Women in Latin America and the Caribbean - Cepal

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Following this same line of analysis, it is interesting to note that paid domestic service workers
are over-represented in the “single” and “separated or divorced” categories (see figure II.4). In the case of
the latter, it seems reasonable to think that many of them are women with a low level of education who
worked as housewives during their years of married life or cohabitation, thus developing skills that the
labour market does not value highly so that when they had to go out and seek paid work they had little
choice but to carry out domestic service-related activities.
In 2005, 16% of women employed in domestic service lived in single-parent households. This is
higher than the overall percentage of women in this situation (12%) (see figure II.6). For many unattached
women with children, in other words, the only source of income is a poorly paid job with longer working
hours (see figure II.7) than those of other working women and, where domestic service is concerned,
usually without social protection. This reinforces the cycle of poverty from which they cannot escape.
Regarding the working hours of women employed in private households, the situation differs by country.
In Argentina and Uruguay, a high proportion of women work a half day or less, while in Bolivia,
Colombia, Honduras, Paraguay and Peru over 50% of women employed in domestic service work over 48
hours a week (see table 16 in the annex).
Figure II.6
LATIN AMERICA (SIMPLE AVERAGE FOR 15 COUNTRIES): FEMALE POPULATION AGED 15 AND
OVER, BY HOUSEHOLD TYPE AND OCCUPATION, URBAN AREAS, AROUND 2005
(Percentages)
60
50
53
40
30
20
10
12
12 14 16 38 39 41 42 45
38 38
44 44
0
1
Housewives
3
Other employed
3
Total
4
Domestic service
5
Other
6
Housewives
Total
Other
Other employed
Domestic service
Other employed
Housewives
Total
Domestic service
Other
Domestic service
Other
Total
Other employed
Housewives
Single-person Single-parent nuclear Extended and composite Two-parent nuclear
Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of special tabulations of household
surveys from the countries concerned.