Home > Themes > Legal Empowerment > Making Convention 189 Real for Domestic Workers

Making Convention 189 Real for Domestic Workers

Domestic worker organizations secured a huge victory in 2011, when the ILO adopted Convention No.189 concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers (known as C189).

But getting governments to ratify C189 – and reflect its provisions in their laws and policies – is challenging. Legislation is often designed, implemented or enforced in a way that excludes domestic workers. Socio-cultural norms devalue domestic work and ignore the sector’s contribution to the economy. This makes it difficult to get domestic workers’ issues on the political agenda.

Since 2016, WIEGO’s Law Programme and Organization and Representation Programme have worked with the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF) to overcome these challenges. To strengthen their national and regional efforts to realize C189, we provide capacity-building and technical support to their affiliates in Africa and the Caribbean.

ActivitiesDomestic Workers’ Toolkit on C189

WIEGO and IDWF drafted a toolkit on C189 to support domestic worker organizations in understanding the provisions of C189 and how it can be used to strengthen protections for domestic workers’ rights.

The toolkit includes a training manual for organizers that has:

  • A worker-friendly summary of the Convention.
  • A checklist to determine whether a country’s laws and policies are aligned to C189.
  • A model contract of employment and a model payslip.
  • Strategies to make C189 real, whether a government has ratified the Convention or not.

The toolkit includes a workers’ pamphlet with an overview of C189.

The toolkit, which was workshopped with IDWF affiliates and launched in 2018 at the second IDWF Congress in Cape Town, South Africa, was developed for the African region. In 2022, we published an updated version, tailored to the Caribbean. As the project progresses, we will explore how to adapt the toolkit for Latin America and Asia.

ActivitiesSupporting Domestic Worker Advocacy on C189

Domestic workers play a critical role in implementing C189. They raise awareness, campaign for ratification, participate in policy making, and negotiate with employers to secure their rights. WIEGO and IDWF support these efforts through capacity-building activities.

Aimed at strengthening knowledge, skills and confidence related to C189, these activities include:

  • A capacity-building workshop in Kenya in 2018, where organizations from across Africa learned about C189 and shared  experiences of advocating for the Convention.
  • Skills training in Tanzania in 2019, where participants learned about collective bargaining and how to navigate the power dynamics in individual and collective negotiations.
  • A workshop  in Jamaica in 2022 with leaders from eight Caribbean countries and the United States to foster solidarity and identify common strategies for organizing.
  • A series of online engagements with Caribbean domestic worker leaders aimed at organizational strengthening and leadership development.
  • A learning workshop in Tanzania in 2023 to reflect on how the toolkit and related activities have influenced the 28 organizations who participated in its development.

ActivitiesParticipating in International Oversight of C189

Reporting to the ILO’s supervisory mechanisms is an important tool for holding member states accountable for the commitments they make by ratifying C189. Supporting domestic worker organizations to participate in the reporting process ensures the ILO has a rich overview of the situation of domestic workers. This work also helps the organizations to identify priorities for their campaigns to Make C189 Real.

In 2023, WIEGO partnered with IDWF and the International Network of Lawyers Assisting Workers (ILAW) at the Solidarity Center to support the Namibian Domestic and Allied Workers Union and the Antigua and Barbuda Domestic Workers’ Association prepare reports for the ILO’s Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations on their countries’ implementation of C189.

We are collaborating with the Essex University Human Rights Clinic to conduct research for worker organizations in Grenada and Guyana that would support them in their reporting.