Remuneration and the Welfare of House Helps in Nairobi, Kenya

House helps propel the global labour industry yet are the most overexploited workers regardless of their complementary and substitution roles in sustainable development. They comprise predominantly marginalized women performing several domestic chores in homes. In Kenya and particularly Nairobi, they face unique challenges as envisaged in the Real Househelps of Kawangware television comedy. Poor remuneration puzzling their dwindling welfare drove them to the Middle East in search of greener pastures culminating to torture and even death. Thus, this paper examines remuneration and the welfare of house helps in Nairobi, Kenya. It particularly establishes the: job description of; determines the potential risks facing; and examines the welfare of house helps in Nairobi. The study adopted a cross-sectional descriptive research design. Primary data was obtained from 100 purposively sampled house helps, complemented by secondary data. The study revealed that their amorphous job description of 42 chores comprised thirteen very frequently; nineteen frequently; nine often; and one unethical tasks performed. On average, house helps worked for 14 hours, commencing at 5.00am in hostile environment. With an average salary of Kshs.6225.40, most (69%) of them earned less than Kshs 7,500 which lay below the legislated minimum wage of Kshs.13,572.90. It was demonstrated that the prevailing chronic house help remuneration and welfare dilemma confined them in the vicious circles of poverty and deprivation trap which worsened their vulnerability. Thus, all these atrocities marginalised house helps and downgraded their welfare hence enforcement of and compliance to the domestic workers regulation labour in Kenya was argent.