Like Your Own Child? Employers’ Perspectives and the Regulation of Domestic Work in Ghana

The McGill Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism. in collaboration with the Labour Law and Development Research Laboratory, presents a talk by Dzodzi Tsikata, O’Brien Fellow in Residence.

Abstract

Without exception, the literature on domestic work in Ghana has found that domestic workers are paid very poor wages, if at all, work long hours without properly defined working hours and perform tasks which depend on the changing needs of their employers. To address these deficits, studies have recommended specific regulations to clarify, standardise and improve the terms and conditions of domestic work. Although boosted by the passage of the ILO Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers (Convention No. 189 of 2011), regulating domestic work would be difficult in Ghana. This is because of the nature of domestic work, the location of its workplace at home, the profile of domestic workers, the limitations of the existing institutional regime for domestic work and more generally, the extensive informalisation of work in Ghana.

Speaker

Dzodzi Tsikata, O’Brien Fellow in Residence, is on sabbatical from the University of Ghana where she is Associate Professor at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER). Dzodzi Tsikata, who studied Law at the University of Ghana, has a Ph.D in Social Science from Leiden University. Her research focuses on gender and development issues; the work conditions of informal workers and the livelihood implications of agriculture and land commercialisation.

A light lunch will be served. Kindly RSVP to chlrp.law [at] mcgill.ca.