The International Labor Organization and Canada seek to improve conditions for domestic workers in Peru

Lima, June 16. The international organization said Thursday that the International Labor Organization and the Government of Canada will help fund the creation of a $3 million national welfare system, aimed at ensuring compliance with the rights of domestic workers in Peru.

“With the ratification of ILO Convention 189, the enactment of a new law (in Peru), a recently approved regulation and action plan in favor of domestic workers, conditions are ripe to set foot in the acceleration wheel and ensure, finally, a decent , Italo Cardona, in a statement that the working conditions of these workers “.

The latest figures from Peru’s National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI) indicated that of the 340,000 people employed in paid domestic work in the country, 92% work informally, 95% are women and 12% live in poverty.

The Peruvian government took the first steps to create the national welfare system in January 2022, with the goal of accelerating the design of policies that recognize the value of unpaid domestic work, reduce the disproportionate workload of women and redistribute care more equitably between women and men, and between the family and the state.

The charge d’affaires of the embassy added, “Progress towards a national care system is necessary to achieve an equal society between women and men. In addition, the pandemic has starkly emphasized to us our urgency for better care services.” Canada in Peru, Erin Koenig, in the same statement.

To achieve this goal, the ILO and the Canadian government launched a $3 million project to contribute to national efforts to improve the social and economic conditions of domestic workers and support the establishment of the National Welfare System, a declaration made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, in the framework of the Ninth Summit of the Americas, held last week in Los Angeles, USA.

“Similarly, this project seeks to guarantee the rights of domestic workers, the vast majority of whom are women, who are among the most vulnerable, being essential in the care structure of Peru,” Koenig concluded.

According to figures from the National Institute of Statistics, unpaid household chores can account for 20.4% of the country’s GDP if it is paid economically.

In addition, although home care work is essential to the functioning of a country’s economy, it is usually invisible, undervalued and highly feminized, with women in the country working 22.74 hours more per week than men in unpaid domestic activities. EFE

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