‘My mother was a kitchen girl’: legal and policy responses to the problem of care for women who provide care in South Africa

ABSTRACT

Domestic labour or care work creates the conditions through which other labour can occur, however, the value that this work provides is scarcely recognised when lawmakers consider its remuneration and regulation. This paper investigates legal discrimination against providers of domestic labour in South Africa, especially at home involving women in relationships and domestic workers. This is done by considering how labour law and gender equity law as well as the Constitution produce inequitable outcomes for women providing care services and contrasting the realities of care workers with legal protections. It also considers the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the reality of care. Lastly, it outlines the ways in which the law can enable more equitable dispensations of labour.

Le travail domestique ou de soins crée les conditions qui permettent à d'autres types de travail d'avoir lieu, mais la valeur apportée par ce type de travail est rarement reconnue lorsque les législateurs réfléchissent à sa rémunération et à sa réglementation. Ce document étudiera la discrimination juridique en Afrique du Sud à l'encontre des personnes effectuant un travail domestique, en particulier au foyer, et en particulier pour ce qui est des femmes vivant en couple et des travailleuses domestiques. Pour ce faire, il traitera de la manière dont le droit du travail et les lois relatives à l'équité entre les genres, ainsi que notre constitution, aboutissent à des résultats inéquitables pour les femmes qui dispensent les soins, et il contrastera cette situation avec les réalités des personnes dispensant des soins qui jouissent de protections juridiques. Il considérera par ailleurs les manières dont la pandémie de Covid-19 a modifié la réalité et la réglementation des soins. Enfin, il présentera les manières dont la loi peut permettre une distribution plus équitable du travail et du repos.

El trabajo doméstico o de cuidados crea condiciones a partir de las cuales pueden producirse otros trabajos. Sin embargo, el valor generado por este trabajo apenas es reconocido cuando los legisladores consideran su remuneración y regulación. Este artículo investiga la discriminación legal sudafricana contra las proveedoras de trabajo doméstico, especialmente en el hogar, sobre todo en el caso de mujeres que mantienen relaciones sentimentales y de trabajadoras domésticas. Para ello, se analiza de qué manera el derecho laboral, la ley de equidad de género y la Constitución producen resultados no equitativos para las mujeres que cuidan, contrastándose sus realidades con las experimentadas por trabajadoras del cuidado que gozan de protecciones legales. Además, el artículo considera las formas en que la pandemia de COVID-19 ha cambiado la realidad y la regulación de los cuidados. Por último, esboza las formas en que la ley puede permitir una exención más equitativa del trabajo para permitir el descanso.

KEYWORDS:

• Unpaid care work
• gender equity
• intersectionality
• law

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Nolundi Luwaya (University of Cape Town) for her assistance in editing and providing guidance in the early stages of my research. I would like to thank all the women in my life for personal stories with me. Your insight given to me freely in the form of casual conversation was and continues to be a constant source of inspiration for my writing. Lastly, I would like to thank my mother for teaching me that care work is and will always be work.

Notes

1 Ouma is the Afrikaans word for grandmother.

2 Laws which prohibited black women from entering urban areas.

3 The completion of marriage rites tends to be very expensive and time consuming.

4 The Divorce Act 70 of 1979 Section 7(3).

5 Employment Equity Act No. 55 of 1998.

6 The Employment Equity Act No. 5 of 1998.

7 Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act 130 of 1993.

8 Notice on The Registration of Domestic Worker Employers in Terms of Section 80 of The Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Disease Act as Amended in GN 106 of 2021.

9 Basic Conditions of Employment Act No. 75 of 1997.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Adenike Fapohunda

Adenike Fapohunda is a writer, researcher, and candidate attorney currently living in Johannesburg, South Africa. Her writing frequently explores the politicisation of relationships. She studied philosophy and political science at the University of the Witwatersrand and Law at the University of Cape Town. Postal address: 357 Visagie Street, Pretoria 0002. Email: [email protected]