WOMEN AS PAID DOMESTIC WORKERS AND POLICY FOR DEVELOPMENT :CASE OF CHINA AND INDIA

Jin Feng

Fudan University

Shanghai, China

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Feminist economics in China and IndiaIndia International Centre, New Delhi, India11-13 Nov, 2013

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MAIN CONTENTS

Supply of Paid Domestic Workers (PDW) in China

Undervaluation and Discrimination to PDW in China

PDW in India Possible Policies for Improving Their

Welfare in Both Countries

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SUPPLY OF PDW IN CHINA Labor market of PDW has been developing

since the middle of 1980s. Up to 2012, there were more than 15 million domestic workers

Female: Survey in Beijing: 85% ; in Shanghai, 98.7%

Migrant: 87% (Shanghai) Low education: 44% under high school

(Shanghai) Old: average age 44 (Shanghai) The vast majority of domestic workers in

China are engaged in the low skilled job, in elder care, child care, food preparation, washing and cleaning, etc.

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WOMEN MIGRANT WORKERS IN CHINA 68% China's female population aged 15 and

above participate in the labor force, compared to 58 %, 51%.

Around 1/3 of China's millions of rural-urban migrant workers are women (34%, 2011) and they earn around a third less than their male equivalents

Among female migrant workers, PDW are the most disadvantaged group.

However, there is very few official information of migrants from gender perspective, such as women migrants’ occupation, industry, age, wage, etc. 4

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SOCIAL INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR MIGRANT WORKERS

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Source: National Statistic Bureau of China, 2011

Low social insurance coverage, especially maternity insurance for migrant women

MINIMUM WAGE POLICY

Keep increasing in China Not applicable to PDWLong working time; No holiday wage and overtime wage Some of workers know

the minimum wage policy. However, they didn’t realize they may use this policy to bargain with their employers

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CURRENT REGULATION IN LABOR MARKET

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There is a detailed occupational standard for PDW issued by Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MORSS)

Some PDW have certain kind of certification, but most of them don’t have

On the other hand, there is no clear obligations on agency and employer

About 3000 agencies in Beijing in 2010 and 8000 agencies in Shanghai in 2011

UNDERVALUATION OF ELDER CARE IN CHINA: RELATIVE WAGE

 Predicted wage (Per

Hour)Real wage

Difference (RMB)

Difference(%)

Domestic workers

6.61 5.93 -0.68*** -10.29***

Elder care workers

6.49 5.18 -1.31*** -20.18***

Other domestic workers

6.67 6.31 -0.36 -5.40

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Source: Estimated using Domestic workers Survey of Shanghai (DWS) in 2007 and China household income Projects (CHIP) 2007, controlling human capital related characteristics of the workers

WHO ARE ELDER CARE WORKERS?

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 Manufact

ure workers

Service workers

Domestic workers

of which

Elder care workers

Other domestic workers

Average age(year) 40.52 35.68 44.2 47.13 42.8Female (%) 24.5 41.7 98.7 97.6 99.2

Education (%)          Illiteracy 0 1.3 11.3 17 8.7

High school 43.7 33.3 6.9 5.5 7.6Original residence place

         

Shanghai 66.94 49.94 13.13 8.02 15.45Zhejiang 2.86 2.87 10.04 12.96 8.71Jiangsu 11.43 12.74 20.66 17.9 21.91Anhui 4.49 16.19 43.24 45.68 42.13

Other provinces 14.29 18.25 12.93 15.43 11.8

UNDERLYING DETERMINANTS Studies on occupational prestige in urban China

show the least prestigious occupations are those service workers, like waiters and attendants, barbers, cleaners and housemaids. Housemaid ranks the lowest occupation among 50 types of occupations.

Elder care is an even worse occupation by the view of domestic workers themselves

Elder care workers are more likely from less developed regions and more likely accept a lower wage

Employers of elder care are generally poorer than other households who hire domestic workers and their ability to pay is lower (30% lower in household income per capita)

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PDW IN INDIA The number of female workers in informal sector

in India has gone up considerably Wage of the female domestic workers are very

low compared to other workers in the informal sector (Sarkar, 2005)

General problems faced by the female domestic servants at work place:

Not satisfied with their present wages Imposing extra work burden by employers Few employers have a tendency to deduct wage

for absence in work Do not permit any extra leave Sexual harassment Most of the workers being less educated. The

awareness to form a union is lacking11

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POLICY FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENT: TRADE UNION

Establishing trade union for PDW “The Women’s Federation” in China now is

helping to settle disputes, but it is not an organization specializing in dealing with labor market issue and it is hard to provide effective protection to those workers.

Raising the voice of workers. Increasing bargaining power in wage, working hour and social security

Transforming social perceptions on PDW

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POLICY FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENT: GOVERNMENT SUBSIDY

Subsidizing social insurance of PDW Subsidizing elder care user (long-term care ) Subsidizing wage of PDW Improving economic status helps to

transform social perceptions

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Contribution rate %

Social security

Medical insurance

Unemployment insurance

Maternity insurance

Injury insurance

employer 20 6 2 1 1employee 8 2 1 0 0

Current contribution rate of social insurance

POLICY FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENT: TRAINING PROGRAM

Developing both private and public training programs (government subsidy, tax incentive, non-profit organizations)

Increasing the quality of the training Improving the skill of PDW

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