Decent Domestic Service

Decent Domestic Service

What is the project about?

The information available on the working conditions of people delivering domestic services is sparse, unreliable and enforcement of the relevant legislation is poor.
It is necessary to ensure that these workers, mostly women (many immigrants), enjoy of decent living and working conditions. Promoted by STAD, the Concierge Services, Surveillance, Cleaning, Domestic Workers and Miscellaneous Activities’ Union, the project on “Dignified Domestic Service”, funded by the EEA Grants, aims to respond to that need, deepening the study of the current reality, formulating proposals for improving the legal framework and informing and organizing workers for better defending their interests.

It is an Small Grant Scheme #3 project: White books/studies to foster gender equality

 

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Links

• Site

Results

The project produced a comprehensive set of studies and proposals aimed at promoting the value of paid domestic work in Portugal:

• Diagnosis of paid domestic employment and economic activity, including a literature review, statistical data analysis, surveys, interviews, focus groups, and systematisation of results.
• Study of the Portuguese legal framework, analysing national legislation in light of ILO Convention No. 189, including benchmarking with five countries and recommendations to align Portuguese law with international standards.
• Comparative analysis of legal frameworks and international practices, with a focus on informality, challenges in implementing current legislation (law in books vs. law in action), the impacts of COVID-19, and the need to strengthen rights and duties literacy.
• Study on social protection and the promotion of formalisation, with proposals for the adequate inclusion of the sector in social protection systems and strategies to reduce labour informality.
• Study on challenges and opportunities for trade union action in the domestic work sector, including a study visit to Norway, interviews and focus groups, and the development of trade union intervention proposals.
• Validation workshops held in Lisbon and Porto to discuss and refine recommendations with key stakeholders.
• Publication of the White Paper Decent Domestic Work, which systematises diagnoses, recommendations, and public policy proposals resulting from the entire research process.