A Study on the Necessity of Legislation on the Protection of Domestic Workers' Labor Rights and Interests

About 15 million people are engaged in domestic service in China, 96% of whom are female.The domestic service industry is not covered by the Labor Law due to its irregular nature of employment.So far, no law is applicable for the protection of workers' labor rights and interests.As a result, many problems exist in the industry, including long working hours, no guarantee of rest or vacation, poor lodging and board conditions, sexual harassment, and lack of social insurance for accidental injuries and medical care.These problems constitute serious infringement on domestic workers' labor rights, and affect the healthy development of the domestic service industry.This article analyses the necessity for legislation on the protection of domestic workers' rights from the angle of laborers' protection, materialization of the interests of employers and service companies, and gender equality, with the hope of attracting due attention from the public and from relevant government departments so as to push forward the legal protection of domestic workers' labor rights and interests.