate of Care Worker Unionism
and the Promise of Domestic Worker
Organizing: An Update. In: Feminist
Studies, 40 (2), 473-479.
Boris, Eileen & Fish, Jennifer (2014):
Slaves No More: Making Global Labor
Standards for Domestic Workers. In:
Feminist Studies, 40 (2), 411-443.
du Toit, Darcy, Mullagee Fairuz;
Ronnie, Roger; Booys, Ernest (2013):
Critical update of new/amended laws
applicable to domestic workers and
other precarious workers. Annual
Legislative Review (2013-2014, South
Africa).
Fourie, Johan (2014): The truth about
domestic workers in South Africa.
August 2, 2014. Online: http://www.
moneyweb.co.za/moneyweb-soapbox/
the-truth-about-domestic-workers-in-
south-africa
ILO (2014): Qualitative research
on employment relationship and
working conditions: preliminary
guidelines. Online: http://www.ilo.
org/travail/whatwedo/publications/
WCMS_248899/lang--en/index.htm
ILO (2014): ILO survey on domestic
workers: preliminary guidelines. Online:
http://www.ilo.org/travail/whatwedo/
publications/WCMS_239520/lang--en/
index.htm
These guidelines were developed
on the basis of large scale studies in
Tanzania, Zambia and the Philippines,
and provide methodological guidance
and tips to researchers wishing to
investigate domestic workers working
conditions and their employment
relationship.
Malay, Michael (2014): Buy a
discount maid at Singapores
malls. In: Aljazeera, June 27, 2014.
Online: http://www.aljazeera.
com/indepth/features/2014/06/
buy-discount-maid-at-singapore-
malls-201462495012940207.html#.
U67RHQ-N84c.facebook
Marchetti, Sabrina (2014): Black Girls.
Migrant Domestic Workers and Colonial
Legacies. Brill
Black Girls collects and explores
the stories of some of the first among
domestic workers in Europe. They are
the Afro-Surinamese and the Eritrean
women who in the 1960s and 70s
migrated to the former colonising
country, the Netherlands and Italy
respectively, and there became
domestic and care workers. Sabrina
Marchetti analyses the narratives of
some of these women in order to
powerfully demonstrate how the
legacies of the colonial past have
been, at the same time, both their tool
of resistance and the reason for their
subordination.
Nkwi, Walter Gam (2014): Domestic
Servants in the Labour History of
Colonial Cameroon From Early 1930s
to Early 1960s. In: Ghana Social Science
Journal, 11 (1), 77-103.
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 Research Network for Domestic Worker Rights

Lee, Sohon & Piper, Nicola (2014): Long
overdue rights for domestic workers.
Jarkata Post. June 18, 2014. Online:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/
news/2014/06/18/long-overdue-rights-
domestic-workers.html
Sharma, Sonal (2014): Acknowledging
home as a workplace. June 16, 2014.
Online: http://www.thehindu.com/
opinion/op-ed/acknowledging-home-
as-a-workplace/article6117042.ece
4. Research Reports
Czech Republic
Migrants and paid domestic work -
research results, SIMI, Czech Republic
On June 13, 2014, at the Center for
Economic Research and Graduate
Education (CERGE institute), a final
conference of the project Equal
opportunities on the threshold of
Czech homes took place. During the
conference the outcomes of the unique
research mapping the phenomenon of
paid domestic work and the economical
and social situation of domestic
workers in the Czech Republic, were
introduced. For more information
(incl. conference video) see: www.
pracovnicevdomacnosti.cz
Are female migrants aged over 40
years left by the wayside?
SIMI, Czech Republic
In July 2014, SIMI launched the project
titled Women at the Sidelines (?),
supporting female foreigners aged 40+
in the Czech Republic.
Work discrimination against
women is nothing new in the Czech
Republic. It ranks, together with age
discrimination, among the major
obstacles to labour market placement.
Ethnic and social discrimination is
faced by up to 189,000 regular female
migrants. They often become targets
of exploitation, violation of employee
rights and dependence on employers.
They get into a position of a cheap
labour force willing to accept any kind
of work regardless of the level of their
education; and thus they often become
marginalised. With a growing age their
situation gets even worse; when they
reach retirement age they are often not
entitled to receive pension allowances
and, in extreme cases, they are at risk of
becoming homeless.
More at: migrace.com - integration -
women at the sideline.
The Philippine History of Denmark
In a new archival project the history of
Philippine workers in Denmark from the
1960s until today will be documented,
with particular attention to women in
the hotel and cleaning sector as well as
domestic workers (including au pairs).
Filippinernes Danmarkshistorie
(The Philippine History of Denmark)
is a collaborative projectbetween the
journalist and historian Nina Trige
Andersen and the National Museum
of Denmark. Archival material (labor
contracts, association newsletters,
photos, letters etc.) will be collected,
interviews conducted, the material will
be registered and organized as well as
analyzed. Contact Nina Trige Andersen
at trige@lynxtext.dk

Contacts: Research Network for Domestic Worker Rights

Contact to the coordinators: Claire Hobden (ILOACTRAV), Rebeca Pabon (FNV Bondgenoten, The Netherlands), Prof. Dr. Helen
Schwenken (ICDD/University of Kassel), and LisaMarie Heimeshoff (ICDD/University of Kassel): dwrn@icdd.unikassel.de

Europe: Dr. Sabrina Marchetti, European University Institute, Florence, sabrinamarchetti@rocketmail.com

Latin America: Prof Dr Mary Rosaria Goldsmith Connelly, Universidad Autnoma MetropolitanaXochimilco, Mexico:
gcmr7503@correo.xoc.uam.mx

North America: Prof Jennifer N. Fish PhD, Old Dominion University, United States: jfish@odu.edu

Editor of the Newsletter: Lisa-Marie Heimeshoff, dw-rn@icdd.uni-kassel.de