Is the Domestic Workers Convention a Triumph for Female Migrant Agency?

The Domestic Workers Convention 2011 (C189) has been lauded as a major step for female agency in cases of mobility, driving and responding to sociocultural change. This is for three key reasons. First, migrants (including internal migrants) make up a substantial proportion of the world’s contracted domestic workforce. Second, women comprise an overwhelming majority of those providing domestic work. Third, and crucially, domestic workers, and in particular female migrant domestic workers, are often unable to access existing labour protections and rights. This Policy Report analyses the Domestic Workers Convention and asks whether it should be seen as a triumph for female agency. It considers the agency of female migrant domestic workers, both once in their place of work and in the decision to migrate to work. It also looks at how this feeds into wider questions of female agency. It concludes that this Convention is a vital and exciting triumph but must be part of a much broader set of changes. The Policy Report ends by offering some recommendations for policy development in this area. The appendices summarize the Convention and Recommendation and give some associated data.