Organizing and federating domestic workers globally: The International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF)

0-1 Original language: English
I-1 Name of the initiative: Organizing and federating domestic workers globally: The International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF)
I-2 Geographical coverage: GLOBAL
I-2-A Region/country: Global
I-2-R Region: Global
I-2-T Geographical scope: Global
I-3-A Initiative start date: 2008
I-4 Leading entity/organization: Workers' organization
I-5 Collaborating entities/organizations: Workers' organization
I-6 Has the ILO been involved in the initiative?: No
I-7 Is there collaboration with other agencies of the United Nations System or other partners?: No
II-1 Justification of the initiative: The International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF) is the global union of domestic workers. Domestic workers are those care workers who work in or for private households. Globally they represent 75.6 million workers, yet 81 per cent of them are informally employed and they work in some of the poorest conditions. The IDWF was founded to give voice and representation to domestic workers, to organize them to advocate for their own rights as workers.
II-10 Focus on other branches of economic activity: Other service activities
II-11 Focus on certain categories of enterprises or economic units according to their size: Medium enterprises
II-11 Focus on certain categories of enterprises or economic units according to their size: Not applicable
II-12 Focus on specific status in employment: Employees
II-13 Focus on other specific categories of workers and employers, not captured elsewhere: Domestic workers
II-14 Focus on specific groups of population / persons prioritized in the initiative: Women
II-14 Focus on specific groups of population / persons prioritized in the initiative: Persons with other care responsibilities
II-14 Focus on specific groups of population / persons prioritized in the initiative: Migrants or forcibly displaced persons
II-14 Focus on specific groups of population / persons prioritized in the initiative: Older persons
II-2 Objectives and description of the initiative: Their objective is to build a strong, democratic and united domestic/household workers’ global organization to protect and advance domestic/household workers’ rights everywhere.
II-3 Type of initiative: Advocacy/campaign/awareness-raising
II-3 Type of initiative: Other (specify)
II-4 Which of the Rs in the 5R Framework for Decent Care Work guides this initiative?: Representation of care workers
II-5 Which is the main policy area of the 5R Framework for Decent Care Work does the practice focus on?: Labour Protection policies
II-6 Which other policy areas of the 5R Framework for Decent Care Work does the practice focus on?: Care policies
II-6 Which other policy areas of the 5R Framework for Decent Care Work does the practice focus on?: Skills policies
II-6 Which other policy areas of the 5R Framework for Decent Care Work does the practice focus on?: Social Protection policies
II-6 Which other policy areas of the 5R Framework for Decent Care Work does the practice focus on?: Migration policies
II-7 Which policies or measures to advance decent work in the care economy does the practice focus on?: Design and implement integrated and coherent care policies and systems for decent work and gender equality
II-7 Which policies or measures to advance decent work in the care economy does the practice focus on?: Formalization of informal care jobs and enterprises
II-7 Which policies or measures to advance decent work in the care economy does the practice focus on?: Addressing the undervaluation of care work by raising public awareness
II-7 Which policies or measures to advance decent work in the care economy does the practice focus on?: Comprehensive maternity protection and care leave and protection policies, including paternity, parental leave and long-term care leave
II-7 Which policies or measures to advance decent work in the care economy does the practice focus on?: Universal social protection systems that provide adequate protection to care workers and recognize unpaid care work
II-7 Which policies or measures to advance decent work in the care economy does the practice focus on?: Preventing and addressing all forms of discrimination against care workers
II-7 Which policies or measures to advance decent work in the care economy does the practice focus on?: Ensuring effective access to labour protection and social security, including through labour inspection, for all care workers
II-7 Which policies or measures to advance decent work in the care economy does the practice focus on?: Policies and strategies on working time, wages, and occupational safety and health, including preventing and addressing violence and harassment
II-7 Which policies or measures to advance decent work in the care economy does the practice focus on?: Promoting the voice and representation of, and consulting with, care worker organizations, organizations of employers of care workers and unpaid family carers
II-8 Which beneficiaries in the care economy does the practice focus on?: Paid care workers (nurses, domestic workers, teachers, childcare workers, personal assistants, etc.)
II-9 Geographical scope: Urban and rural
III-1 In a short paragraph, summarize the main results and impacts obtained: Founded in 2009 as a network of domestic worker organizations, as of 2025, the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF) has 94 affiliates in 69 countries, representing 669,000 domestic worker members worldwide.
III-2 Explanation of the innovative element of the initiative for advancing decent work in the care economy: The International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF) and its affiliates leverage the voice and representation of domestic workers to participate in social dialogue, advocate and organize for decent work for domestic workers. This includes calling for the recognition of domestic workers as care workers, and their inclusion in care policies both as care providers and as work with care responsibilities of their own.
IV-1 What were the main challenges or difficulties during the design and implementation? How were they faced/ addressed?: Unlike other workers sectors, organizing domestic workers poses additional barriers, some of which are structural barriers that are difficult to overcome. The main barrier is represented by the disaggregated and atomized nature of the workforce. Domestic workers have multiple employers. With one domestic worker per household, every single house is to be considered a worksite for this workforce. Unionization hence requires multiple and unconventional efforts and strategies to outreach and unionize. In addition to this complexity, domestic workers unions suffer from a lack of time and human and financial resources. These unions are run by domestic workers volunteers who clean and work in households 6 or 7 days a week. On their only day off, they dedicate their limited time and resources to union organizing. Many bring their kids to the union activities due to the lack of affordable childcare. Another barrier is the lack of freedom of association, the right to organize and bargain collectively. In many countries unionization of this sector, and specially of migrant domestic workers is prohibited. The creation of a global union federation of domestic workers represents both a long-awaited achievement and an ongoing challenge. Sustaining such a global structure is difficult, since the affiliation fees of the affiliates are far from sufficient to sustain a federation. The domestic work sector belongs to one of the lowest-paid sectors in the socio-economic pyramid, with domestic workers earning on average 45-50 per cent less than workers in other sectors. The sustainability of the movement relies heavily on international cooperation.
IV-2 Lessons learned and good practices, including room and opportunities for improvement: Despite structural barriers and despite the lack of structural, economic or political power that workers in other sectors enjoy, domestic workers have been able to achieve significant victories nationally, regionally and globally in terms of legal protections, visibility and recognition. How and why? This sector relies on and cultivates the symbolic and moral power that lies in the self-representation of the domestic workers themselves. This authenticity in turn generates relational power, which has been the main strategy enabling the creation of an ample web of alliances with key stakeholders at each level, from local to global. Another crucial element is the long history of domestic workers organizing, which dates to the early 1900s. This legacy empowers and grounds the movement in their advocacy strategies and in their political vision of collective liberation to achieve decent working conditions.
IV-3 Key conditions for success: The ratification of ILO Conventions Nos. 87 and 98—which guarantee freedom of association and the right to organize and bargain collectively—is a fundamental precondition for success.Additional key conditions include:Ratification of ILO Convention No. 189, which sets standards for decent work for domestic workers.Creation of employers’ unions to enable meaningful organization of employers of domestic workers and their participation in tripartite discussions.Institutionalized spaces for social dialogue that ensure ongoing negotiation and accountability.Formal inclusion and consultation of domestic workers’ unions in policy and decision-making processes.Strengthening domestic workers as central actors in the struggle for decent working conditions.
IV-4 Key conditions for sustainability: A key condition for success is ensuring the support for strengthening the political and technical abilities of domestic workers to continue advocating and engaging in social dialogue with their governments and employers. Sustainability also requires support to consolidate domestic workers unions to continue being the living forces that drive the organizing, awareness raising and empowerment of workers. This includes capacity building, to strengthen their ability to understand and negotiate their rights effectively in their workplace and at sectoral level.
IV-5 Potential for transferability, expansion and replicability in other countries and contexts: There is strong potential to replicate the lessons learned from domestic workers organizing to other groups of informal workers who, just as domestic workers, remain at the margins of the traditional organized labour often excluded from formal industrial relations.
V-1 Sources of information and documents used on the characteristics of the initiative, including links to websites, news items, toolkits, policy documents or reports: International Domestic Workers Federation"From Union Strengthening to Theory and to Practice: A Theory of Change to Achieve Decent Work for Domestic Workers in the Era of Care"
V-2 Contact information of ILO focal point: Claire Hobden, Technical Specialist on Domestic and other vulnerable workers ([email protected])

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