A Hidden Industry: Mistreatment Plagues Kenya's Domestic Workers

Abuse of these workers, ranging from paying virtual slave wages to sexual abuse, is rampant, says Edith Murogo, director of the Center for Domestic Training and Development, an organization that trains impoverished young Kenyan women and men in not only the skills they need to be productive domestic workers, but also their rights.

"House help workers don't know they have any rights," she said. "So when abuse happens, they keep quiet."

There are problems with husbands, and sometimes sons, sexually harassing and even assaulting domestic workers. "It happens from a point of vulnerability that men take advantage," Murogo said.

But she says it's the women that often inflict the most abuse, yelling, beating and berating the "help" into submission. "Mostly it's women that routinely mistreat house help," Murogo said.

There are the stereotypes, some based in truth, that if the woman of the house doesn't manage her "girl" right, she will steal from the family, mistreat the children and sleep with the husband.

"It is common whenever Kenyan women are talking, the conversation will go to house girls, and it's usually negative," Murogo said.

The relationship between the "woman of the house" and the "house girl" is a complicated one. On the one hand, women want and need the help to run the household, but at the same time, having another woman in the house taking care of the family is also seen as a threat.

The result is that domestic workers are dehumanized, often considered possessions of the family rather than employees. "The house help is like something to use," Murogo said. "I know people who lock their help in during the day, who don't give them any days off, who pay as little as 1,500 Kenyan shillings [$23] per month, much lower than the minimum wage."

Kenya has a law that all domestic workers must be paid at least the equivalent of $75 per month, and have one day off per week, but it is rarely enforced. The minimum wage is higher than most Kenyans are willing to pay for help, and there's no mandate from the government or nongovernmental organizations to change the situation.

"It's really a hidden industry," Murogo said.

But there have been high-profile cases in which employers were found to have bribed police to cover up abuse, and the plight of domestic workers often doesn't fit into the traditional international programming of nongovernmental organizations.