Submitted in
partial fulfillment of the Master of Science in Development Planning degree in the University of
Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. It has not been submitted for any other degree at any other
university. / Researchers, in the past, have found that the development of satellite cities has reduced the
strain upon the infrastructure of the parent cities. These developments have had negative
side effects as well, with urban sprawl proving to not only be an infrastructural challenge, but
an environmental problem as well. One of the major critiques that has been levelled against
urban sprawl is that it contributes towards pollution by encouraging long commutes and
traffic congestion. These negative effects have been factored into the decision-making
processes of residents in these areas, as they usually own at least one car that allows them to
commute freely between their homes and the metropolitan centre. However, their lifestyle
changes also affect another demographic, namely the workers who service these areas. The
impact that the distance from the metropolitan area has on their physical, emotional and
economic wellbeing has yet to be fully understood. Therefore, the purpose of the research
report was to investigate and unpack the experiences and working conditions of domestic
workers in Waterfall Estate. This included a representation of the sociological profile of the
domestic workers in terms of their class, gender and employment history as well as an
understanding of the different ways that the workers access and utilize the same space. The
report also shed some light on their experiences, working conditions, relationship with
employers and responses to the challenges faced by these individuals, contributing towards
contemporary literature regarding the evolution of domestic service in exclusionary
communities. The effects of commuting from the periphery to the city affect all who dwell
within Exclusionary Upscale Communities, both upper class residents and workers alike. In
addition to the socio-economic impact, power dynamics between the employers and
workers provide an additional layer of complexity to the workers experiences. The research
utilized both qualitative interviews with 5 workers, as well as the distribution of 31 surveys to
workers in the area to not only gain a deeper understanding of the forces at play but also to
get a sense of what the collective worker experience was. It was found that the domestic
workers were heavily reliant on transit nodes such as taxi ranks in order to commute to the
estate. In addition to this most of the domestic workers were found to be paying the cost of
diverted care resulting in strenuous relationships with their families, resulting in cases where
other family members had to care for their children and a negative outlook on the profession
and their fulfillment of their roles as mothers. / MT 2018
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/25982 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | Ajibade, Abraham |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | Online resource (vii, 111 leaves), application/pdf |
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