100 YEARS OF THE ILO: THE PROMOTION OF GENDER EQUALITY AND THE CHALLENGES TO SOCIAL PROTECTION OF DOMESTIC WORK

Abstract

The International Labor Organization, since its origin in 1919, sought to formulate Conventions aimed at promoting decent work for women and men. However, despite advances and rights acquired since then, significant gender inequality still persists in the world of work. After all, access to the labor market is still quite restricted to women, as well as those who integrate it, find more difficulties and different working and pay conditions. On the other hand, one of the activities that has been performed for years mostly by women is not yet properly recognized and protected: the domestic work. This category of work is still precarious, underpaid and insufficiently regulated, so that even today many domestic workers remain excluded from social protection. Thus, based on a human rights perspective and considering the objectives listed in the ILO Constitution, it is important to evaluate the development of institutional means that promote, in an increasingly egalitarian way, the extension of social protection to domestic work. In this regard, this study proposes the legal analysis of the main ILO Conventions on gender equality and domestic work, namely Equal Remuneration Convention (No. 100, 1951), Discrimination Employment and Occupation Convention (No. 111, 1958) and Domestic Workers Convention (No. 189, 2011). Therefore, we aim to examine the mechanisms developed by the ILO in its 100 years of existence and their effects on legal and social practices, in order to verify that, despite the progress made, it is still necessary to improve measures that contribute to the consolidation of the social protection of domestic work and for raising the levels of social inclusion, as well as for better promoting equitable participation of women in the world of work.