Domestic Employment Relationships and Trickle-Down Work–Family Conflict: The South African Context

Abstract

In this manuscript I call attention to a group of forgotten persons central to the work–family balancing act – domestic workers – that is, those who provide in-home family member and household care for a wage. Especially in post-colonial contexts, but also in more developed nations, domestic employment is a significant occupation, employing between 52.6 and 100 million domestic workers worldwide, 80% of whom are women. The domestic employer–employee relationship is a distinct one, conflated by gender, race, social class, and social-contextual influences. And South Africa, with its post-colonial, post-apartheid history presents an apt “test case” in which to examine this phenomenon. I present ideas for future study of domestic employment within the work and family as well as wider management literature. Ideas include: (1) viewing work–family conflict as a trickle-down process from domestic employer to employee; and (2) examining domestic employers who become reliant on domestic help as a work–family support from an embeddedness perspective, with potential career-limiting implications.