Mistreatment of domestic workers in the First World

The Third World is often assumed to be the sole vesicle of all social ailments such as poverty, labour issues, and injustice. Canada, a First World Country and a G-8 nation — with the acclaimed Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that promises equality and freedom for all — must be free of such injustice, poverty and labour issues, right? Not exactly.

In the reclusive upper-echelon of Canadian society, women employed from foreign countries to act as nannies, or domestic employees commonly face abuse from their employers. These foreign workers are almost entirely women who are employed from Third World nations to act as caregivers, or domestic employees to the upper class Canadians as well as foreign diplomats.

On paper, Canada has extensive regulation to protect these workers (far more than the US and most other nations). Employees must receive minimum wage payments, healthcare and private room and board. The foreign employed workers can also apply for naturalisation after working with their employer for two years. Sounds pretty good, right?

Here’s the catch, the official prerequisite for permanent residency is a recommendation from the employer. The employee can even be deported if his/her employer files a complaint. Thus employer is able to force their will upon the domestic worker, making room for them to misuse their employee.

Most violations involve monthly wages and working hours. A study revealed that the employees are paid 70 per cent lower than the legal minimum hourly wage requirement. The domestic workers are also forced to carry out countless domestic chores unrelated to their set duties, such as laundry, cooking, household chores and other errands not set out in their contracts. Often they do not have a clear boundary between being on and off duty. Their continued physical presence at the workplace makes them on call virtually 24 hours a day, taking away from their privacy and giving them a sense of imprisonment.

Secondly, most of the women employed for this position are not literate in English, making it difficult for them to take legal action in the face of abuse. Thus they are left feeling isolated and alone, unable to assert their rights.

Yet the upside is that the more projects aim at providing support to foreign domestic worker have been initiated. The government of Canada’s website provides a helpline where workers facing abuse can lodge a complaint. However, the problem remains that this issue occurs behind closed doors, hidden away from the public eye, making the true extent of the cases of abuse unknown.

The grass may be greener on the other side, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any weeds.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 8^th, 2014.