Every year, young African women leave their home countries in search of work. Looking after others – particularly babies, children and the elderly, as well as doing housework – whilst the work they have chosen to do is noble, they do not always, in return, enjoy the kindness of certain employers. They are often subjected to the most humiliating and dehumanising treatment. They look after others, sometimes thousands of kilometres away from home. But who looks after them? Who helps them when they need it?
Behind these questions lies one of the great paradoxes of female migration: migrant women have become essential to care systems and households, whilst remaining particularly vulnerable to insecurity, exploitation and inadequate social protection.
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), women account for around half of all international migrants. A significant proportion of them find employment in sectors traditionally regarded as ‘female’, notably domestic work and care activities. This gender shift in migration is largely a response to the growing demand from households for domestic and care services.
Cleaning, cooking, baby-sitting, caring for an elderly person, aiding a sick person: these tasks are part of a genuine care economy. They are profitable and allow families, businesses and even social systems to run smoothly. Yet much of this work is undervalued.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) highlights that women make up the majority of workers in the care sector and that migrant women are playing an increasingly significant role in this field. In particular, they meet the needs of countries facing an ageing population and shortages of staff in care services.
Some women migrate to look after others, whilst their own needs for health, safety and social protection remain inadequately addressed. This is a strikingly glaring paradox.
When caregiving becomes a source of vulnerability
For migrant women workers, these roles offer significant economic opportunities. However, they can also become a source of vulnerability. Informal work, long working hours, low wages, a lack of contracts, isolation in the employer’s home or problems enforcing their rights: the risks are manifold.
In a paper on migrant workers in the care economy, the ILO emphasises that migrant workers, particularly women, are a vital part of the care system in many countries, whilst protection mechanisms do not always effectively guarantee their rights.
The case of domestic workers is particularly telling. The ILO points out that domestic workers make up a significant proportion of the care workforce and that many continue to face historical exclusion from certain labour law protections and social security.
UN Women points out that women and girls bear a disproportionate burden of domestic work and unpaid care work. In Africa, the gap remains particularly wide: UN Women estimates that women spend on average 3.5 times more time than men on domestic chores and unpaid care work.
Who should look after those who provide care?
The question may seem straightforward, even trivial, but the answers are to be found in the political and social spheres. Thus, it is not enough simply to recognise the role of migrant women in the care economy. Their rights must also be upheld: decent employment contracts, fair pay, social protection, access to healthcare, complaints mechanisms and protection against violence and abuse.
Caring for those who care for others should therefore become a collective responsibility. Governments, employers, families, international organisations and civil society each have a role to play.
In the background of every elderly person receiving care, every child being nurtured, every ill person receiving assistance, and every household being maintained, there often stands a woman whose own contributions to caregiving deserve acknowledgment
