The Plight of Domestic Workers

According to Grossman, the service sector counterpart to the discourse of "nimble fingers" might be "caring hearts", a trope of femininity that genders certain labour as female, and justifies the low wages paid to healthcare providers, food service workers, retail workers and other personal service jobs.23 It is important that this element is explored further given the changes in the structure of global labour markets, where manufacturing employs a far lesser proportion of the global workforce, with the "service" sector increasing in numbers and proportion as well as the "self-employed". Marriage as a career emerges in the context of the state's neglect of female education and skill development, which then become private aspirations/burdens of girls/women within families depending on their class position. [...]within the family, it is the boys and the men who not only get precedence over girls and women in terms of resources on education and training, but all income-earning resources and capital that belongs to the family is reserved for the men. According to a recent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research, occupational segregation by sex - the tendency of men and women to work in different occupations - is a common reason for gender differences in wages. [...]as there is yet no national-level legislation for domestic workers; they are not covered under any laws that can guarantee them safe, healthy working conditions, sick leave, accident insurance, paid holidays, minimum wages, gratuity, pension, etc.