The plight of these workers that care for our homes, children and elderly is more or less invisible.
LAHORE: Violence against female domestic workers has only recently been given attention in Pakistan. The plight of these workers that care for our homes, children and elderly is more or less invisible. Not only does their contribution go largely unnoticed by society, they are also denied any legal protection. Female domestic workers are mostly found working in the homes of the middle and upper class. They are relegated to the position of second-class workers and suffer exploitation and abuse. Living in private homes these workers are isolated and completely dependent on the people who pay their wages. They are expected to perform menial work and have to suffer the consequences if they do not comply. Of course, this is not to say that there aren’t many employers who provide their domestic staff with food, clothing and even financially help them educate their children. However, even the best of employers don’t have written contracts for their domestic staff detailing what the latter are expected to do and not to do.
The Convention 189 of the International Labour Organisation is key as far as the rights of domestic workers are concerned. Pakistan must ratify the Convention as soon as possible so that the millions of domestic workers in the country have some semblance of legal protection. The act of ratification would enable domestic workers to be entitled to one day off per week, be paid overtime for work on holidays and be paid for sick leave (not exceeding thirty days per year). Under this regulation, there is also a provision for payment if a domestic worker is fired prematurely.
With the ratification of the ILO Convention, at present there is no real legal framework under which domestic workers can seek their rights. And to make matters worse, hardly any cases pertaining to the rights of domestic workers are reported in the media. The existing law has Article 17 of the Constitution which recognises the right of workers to form trade unions. There is also a 1965 law which makes it incumbent upon employers to provide healthcare to their workers and there is the Minimum Wages Act of 1961. However, given the changing times and the advances that have been made in labour law in other developing countries, it is imperative that Pakistan immediately ratify ILO Convention 189.
Sara Ali
Published in The Express Tribune, December 7th, 2012.
