113th Session of the International Labour Conference

DWF’s Parallel Event at the ILC 2025

FROM UNION STRENGTHENING TO POLICY TO PRACTICE: Theory of Change to Achieve Decent work for Domestic Workers in the Era of Care

Save the date and join our parallel event for the launch of IDWF’s Theory of Change Report at the ILO headquarters in Geneva. Together with representatives from the Government of Uruguay, the ILO, and trade unions, we’ll reflect on our movement’s struggles and victories and address the path toward decent work for domestic workers in the era of care.

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Raising Our Voices to Shape the Future of Domestic Work

At the 113th session of the International Labour Conference, government, employer, and worker delegates from the ILO’s 187 Member States will address crucial matters related to the future of work, such as possible new international standards on the protection of workers against biological hazards in the working environment, decent work in the platform economy, and innovative approaches to promoting transitions toward formality.

From June 2 to 13, we’ll be at the ILO Headquarters in Geneva to bring the voices, demands, and power of domestic workers to the largest international gathering in the world of work. Our delegation, representing all regions, will play an active role in two key discussions: the general discussion on innovative approaches to tackling informality and promoting transitions toward formality to promote decent work, and the standard-setting discussion on decent work in the platform economy.

Transitions to Formality for Paid Domestic Work

Within the framework of the ILC general discussion on transitions to formality, the IDWF emphasizes that paid domestic work (DW) is an essential wage occupation for sustaining life and the economy. However, it faces alarming levels of informality: 8 out of 10 DWWs work without legal protection or access to social security.

Three Main Causes of Informality in Domestic Work

1. Exclusion from labour and social security legislation: In many countries, PDWs are not fully covered by labour laws or social security systems.
2. Gaps in legislation that hinder, challenge, or fail to ensure effective implementation (access to labour rights and social protection).
3. Non-compliance with existing legislation due to weak enforcement and the lack of recognition of PDWs: employers do not register the employment relationship and fail to meet their social security obligations.

Key Challenges

• Globally, 36.1% of PDWs are excluded from national labor legislation. Exclusion from social security systems is even greater, affecting half of all PDWs.
• PDWs working informally receive even lower incomes than those formally employed: barely 45% of what other workers earn.
• Migrant domestic workers (MDWs) face greater risks of abuse and precarious working conditions, especially those in an irregular migration situation.
• New digital labour platforms expose PDWs to higher levels of informality.

Effective Measures Toward Formalization

The IDWF proposes the following key points:

• Recognize ILO Convention 189 as a central pillar of policies aimed at promoting transition to formality.
• Recognize PDWs as workers, the head of household as an employer, and the household as a place of work.
• Guarantee that PDWs are covered by national labour codes and social security systems on equal terms with other workers.
• Implement pathways to formalization for PDWs, including access to training linked to opportunities for formal employment, and the recognition, valuation, and fair remuneration of their skills.
• Adopt migration policies and schemes grounded in the standards of C189, ensuring safe and rights-based migration for MDWs. 
• Ensure the correct classification of PDWs employed through digital employment platforms, recognize the existence of an employment relationship and guarantee their access to social protection.

Call to the ILO and its Member States

• Promote the ratification and implementation of ILO Convention No. 189 by Member States.
• Foster tripartite social dialogue spaces and the development of shared agendas for the formalization of domestic work and the implementation of C189, ensuring the voice and representation of PDWs.
• Promote the affiliation of PDWs to social security systems through incentives, streamlined administrative procedures, and by strengthening labor inspections.
• Support the design of social security systems that take in account the specificities of PDW.
• Support initiatives aimed at ensuring decent work for PDWs within the framework of national care systems and plans.
• Support capacity building and skills certification of PDWs.
• Support countries in ensuring that labor migration of PDWs is governed by C189 standards. 

DOMESTIC WORK IS WORK – it must be recognized, valued and protected on equal terms.

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Decent Work in the Platform Economy

The withdrawal of States from the provision of care services — in favor of outsourcing, privatization, and market-driven models — has fueled the rise of digital labor platforms that devalue care work by turning care recipients into consumers and caregivers into commodities. These platforms expose workers to new forms of labor precarization, as their working conditions are determined by algorithms. As a result, domestic workers often face low pay, poor working conditions, lack of social protection, and exclusion from labor laws. In this business model, workers shoulder all the risks, while platforms make massive profits and users avoid employer responsibilities — with no one held accountable.

Domestic workers who perform their work through digital platforms are not “platform workers” — they are still part of the domestic work sector and must be classified as such. They should be protected under the umbrella of ILO Convention 189 (basic labor protections), fundamental rights at work (freedom of association, collective bargaining, non-discrimination, and the elimination of forced and child labor), and represented by domestic workers’ organizations. If left unregulated, the platform economy will continue to deepen informality, discrimination, and power imbalances in domestic work — instead of offering fair income opportunities.

That’s why, at the International Labour Conference, we’re pushing for a binding ILO Convention, supported by a Recommendation, to regulate the platform economy and ensure decent work for those who build its value. If we don’t act now, millions of domestic workers will be left without rights.

Featured Resources

WIEGO Network’s Global Position Paper on Formalization: Collective Action for Risk Reduction and Decent Work : https://www.wiego.org/advocacy-worker-education-resources/global-position-paper-on-formalization-2025/

ITUC Campaign “Time to Deliver Rights for All Platform Workers”: https://www.ituc-csi.org/time-to-deliver-rights-for-all-platform-workers

ILC 2025 Agenda: https://www.ilo.org/resource/conference-paper/ilc/113/agenda-113th-session-international-labour-conference

ILC.113/Report VI – Innovative approaches to addressing informality and promoting the transition to formality for decent work: https://www.ilo.org/resource/conference-paper/ilc/113/innovative-approaches-addressing-informality-and-promoting-transition

ILO Report – Innovative Approaches Taken by Workers’ Organizations to Drive Formalization: https://www.ilo.org/publications/innovative-approaches-taken-workers%E2%80%99-organizations-drive-formalization

ILC.113/Report V(2) – Realizing decent work in the platform economy: https://www.ilo.org/resource/conference-paper/ilc/113/realizing-decent-work-platform-economy-0

Transition from the informal to the formal economy – ILO Theory of change: https://www.ilo.org/resource/brief/transition-informal-formal-economy-theory-change

IDWF at the International Labour Conference Over the Past Ten Years

Learn about previous strategies that have led to significant victories for domestic workers at the world’s largest international conference on the world of work..