Egypt Creates Housemaid Union in Bid to Fight Informal Economy

Egypt created a union to represent the country’s housemaids, the first legal body to regulate female domestic workers, in a bid to bring informal workers into the regulated economy.

The union was registered at the labor ministry earlier this month with an initial 300 members after a request from the Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement, according to Abdel Moneim Mansour, the group’s director.

The union will set rules to regulate the working relationship between maids and their employers, Mansour said by phone today. Egypt’s Labor Code leaves domestic service workers outside the scope of any legal protection, leaving them vulnerable to abuse, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Salma El Wardany in Cairo at selwardany@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net