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Mary Wanjiru describes her horrific experience in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
DOMESTIC WORK

Kenyans are dying to work in Saudi Arabia

As the rich world ages, Africa and its young population are increasingly becoming a crucial source of labour. With client dictators and a hostile Europe blocking migration north,…

  • Maurice Oniango
8 min read
(Barbara Alper/Getty Images)
DOMESTIC WORK

Women’s unpaid work results in time-poverty which reduces gender equity and women’s economic empowerment

Women are thus forced into lower-paying jobs, leading to limited economic productivity and growth of national economies

  • Elizabeth Nanziri
5 min read
The 2024 annual report by SweepSouth on domestic worker pay and conditions found that many are drowning in debt and depression because of low wages and non-compliance with working conditions laid out in labour laws.(Gallo)
BASIC CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT ACT

Employers should respect women’s rights and provide domestic workers with employment contracts

About a million women are employed to work in private homes, enabling the economy to function and their employers to work and return to clean homes and cared for children

  • Kelebogile Khunou
  • Amy Tekie
4 min read
Nothando Nyathi makes a cake at her home in Thulani, Soweto. She taught herself how to bake and decorate cakes and runs a small business called ‘Extraordinary Cakes’. Photographer: James Puttick.
BAKING

The cakes that dreams are baked of

Nothando Nyathi always associated baking with happiness and she knew that her creations would bring joy to many others, including her son

  • Ryan Lenora Brown
4 min read