We endure because we need money: Everyday violence, Covid-19, and domestic workers in South Africa

Mohammad Amir Anwar; Khanyisile Brukwe

doi:10.1080/02255189.2023.2166024

We endure because we need money: Everyday violence, Covid-19, and domestic workers in South Africa

Mohammad Amir Anwar^*, Khanyisile Brukwe

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Social and Political Science

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract / Description of output

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has made the lives of domestic workers, who are mostly women, more difficult. Building on the testimonies of domestic workers in South Africa collected between January and August 2021, this article examines the everyday violence they face during the pandemic. It argues that everyday violence is greatly amplified during the pandemic, because the virus not only affects domestic workers’ livelihoods, but generates new forms of discrimination at work. The article calls for expanded worker alliances to be built in the informal sector to push back against everyday violence and reduce workers’ vulnerabilities.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	575-593
Journal	Canadian Journal of Development Studies
Volume	44
Issue number	4
Early online date	17 Feb 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/02255189.2023.2166024
Publication status	Published - 2023

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

COVID-19
pandemic
domestic work
everyday violence
South Africa

Access to Document

10.1080/02255189.2023.2166024Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND)

AnwarBrukweCJDS2023WeEndureBecauseWeNeedMoneyFinal published version, 1.73 MBLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND)

Cite this

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title = "We endure because we need money: Everyday violence, Covid-19, and domestic workers in South Africa",

abstract = "The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has made the lives of domestic workers, who are mostly women, more difficult. Building on the testimonies of domestic workers in South Africa collected between January and August 2021, this article examines the everyday violence they face during the pandemic. It argues that everyday violence is greatly amplified during the pandemic, because the virus not only affects domestic workers{\textquoteright} livelihoods, but generates new forms of discrimination at work. The article calls for expanded worker alliances to be built in the informal sector to push back against everyday violence and reduce workers{\textquoteright} vulnerabilities.",

keywords = "COVID-19, pandemic, domestic work, everyday violence, South Africa",

author = "Anwar, {Mohammad Amir} and Khanyisile Brukwe",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by the British Academy [grant number SRG20\200635].",

year = "2023",

doi = "10.1080/02255189.2023.2166024",

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pages = "575--593",

journal = "Canadian Journal of Development Studies",

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N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the British Academy [grant number SRG20\200635].

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has made the lives of domestic workers, who are mostly women, more difficult. Building on the testimonies of domestic workers in South Africa collected between January and August 2021, this article examines the everyday violence they face during the pandemic. It argues that everyday violence is greatly amplified during the pandemic, because the virus not only affects domestic workers’ livelihoods, but generates new forms of discrimination at work. The article calls for expanded worker alliances to be built in the informal sector to push back against everyday violence and reduce workers’ vulnerabilities.

AB - The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has made the lives of domestic workers, who are mostly women, more difficult. Building on the testimonies of domestic workers in South Africa collected between January and August 2021, this article examines the everyday violence they face during the pandemic. It argues that everyday violence is greatly amplified during the pandemic, because the virus not only affects domestic workers’ livelihoods, but generates new forms of discrimination at work. The article calls for expanded worker alliances to be built in the informal sector to push back against everyday violence and reduce workers’ vulnerabilities.

KW - COVID-19

KW - pandemic

KW - domestic work

KW - everyday violence

KW - South Africa

UR - https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/rcjd20

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DO - 10.1080/02255189.2023.2166024

M3 - Article

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EP - 593

JO - Canadian Journal of Development Studies

JF - Canadian Journal of Development Studies

IS - 4

ER -

We endure because we need money: Everyday violence, Covid-19, and domestic workers in South Africa

Abstract / Description of output

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

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Cite this

We endure because we need money: Everyday violence, Covid-19, and domestic workers in South Africa

Abstract / Description of output

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Projects

Informality going viral: Domestic Workers, Ride-hailing Drivers and the Pandemic in Africa

Research output

Locked In, logged out: Pandemic and ride-hailing in South Africa and Kenya

‘There is No Future in it’: Pandemic and ride hailing hustle in Africa

Ride-hailing drivers left alone at the wheel: Reflections from South Africa and Kenya

Cite this