The book on apartheid has been closed, but there has been no funeral. We are the ones who can bury apartheid. As the daughter of one of the women serves tea, they sit and talk about their jobs and their efforts to organize the domestic workers in the neighborhoods where they work. Domestic labor in South Africa originated in the 17th century, when Dutch settlers enslaved African women as household servants. Slavery was abolished in the 19th century, but many of its exploitative and abusive aspects persisted.
Domestic labor is one of the most common jobs for black South African women.
Paulina Legodi learns dress-making at a skills training project in Johannesburg. Photo by David Gilson. Since 1994, South Africa has scrapped the apartheid-era labor laws that denied domestics legal rights and left them with little recourse if they were mistreated. They now have the right to enter into a written contract with their employers and the right to file complaints against employers. She says few employers follow the new laws because the government can do little to enforce them.