The Contradictions of Formalization: Domesticity and Paid Domestic Work in Mozambique and Angola

Entwined with the history of colonization, paid domestic work has become a hallmark of modern living. Despite its centrality to social and economic life, it is generally considered something other than employment. In the last decade, a growing global movement for domestic worker’s rights has taken shape, winning key regulatory victories including ILO Convention 189, Decree 40/2008 in Mozambique, and Decree 155/16 in Angola. This article explores the contradictions of recent attempts to regulate this intimate sector and improve working conditions. It argues that domestic workers lie at the interface of a conflict over the terms of domesticity and that strategies to extend labour and social protections to this sector must challenge patriarchal notions of domesticity.