Hesperian Health Guides
Working for Change
In South Africa, domestic workers have a Domestic Workers’ Union to help them demand laws to protect themselves. They began by knocking on doors, and by educating people through pamphlets and radio announcements. Now they are a national union. They work with domestic workers’ unions in other countries to help workers get fair working hours, fair pay, social security benefits, and other basic protections.
Unions like the South African Domestic Workers’ Union are a very good way to organize and protect workers’ rights. But it is often difficult to start a local union if there are no larger unions for support or because the company or the government does not allow them. If that is true, women can find other, less formal ways to improve their conditions.
When starting to work together for better conditions, workers sometimes fear that they may lose their jobs or that they will be treated badly if their employers find out. In these cases it is important to build trust among those they are organizing with. If it is not possible to talk at work, it may be best to meet in secret in private homes or in the community.
To begin organizing your workplace:
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- Talk with the people you work with to identify common problems and possible ways to solve them.
- Meet together regularly as a group to build trust and help support one another. Be sure to include those who are new at work and make them feel welcome. Remember, there is strength in numbers.
Once you are organized as a group or a workers’ association, you may feel strong enough to join a union or start your own. The company may be less likely to challenge you if you are already organized.
What your organization can do
When your group has identifed common problems and possible solutions, decide which problems can be changed and what you need to do to make change happen. Even if the company is not willing to change anything, you can do a lot for yourselves.
Teach each other about safety. Experienced workers who have been doing the job for a long time will have learned the safest way to do things. Ask them to share ideas about how to make the job easier and safer.
Help new workers. New people may be afraid to join your group, especially if the employers do not support you. But it is still important to share your knowledge about safety, because the safer everyone is, the safer you are.
More Information
helping relationshipsSupport each other. Many women experience conflict at home when they start working, because their role in the family changes. Share advice on solving family problems and on balancing housework and child care with paid work. Some even help take care of each other’s children. They may organize a child care center, where one person is paid to care for young children so that others can work. Or they take turns minding the children.
You might also try meeting together with men to discuss women’s workload. For example:
In workshops at the Center for Health Education, Training, and Nutrition Awareness (CHETNA) in India, men and women are asked to list their daily tasks. Many are surprised to learn that a woman’s work day starts before a man’s does and ends long after his, and that she rarely gets a chance to rest. This helped men to see how work is distributed unfairly between men and women. Then they were able to talk about dividing work fairly, based on the needs of the family and not only by gender roles.
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when parents work outside the homeIf you can, negotiate with your employer for better working conditions, such as:
- higher wages.
- maternity leave (time off after having a baby, with the right to return to the same job).
- bathroom breaks.
- child care at work.
- a private place to breastfeed or remove breast milk by hand.