Pretoria - A new study has found that domestic workers experienced high levels of gender-based violence at the hands of their employers and that few cases were ever reported.
The founder of the United Domestic Workers of South Africa, Pinky Mashiane, said most domestic workers were scared to report the cases because they often got threatened.
The study was carried out between July and August on behalf of Hlanganisa Institute of Development Southern Africa and Izwi Domestic Workers’ Alliance.
Researchers interviewed domestic workers and their unions, Department of Labour representatives, academics and civil society organisations supporting domestic workers.
The research revealed that despite legal protections, almost every avenue of recourse directly threatened their livelihoods.
Mashiane said the workers were of the opinion that just because they didn’t earn enough money, they would lose a case and end up in danger.
They also believed nobody would believe them.
“Some of the workers that come to me for help end up backing away because they are so scared; sometimes they get suicidal.
“There is a lot of abuse that is happening to workers behind closed doors of their employers’ property,” she said.
In one example, a domestic worker claimed her employer used to throttle her and beat her.
She said her employer, who was a woman, kicked her out of her house in Centurion about a week ago, despite having worked for her for more than 10 years.
She said she had to take care of the woman’s three children and a dog while cooking and cleaning from 8am to 9pm every day.
Over the years, she proposed that the employer reduced her working hours or pay her for overtime, but that never happened.
“She once tried to force me to sign a contract after working for her for almost eight years.
“I took it to my brother to look at it because I was worried, and when I didn’t bring it back the following day she strangled me saying that I was trying to backstab her.”
She alleged that on a different occasion, she was beaten up in front of the children who cried and begged their mother to stop.
Mashiane said she was now helping the woman with the case and had spoken to the employer who had made counter claims that the domestic worker used to beat her children.
Mashiane said she would support her all the way and urged any domestic workers who were being abused to be brave and report their employers.
She advised them when they reported a case never to alert the employers.
“There was a case in Laudium where a domestic worker told me that she was being sexually harassed. When I called the employer he asked me why I was calling only him, claiming he was not the only one.
“According to him, many employers of domestic workers were doing the same thing.”
Mashiane said the worker later told her the employer had threatened to kill her. She urged domestic workers to stand up and exercise their rights, adding this was the only way they could protect themselves.
Pretoria News