Domestic workers vulnerable to abuse
A Soshanguve woman has spoken out about the abuse and vulnerability that domestic workers face.
Domestic workers are particularly vulnerable to abuse says Anna Linah Nkosi.
The Soshanguve woman has worked as a domestic worker for over 23 years.
The mother of four, three girls and one boy, was speaking to Rekord as the world celebrated International Women’s Month, Nkosi.
“It’s not easy to be a domestic worker. The salaries are pathetic. The amount of abuse from the employers is unacceptable. But it is not like you have much of a choice,” she said.
Nkosi said for a woman, finding a job especially when you are not educated was difficult.
“Being a domestic worker becomes the only option,” she said.
Nkosi is struggling to raise her children.
She said because of the abuse from the employers, she had had to jump from one job to another.
“Some of the things we experience are intolerable. By giving you a job, an employer thinks he or she owns you,” she said.
Nkosi said domestic workers were abused in so many forms including verbally and sexually.
This week, Gauteng department of social development (GDSD) MEC Nandi Mayathula-Khoza told hundreds of women during the Gauteng legislature social development portfolio committee that gender inequality in South Africa persisted because women faced greater vulnerability in society and the labour market.
“Women are subjected to a heavy burden of unpaid domestic work, child-bearing and child care, which restrict the time and energy available for income earning activities, and these are some of the biggest contributing factors [to inequality],” she said.
Mayathula-Khoza said in reality, women and girls faced a range of HIV-related risk factors and vulnerabilities that men and boys did not.
“Many of which are embedded in the social relations and economic realities of their societies,” Mayathula-Khoza said.
She said the government was implementing programmes targeted at dealing with socio-economic factors that led to unemployment, inequality and poverty.
These, the MEC said included issues such as unpaid labour, illiteracy, unemployment, gender inequality, lack of access to basic services such as housing and sanitation.
Mayathula-Khoza said her department was prioritising poor and vulnerable women such as those living in poverty or receiving child support grants to break the welfare cycle.
She said the government encouraged women to form cooperatives to ensure economic development as well as combat crime and abuse of women.
“The Gauteng government funds 26 shelters for victims of crime and violence managed by NPOs that were accessed by 1 763 women and 65 government-funded victim empowerment organisations deliver victim empowerment services to victims of crime and violence, 11 349 victims accessed the shelters. The programme of no violence against women and children reached 79 564 beneficiaries.
“Women who are victims of gender-based violence are also prioritised for assistance towards independence, and therefore freed from abuse. The implementation of victim empowerment programmes is a core legal mandate aimed at preventing gender-based violence, empowering victims of violence and working with perpetrators of violence,” Mayathula-Khoza said.
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