Male domestic workers in South Africa – study sheds light on the experiences of Malawian and Zimbabwean migrants

David du Toit, University of Johannesburg

An estimated 800,000 people work as domestic workers in South Africa. Most are black girls from marginalised backgrounds. It’s due to this fact not shocking that the majority of the literature about home work focuses on females performing cleansing, cooking and care work. What’s lacking in debates about home employees’ job-related experiences and relationships with their employers is the experiences of males performing home work, a job historically linked to femininity.

Nonetheless, paid home work in South Africa hasn’t at all times been dominated by girls. Within the Eighteen Eighties when the mining industry was being established in Johannesburg, black males, quite than girls, had been the popular servants in white households. Referred to as houseboys, they cooked, cleaned, nursed and cared for white colonial households.

However over the subsequent decade the panorama of home work underwent vital adjustments. This was due to a couple components, amongst them:

A small proportion of males nonetheless work as home employees, nevertheless. Some are migrants. Resulting from South Africa’s relative stability and financial alternatives, there was an increase in migration from international locations like Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique since apartheid resulted in 1994. The migrants come in search of schooling, employment and improved livelihoods. They depend on family and friends already in South Africa to find jobs.

Whereas African migrant girls from poor backgrounds usually discover work in domestic service or the hospitality sectors, most migrant males work as gardeners, painters or security guards. Some Malawian and Zimbabwean male migrants work as waiters or domestic workers, jobs which can be historically related to girls.

Exploring unfamiliar territory

As a researcher of home work in South Africa, I seen that few research had targeted on male migrants performing home work in South Africa. Consequently, such work is usually seen as an employment association involving prosperous feminine employers and black feminine home employees from marginalised backgrounds. The intersections of race, class and gender between employers and home employees usually result in unequal power relations and economic exploitation entrenched throughout the employment relationship.

In my examine, I examined the experiences of migrant male domestic workers in Johannesburg, with the goal of shedding some mild on their duties and dealing situations.

A male Malawian home employee employed by an acquaintance referred me to different male home employees in Johannesburg. Interviews had been performed with six male Malawian and 4 male Zimbabwean home employees employed by prosperous white employers in Johannesburg. All had been employed for greater than 5 years.

Migrant males’s experiences add a brand new layer of complexity to the examine of home work, the place advanced intersections of sophistication, race and gender happen.

Migrant male home employees in South Africa

My examine confirmed that home work supplied a viable employment path for males.

They confronted related challenges to their female counterparts. These included lengthy working hours, a paternalistic employer-employee dynamic, and a marginalised job standing.

The respondents stated they’d an array of indoor and out of doors duties. Indoors, their duties encompassed cleansing and tidying their employers’ residences. In addition they dealt with laundry and ironing, alongside duties corresponding to grocery procuring and meal preparation.

Outside, their duties prolonged to backyard upkeep, swimming pool maintenance, pet waste disposal, cleansing out of doors grilling areas (braais), and sweeping driveways. They had been additionally entrusted with securing the houses and taking good care of pets when their employers had been away.

The day by day lifetime of male live-in home employees was a lot the identical as live-in female domestic workers. The working day began at 06:30, making ready breakfast for employers. As soon as employers had left for work, they cleaned the home, ready lunch, did laundry and attended to the backyard.

The lengthy working day usually ended at 20:00 after dinner was ready for employers. Most weekends had been spent on extra piece jobs, working as gardeners or painters for others.

Whereas the houses of employers had been opulent, male home employees, identical to their feminine counterparts, lived in small rooms within the again yard, hidden away from the employers’ gaze, as different researchers have also found. The one-room lodging was usually outfitted with fundamental furnishings, differing little from the squalid living quarters of domestic workers during apartheid.

The boys stated they thought-about their wages affordable. They earned on common between R5,000 (US$260) and R8,000 (US$416) a month. This was a lot larger than the minimum wage of R4,067 (US$216) for a home employee working eight hours a day, 5 days every week in South Africa. Most stated they might interact in wage negotiations, which enabled them to enhance their wellbeing and that of their households.

Not one of the male home employees on this examine had written employment contracts with their employers, or had been members of a commerce union, such because the South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union. Work contracts must be renewed each few years, which is expensive and time consuming. Job safety is precarious.

The recurring problems with home work

In South Africa, home work continues to be related to marginalised black individuals, perpetuating a historic and societal imbalance.

Paid home work continues to occupy a low-status place. No formal {qualifications} and little specialised experience are required. Home employees’ contributions to the functioning of households are important however regularly taken without any consideration, as different research have also confirmed.

Regardless of the legislation, home employees work lengthy hours and carry out bodily demanding work. Whereas male home employees on this examine might negotiate higher working situations and pay, others may not achieve success, and may stay in a precarious working setting.

Job safety just isn’t assured, a vulnerability most migrant domestic workers expertise.

Practical protection remains constrained. As an example, migrant home employees usually encounter difficulties when in search of healthcare.

To safeguard this group from exploitation and elevate their general livelihoods, regulators, enforcement businesses and commerce unions should shield and recognise all home employees, together with migrants, in South Africa.

David du Toit, Sociology Lecturer, University of Johannesburg

This text is republished from The Conversation beneath a Artistic Commons license. Learn the original article.