Women in Latin America and the Caribbean - Cepal

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71 Box II.4 REGULATION OF EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION AGAINST POOR WOMEN AND SOME EXAMPLES OF PROGRESS. PAID DOMESTIC WORK IN THE NATIONAL LEGISLATION OF SELECTED COUNTRIES Argentina. Domestic service is subject to discriminatory treatment, as it is regulated by a special statute dating from 1956 which means that the employment contract law covering other workers is not applied. Decree 326 governs the employment of workers providing domestic services that do not yield an economic benefit for the employer. Among other provisions, it establishes that all persons working as live-in domestic employees shall be entitled to nine hours off at night, three hours off during the day between their morning and afternoon work, a break of 24 consecutive hours or two half days per week, and one hour a week to attend a religious service. Although bills have been introduced to reform this statute, the measure that has had the greatest impact so far on the position of women employed in private households dates from 2005, when the Federal Administration of Public Revenues (AFIP) implemented a programme of tax incentives for employers to regularize undeclared employment. As of May 2007, this policy had resulted in 260,000 women in domestic service being brought into the pension and health-care system along with their families, reducing the high level of informal working in this area. Bolivia. Law No. 2.450 of April 2003 amended the previous legislation under which domestic workers were entitled to eight hours off —the implication being that they might work 16 hours a day. The new law established that “the working day for remunerated employment in private households is as follows: 10 hours of actual work for those living in the household where they provide their services and eight hours a day of actual work for those who do not live in the place where they provide their services” (article 11). Article 2 establishes that “the rights conferred by the present law are inalienable”. Costa Rica. Costa Rica’s Labour Code devotes a chapter to domestic servants (chapter 8). Surprisingly in the context of legislation that is quite protective of workers’ rights, it is permissible to work from the age of 12, entitling employers to engage children as domestic servants (article 104). The only safeguard in relation to this provision is that “servants aged over 12 but under 18 may work no more than 12 hours a day” and that under-14s shall be entitled to time off to attend primary school. It also establishes that “any serious breach by the domestic worker of respect or courtesy to those entitled to expect this by virtue of the employment shall constitute just cause for dismissal without liability on the part of the employer” (article 106). This is odd given that there is no matching provision for disrespectful treatment of the employee by the employer. Although the Household Workers’ Association (ASTRADOMES) challenged the constitutionality of the 12-hour day by invoking the principles of equality and non-discrimination guaranteed by the national constitution and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Constitutional Court did not support this view. Chile. Chapter V of the Chilean Labour Code regulates employment in domestic service. Less than 10 years have passed since domestic workers became entitled to maternity rights with the implementation of law 19.591 in 1998. Prior to this, women employed in private households were the exception to the provision in the code that women could not be dismissed during pregnancy without the authorization of a competent judge (articles 201 and 174). Again, the monetary remuneration of workers in private households can be set at 75% of the monthly minimum wage, since the worker’s food and lodging is counted as part of the remuneration. However, this provision does not apply for the purposes of pension contributions, for which only the monetary payment is counted (article 151). Lastly, the Labour Code obliges the employer to keep the worker’s job open in the case of illness, but without pay and for up to 30 days only. If “either of the parties or any of the persons living in the household” contracts a contagious disease, on the other hand, the other party is entitled to terminate the contract (article 152). El Salvador. The Labour Code now in force, Legislative Decree No. 15 of 1972, indicates, among other stipulations, that: (a) a contract of employment for domestic service may be entered into verbally (article 76); (b) domestic service workers do not have set working hours, but shall enjoy a rest period of at least 12 hours a day (article 80); (c) domestic service workers must provide services on their days off if the employer so requests (article 81); and (d) an individual domestic service contract may be terminated without employer liability for the following causes: (i) if the worker suffers from an infectious disease, unless this was contracted at the workplace, in which case the contract shall be suspended; (ii) if the worker has vices or bad habits that jeopardize or prejudice domestic order or affect the moral standing of the household; (iii) if the worker commits any serious breach of trust or act of insubordination against the employer or the employer’s spouse or relatives in direct line, or against anyone living permanently in the household (article 83).
72 Box II.4 (concluded) Guatemala. Chapter IV of the Labour Code (articles 161 to 166) defines domestic worker status and regulates the rights of such workers, including pay, board and lodging, a compulsory minimum of 10 hours’ completely free time a day (including a continuous break of at least eight hours at night and two hours for meals) and a further six hours of paid time off on Sundays and public holidays. The Support Centre for Household Workers (CENTRACAP) challenged the constitutionality of articles 164 and 165 with a view to establishing an eight-hour working day. Pending a final ruling, the Constitutional Court temporarily suspended these articles. As a result, domestic employees currently have an eight-hour working day like other Guatemalan workers. In addition, Decree 42-92 of Congress, the “private- and public-sector workers’ annual bonus law”, makes it compulsory for any employer, whether in the public or private sector, to pay an annual bonus equivalent to one month’s normal pay. This benefit is additional to and independent of the annual Christmas bonus. Decree 78-89 of Congress (on the productivity bonus for private-sector workers), as reformed by article 1 of Decree 37-2001 of Congress, establishes an incentive bonus of 250 quetzals for all private-sector workers in the country irrespective of the occupation they work in, to be paid by their employers at the same time as their monthly wage. Source: L. Pautassi, E. Faur and N. Gherardi, “Legislación laboral en seis países latinoamericanos. Avances y omisiones para una mayor equidad”, Mujer y desarrollo series, No. 56 (LC/L.2140-P), Santiago, Chile, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), May 2004. United Nations publication, Sales No. S.04.II.G.68; Argentina, National Women’s Council, report presented at the fortieth meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, Santiago, Chile, October 2006; Bolivia, law 2.450 of 2003; Costa Rica, report by the Government of Costa Rica presented at the subregional preparatory meeting for Central America and Mexico for the tenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, Guatemala City, May 2007; Guatemala, report of the Presidential Women’s Secretariat (SEPREM), Indigenous Women’s Ombudsman (DEMI), presented at the subregional preparatory meeting for Central America and Mexico for the tenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, Guatemala City, May 2007. E. EXTENDING THE CONCEPT OF WORK Work is not employment. As a human pursuit, work includes both paid activities performed in the context of the market and unpaid activities undertaken outside it. Some authors refer to the sum of the two as the “overall workload”, and societal well-being and economic growth depend on both the paid and the unpaid work done by women and men. Some economists (Benería, 2003) argue that, for the sake of accuracy and completeness, the concept of work should include the subsistence, domestic, informal and volunteer sectors as well as traditional formal employment. These analytical approaches clearly bring out the asymmetrical distribution of workloads within households, most particularly the excessive burden on women, amounting to a double working day. The links between the different sectors accounting for the total or overall workload are also evident in the correlation between the sexual division of labour within households and the gender segmentation in the labour market. This becomes clear when paid domestic work in the market is analysed in conjunction with the unpaid work done in the home. The difficulties women have in obtaining and keeping paid work largely arise from their domestic and care work. This is why those who cannot delegate this to other women through domestic service or family or community networks, or do not urgently need to earn money, tend to devote themselves exclusively to household tasks and do without earnings of their own. For the same reason, the average female domestic activity rate in Latin America is much the highest among married women (52.2%) and
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LC/L.2738(CRM.10/3) August 2007 The
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1 FOREWORD The Economic Commission
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3 INTRODUCTION The women of Latin A
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5 essentially not on biological fac
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8 Convention, but the process has b
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10 among development, security and
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12 Another sphere of democratic deb
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14 to articulate their efforts in i
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16 boundaries between human, reprod
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18 relatively less powerful, new gl
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Page 25 and 26: 22 democratic movements, gradually
Page 27 and 28: 24 Table I.2 LATIN AMERICA (20 COUN
Page 29 and 30: 26 In many countries, a new collect
Page 31 and 32: 28 In Costa Rica the quota issue be
Page 33 and 34: 30 Table I.3 LATIN AMERICA AND THE
Page 35 and 36: 32 The differences between the resu
Page 37 and 38: 34 Figure I.4 LATIN AMERICA AND THE
Page 39 and 40: 36 Figure I.6 CARIBBEAN (11 COUNTRI
Page 41 and 42: 38 Figure I.9 CARIBBEAN (9 COUNTRIE
Page 43 and 44: 40 Women’s entry to parliament ca
Page 45 and 46: 42 Figure I.10 LATIN AMERICA AND TH
Page 47 and 48: 44 Figure I.12 THE CARIBBEAN (10 CO
Page 49 and 50: 46 Figure I.14 LATIN AMERICA (15 CO
Page 51 and 52: 48 Table I.6 LATIN AMERICA AND THE
Page 53 and 54: 50 was from 9% to 1.3%, Jamaica (fr
Page 55 and 56: 52 agencies at the highest level an
Page 58 and 59: 55 II. WOMEN’S CONTRIBUTION TO TH
Page 60 and 61: 57 more concerned with the ethic of
Page 62 and 63: 59 Box II.1 THE WORK OF CARE IN SOC
Page 64 and 65: 61 of care on women mounts up. This
Page 66 and 67: 63 conditions of employment of work
Page 68 and 69: 65 social security and social benef
Page 70 and 71: 67 disincentive to their recruitmen
Page 72 and 73: 69 seeks to reform the constitution
Page 76 and 77: 73 those in rural areas (42.1%), wh
Page 78 and 79: 75 sex and activity (see figure II.
Page 80 and 81: 77 Figure II.4 LATIN AMERICA (SIMPL
Page 82 and 83: 79 Figure II.7 LATIN AMERICA (SIMPL
Page 84 and 85: 81 Box II.6 HAITI. DOMESTIC WORKERS
Page 86 and 87: 83 It is interesting to characteriz
Page 88 and 89: 85 care to the “productive” adu
Page 90 and 91: 87 Box II. 7 (concluded) To sum up,
Page 92 and 93: 89 are also inaccurate, which widen
Page 94 and 95: 91 Some progress has been made sinc
Page 96 and 97: 93 Figure II.15 AVERAGE HOURS SPENT
Page 98 and 99: 95 Country Costa Rica El Salvador G
Page 100 and 101: 97 domestic life is shared between
Page 102 and 103: 99 employee for family reasons. The
Page 104 and 105: 101 In the private sphere, there ha
Page 106 and 107: 103 Table II.4 SEVEN SELECTED CITIE
Page 108 and 109: 105 Box II.12 EXAMPLES OF SOCIAL SE
Page 110 and 111: 107 III. TOWARDS A RESEARCH AND POL
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Page 114 and 115: 111 Appendix TECHNICAL NOTES The st
Page 116 and 117: 113 Household survey information al
Page 118 and 119: 115 sub-module “home maintenance
Page 120 and 121: 118 _____ (2003), "Políticas para
Page 122 and 123: 120 Carrasco, Cristina (2001), “H
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122 _____ (2003b), “Redes de apoy
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124 Huenchuan, Sandra and José Mig
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126 Montaño, Sonia (2007a), “Emp
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128 Rico, María Nieves (2006), “
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130 _____ (1979), Convention on the
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