Women in Latin America and the Caribbean - Cepal

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Box II.6
HAITI. DOMESTIC WORKERS AND RESTAVEK CHILDREN
In July 2003, the non-governmental organization ENFOFANM conducted a survey of paid domestic work in three
areas of Port-au-Prince (Haiti). The results show that 85% of workers in private households are female, 61% are
immigrants, 60% are aged between 25 and 44, 67% are responsible for at least two children in their households and
just 42% have a spouse or partner. Men are employed on gardening work while women mainly cook and wash
clothes. 60% of those interviewed had never attended school.
Analysis of working conditions showed that there was a high rate of turnover, while for “live-in” workers
accommodated in their employer’s private residence (less than half the total) the working day began between 5.00
and 6.00 a.m. and did not end at any fixed time; furthermore, days off or public holidays were few. Most workers
were not paid for overtime and less than half had a clearly defined break during the day. 25% of those surveyed
claimed to have had problems with their employers, the most common complaints being that they had been insulted
or ill-treated, had not been paid, or had been subjected to sexual abuse.
On top of this situation of extreme vulnerability and rights violations affecting women employed in private
homes, there is the predicament of the restavek children (restavek is Creole for “stay with”). These are poor children
who are sent by their families to live in other people’s homes where they carry out domestic work under conditions
of near-slavery and in flagrant violation of their rights. Although there is a law recognizing the existence of these
children and requiring them to be paid at least half the normal wage for domestic workers once they turn 15 (which
is itself discriminatory), when this time arrives employers choose to dismiss them and replace them with younger
children.
Source: Myriam Merlet, “Enquête ENFOFANM sur le travail domestique rémunéré”, Ayiti Fanm, vol. 14, No. 56, December
2003; International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), Internationally-recognised core labour standards in
Haiti. Report for the WTO General Council review of trade policies of Haiti, Geneva, June 2002.
When population structures in urban areas of Chile, Guatemala and Paraguay and rural areas of
Bolivia are analysed, indigenous women are found to be over-represented in domestic service work.
These countries are very different in their ethnic composition. The over-representation of indigenous
women among domestic workers does not have the same connotations in Chile as in countries like
Guatemala and Paraguay, where larger proportions of the population are indigenous. Notwithstanding this
preliminary observation, such over-representation is not found in urban areas in Bolivia. A possible
explanation for these differences may be found in the types of questions and definitions underlying the
surveys (Calla, 2006).
In characterizing domestic employment in Paraguay, account has to be taken of Guarani
migration and monolingualism, since most women working in private households have migrated from
rural areas to urban ones (Soto, 2004). This helps to make them the victims of the most widespread
discrimination in the country, where, according to a May 2007 report by the International Labour
Organization, the situation of female servants tops the list of employment discrimination practices,
followed by the exclusion of Guarani speakers. In the case of Brazil, black women make up the bulk of
domestic workers. 41
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Report by the Government of Brazil presented at the subregional preparatory meeting for South America for the
tenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, Santiago, Chile, May
2007.