To assist with the development of the domestic help industry in
Beijing new guidelines that come into effect early December have
been produced and particular focus is put on protecting the rights
and security of employees.
The new guidelines were unveiled on Tuesday at a public hearing
jointly held by the Beijing Administration for Industry and
Commerce, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce and
representatives from professional circles.
The issues of whether domestic helpers live with their
employers, how holidays should be handled and the protection of the
workers' privacy were controversial topics.
The guidelines state that domestic helpers shouldn't live in the
same room as adults of the opposite sex; households should ensure
those they employed had at least four days' leave a month and eight
hours sleep a day.
However, legal experts say certain areas require some
flexibility for employers.
"If one employer has only a single room and there are senior
people or children in need of care what should the employer do?"
legal expert Liu Junhai asked. "Should they not have the right to
hire a nanny or else they'd first have to buy a home with an extra
bedroom?"??
A survey by the House of Beijing Domestic Helpers, a company
providing such assistance, identified that 5.3 percent of female
helpers lived with their male employers. A survey of 206 such women
from 10 Beijing companies showed that 13 of them had been sexually
harassed by their employers. ?
"The result could be much higher, up to about 10 percent,
considering that women often won't tell the truth about such
things," Li Dajing, president of the Beijing Domestic Helper
Industry Association, told the Beijing Morning Post.
Statistics show Beijing has more than 230,000 domestic workers
of whom 90 percent are migrants with only a primary or junior
middle school education. It seems they hardly go out except to shop
for food.
As it was difficult to get evidence of sexual harassment Li
suggested domestic helpers be careful about their personal
security, take appropriate measures and "call the police when
necessary."
Qiu Baochang, a lawyer from the customer rights protection
department of the Beijing Lawyers' Association, said it was
difficult to deal with sexual harassment cases. "It should be
written clearly in the contract that employers must respect
helpers' dignity and that the latter have personal and sexual
freedom," said the lawyer.?
But Zhang Xianmin, of the March 8 Domestic Helper Center,
suggests female domestic workers also have a responsibility to
"behave themselves, dress in non-provocative clothes and keep a
safe distance from male employers."
(China Daily October 19, 2006)