Some domestic workers have been suffering from different forms of abuse silently. Those who live with their employers are more exposed to sexual and verbal abuse. A lot of the women live in the fear of losing their jobs and some are afraid that the matters will not be taken seriously.

Household horrors!

Domestic workers union hopes to see silence broken on traumatic tales of sexual harassment in the workplace

26 Jun 2023/Asha Wilks/Gleaner Writer

THE JAMAICA Household Workers’ Union (JHWU) is anticipating that the Sexual Harassment (Protection and Prevention) Act, 2021, which takes effect on July 3, will have a ripple effect of breaking the silence of domestic workers who have been enduring hostile work environments, prompting them to gain the courage to report instances of sexual harassment.

The law, which deals with issues of sexual harassment that arise in relationships between landlords and tenants, in institutions, or in the workplace, define sexual harassment as any unwelcome sexual advancement or request, whether verbal or physical, towards a person by another person.

With the March 2020 onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Jamaica, which lasted nearly three years, there was the revelation of hundreds of instances of sexual abuse, harassment and maltreatment in the workplace – the home of the employer for domestic workers.

In an interview with The Gleaner last week at the union’s headquarters in Kingston, President Elaine Duncan stated that, through several JHWU workshops, which were held coming out of the pandemic, the workers shared their horror stories.

Duncan stated that there was one instance where a female worker expressed that her employer had pornographic content playing on the television and instructed her to stop cooking and join him in watching the content displayed, while also communicating that he desired for them both to engage in similar activity.

In another instance, a live-in worker who was asleep woke up to the sight of her employer masturbating over her, resulting in him ejaculating on her once she realised what was occurring, Duncan detailed.

Since the easing of the pandemic, the situation has changed, she stated, noting that the union has not received any recent complaints. This, she said, however, was not an indication that harassment within the workplace was no longer occurring.

Over the years, the 32-year-old union, which represents a total of 7,200 members of a sector of more than 100,000 domestic workers, has been battling with the issue of workers being afraid to make formal complaints against their employers. This, she said, was due to their fear of losing their jobs.

Duncan said there were some instances where complaints were in the nature of a sexual assault, such as attempted rape, rape, fondling or unwanted sexual touch, and even forcing the worker to perform sexual acts. She explained that other forms of harassment came in the form of bullying and disrespectful or abusive language being directed at the worker.

The JHWU president noted that live-in workers were the ones most affected by harassment of all kinds and that most of the domestic workers were women.

According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), in Jamaica, men comprise 20.4 per cent of domestic workers with women representing 79.6 per cent and, of the 75.6 million domestic workers worldwide, 76.2 per cent are women.

Imani Duncan-Price, Caribbean coordinator of t he International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF), who was also present, referred to the forms of harassment affecting the workers as a “silent epidemic”, noting that the JHWU was therefore looking forward to the act being enforced so that workers’ cases could be heard properly by the Sexual Harassment Tribunal.

Apart from counselling sessions, Duncan explained that instances of harassment were typically dealt with using mediation sessions or resolved through settlements such as compensation or an agreement to acknowledge that the action was wrong and that it would be corrected going forward. She noted, however, that they were never reported to the police because of fear or because it was believed that law enforcement would not take the matter seriously.

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