Most domestic workers say they have faced some type of harassment
Research carried out by the Domestic Workers Union of the Municipality of São Paulo shows that 87.6% of female workers claim to have been victims of violence at some point in their careers
Almost 90% of domestic workers in the city of São Paulo say they have experienced some type of harassment in the workplace, whether moral, physical or sexual. This is according to a survey conducted by the union responsible for the category (STDMSP) in partnership with Jean François Mayer, a doctor in political science and researcher from Concordia University in Canada.
According to the study data, 87.6% of female workers say they have been victims of violence at some point in their careers. The majority (58.9%), however, say they resolve cases of harassment involving their male or female bosses on their own – usually through verbal confrontation.
The research in this category is unprecedented and for now only the first stage of the study is available, in which 241 workers were interviewed. The next stage will have a broader scope, with 1,100 domestic workers from the city of São Paulo, which is in the preparation phase and will provide a more in-depth look at the current data.
Another difference in the study is that the team of researchers was made up of domestic workers, who underwent a training and empowerment process to conduct interviews among their peers.
“It was a collaborative effort from the conception to the tabulation of the research. And I helped the Union in this process, accompanying and providing training to the workers who wanted to participate, because we always understood that no one is better than them to talk about the situation of domestic work in the city of São Paulo”, explains Jean, who uses an ethnographic and participatory action research method.
This research was co-produced by Domestic Workers Union of the Municipality of São Paulo wibsite