Research Network for Domestic Worker Rights

Newsletter No. 8
June 2013

Adriana Causa
We were very sad to hear of the recent passing of Adriana Causa, Latin American regional coordinator of the
RN-DWR. Adriana was a professor of sociology, coordinator of the MA program in Family Studies and researcher
at the Instituto Gino Germani of the Universidad de Buenos Aires. Adriana published extensively about gender
and information and communication technologies, as well as gender, poverty and development. At the time of
her death, she was directing the project, Paid domestic workers costs and benefits in relation to gender au-
tonomy in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area, which was aimed at providing knowledge, policy proposals and
strategies that would help visualize, demystify and modify the precariousness of paid domestic work. Adriana
was a very active member of the Gender and Feminist Studies Section of the Latin American Studies Associa-
tion and the working group, Gender, Inequality and Citizenship of the Latin American Sociological Association.
Adrianas sharp wit, positive energy as a person, and enthusiasm for her work as a sociologist and feminist had
the ability to inspire others to push their own academic and activist work further. Her presence and contribu-
tions will be sorely missed.

Dear colleagues, markets and welfare states.

You are reading the eigth newsletter
of the Research Network for Domestic
Worker Rights, including information on
the implementation process of the ILO
Convention, campaigns, and news from
the world of research. Contributions for
the next newsletter are welcome.
1. Upcoming Confer-
ences and Calls
CfP: Analysing the political economy
of household services in Europe
This seminar on the political economy
of household services in Europe will
take place Oct. 3-4, 2013, at Sciences
Po, Paris, France.
The aim of this seminar is to analyse
this political economy of household
services in Europe, looking both at the
drivers behind this policy orientation of
subsidizing the demand for household
services and at its impact on labour
Consequently, this seminar will be Content
organized around three main sets of
research questions: 1. Upcoming Conferences
1. Analysing the politics behind the and Calls
policies for supporting household
2. Publications
services.
2. Analysing the impact of these poli- 3. Updates on the Con-
cies on labour markets. vention and Campaign
3. Analysing the impact of these poli- News
cies on welfare provision. 4. Research Activities
Submission of abstracts and full
papers:
Abstracts of maximum 1 page should The Newsletter includes contri-
butions from Katerina Dederov,
be submitted by June 30th, 2013 to Dan Gallin, Mary Goldsmith, Ma-
Clement.Carbonnier@u-cergy.fr and rieke Koning, Sabrina Marchetti,
Nathalie.morel@sciences-po.fr Full call Helen Schwenken, Eva Valentov,
Sebastian Walter
available at http://www.sciencespo.
fr/liepp/sites/sciencespo.fr.liepp/files/
Call%20Political%20economy%20
of%20household%20services%20in%20
Europe.pdf.
The 10th Annual IMISCOE Conference
Crisis and Migration- Perceptions,

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 Research Network for Domestic Worker Rights
Challenges and Consequences takes
place in Malm, Sweden, 25-27 Au-
gust 2013. As many European states
are currently muddling through a deep
economic crisis with repercussions on
the political stability of many European
societies, including the European Union
as such, this conference will direct at-
tention to the links between crisis and
patterns of migration in, between and
from various European countries and
how this can be done from various ana-
lytical approaches. More information
available at http://www.imiscoeconfer-
ences.org.
The conference Family Life in the Age
of Migration and Mobility, takes place
16 - 20 September 2013, Linkping
University.
In an age of migration and mobility
not only do many facets of contempo-
rary family life take place against the
backdrop of intensified movement in its
various forms, but the practices of fami-
lies themselves are deeply embedded
in such movements. The conference
adopts the concept of mobilities as its
central analytical frame. The confer-
ence seeks to stretch the application
of the mobilities lens into new areas of
family life. Three key themes frame the
conference:
(I) multi-local family lives,
(II) the globalization of reproduction
and social reproduction across the
family-life cycle,
(III) national, supranational and trans-
national policies and laws relating to
family life in an age of migration and
mobility.
For more information: https://www.
familymobility.de/
CfP: The German language journal
Grundrisse is looking for contribu-
tions to its issue Who cares? in the fall.
Deadline is August 31, 2013. More in-
formation: http://www.grundrisse.net/
call_for_papers/call_for_papers_care.
htm
2. Publications
Centro Studi e Ricerche IDOS (2013). In-
dagine sullassistenza familiare in Italia:
il contributo degli immigrati. https://
www.unicreditfoundation.org/content/
dam/ucfoundation/documents/publi-
cations/Report_immigrazione.pdf
Chen, Michelle (April 15, 2013). Do-
mestic Workers Sow a New Global
Movement. http://inthesetimes.com/
working/entry/14862/domestic_work-
ers_sow_a_new_global_movement/.
Elfatih, Hadelzein M. (2013). The invis-
ible chain; domestic work as a contem-
porary form of un-free labour. Contact
author: hadotaa@gmail.com.
Glass, Claire (April 6, 2013). Time for
Domestic Workers to Enjoy Equal Rights
and Recognition. http://truth-out.org/
news/item/15489-time-for-domestic-
workers-to-enjoy-equal-rights-and-rec-
ognition.
Kocher, Eva (2013). Tariffhigkeit ohne
Streikbereitschaft? - Funktionale Alter-
nativen zur Arbeitskampfbereitschaft
im Fall von Hausangestelltenvereini-
gungen, in: Jens M. Schubert (Hrsg.),
Anforderungen an ein modernes
kollektives Arbeitsrecht, Nomos, Baden-
Baden, 2013, 166-178. (in German).
Scheiwe, Kirsten/ Schwach, Verena
(2012). Decent work for domestic
workers das bereinkommen 189 der
Internationalen Arbeitsorganisation,
ZIAS, 317-349 (in German).
3. updates on the
Convention and Cam-
paign news
ITUC
ITUC has a new 12 by 12 newsletter. In
the newsletter: Global Action Days in
June - Update on ratifications of C189 -
Latest labour law reforms - Organising
domestic workers - Migrant domestic
workers - UN Women-ITUC publica-
tion: Domestic Workers Count Too - A
selection of 12 by 12 actions around
the world
Eng: http://www.ituc-csi.
org/2nd-12-by-12-newsletter-2013
Esp: http://www.ituc-csi.org/
campana-12-para-12-2o-boletin-
de?lang=es
FR: http://www.ituc-csi.org/12-
ratifications-en-2012-2eme?lang=fr
Updated 12 by 12 flyer:
http://www.ituc-csi.org/new-12-by-12-
flyer
Germany
Germany ratified ILO Convention 189.
In June 2013 the ratification passed the
parliament. More information in English
on the situation in Germany, you can
find in the article What now after Ger-
manys ratification of C189? by Bianca
Khl and Sabine Alker (http://www.
equaltimes.org/blogs/what-now-after-
germanys-ratification-of-c189)
Czech Republic
The non-profit organizations Asso-
ciation for Integration and Migration
(AIM) and People in Need decided to
take interest in the situation of mi-
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 Research Network for Domestic Worker Rights

grant women who are employed as
domestic workers. They launched an
Equal opportunities on the thresh-
old of Czech homes project, which
has been financed by the ESF HREOP
since last year. Amongst other things,
a new www.pracovnicevdomacnosti.
cz website was created, listing more
stories of migrant women and various
materials related to paid domestic work
and migration, from both a general and
professional point of view.
Ireland
Ireland has pledged its intention to rat-
ify the Convention. At the International
Labour Organisations 9th European
and Central Regional meeting in Oslo
earlier this month, Irelands Minister of
Social Development announced that
Ireland would move to ratify the Do-
mestic Workers Convention and as part
of its presidency of the EU, urge other
EU member states to ratify.
European Union
The European Commission has pre-
sented a proposal for a Council Decision
authorising Member States to ratify the
ILO Convention 189. The press release
Working conditions: Commission
urges Member States to implement ILO
domestic workers convention can be
found on-line at http://europa.eu/rapid/
press-release_IP-13-264_en.htm
Kenya
In Kenya, employers risk being fined
if they do not allow National Social
Security Fund (NSSF) agents into their
home to verify domestic workers are
registered under the pension scheme.
More information: http://allafrica.com/
stories/201305170242.html
ILO Photo Contest
The winners of the ILO photo contest on
domestic work have been announced.
The award-winning picture In front
of the mirror by Federica de Stefani
shows how Svetlana leads Rosetta to
the bathroom to prepare for the day.
Svetlana sings a song But Rosetta
doesnt look like she appreciates it too
much. Pictures can be seen online:
http://www.ilo.org/migrant/events-
and-meetings/migrant-domestic-work-
ers-in-europe-photo-contest/lang--en/
index.htm
4. Conference Re-
port
On May 31st, the ILO, the European
Trade Union Confederation, the Euro-
pean Commission and the European
Economic and Social Committee hosted
in Brussels a conference on Promoting
the Integration of Migrant Domestic
Workers in Europe. Research results
on Belgium, France, Spain and Italy
were presented and will be available
soon via the ILO-MIGRANT website.
A discussion that has been touched
was whether a European directive on
domestic work would be of added
value. A representative of DG Home Af-
fairs clarified that before any initiative,
a clear picture of the sector, including
numbers, would be needed to proof
that domestic work is an issue which
calls for EU regulation.

Contacts: Research Network for Domestic Worker Rights

Contact to the interim coordinators: Claire Hobden (ILOACTRAV), Rebeca Pabon (FNV Bondgenoten, The Netherlands), Prof.
Dr. Helen Schwenken (ICDD/University of Kassel), and LisaMarie Heimeshoff (ICDD/University of Kassel): dwrn@icdd.uni
kassel.de

Europe: Dr. Sabrina Marchetti, European University Institute, Florence, sabrinamarchetti@rocketmail.com

Latin America: Prof Dr Mary Rosaria Goldsmith Connelly, Universidad Autnoma MetropolitanaXochimilco, Mexico:
gcmr7503@correo.xoc.uam.mx

North America: Prof Jennifer N. Fish PhD, Old Dominion University, United States: jfish@odu.edu

Editor of the Newsletter: Lisa-Marie Heimeshoff, dw-rn@icdd.uni-kassel.de