Pick n Pay is under fire on social media.

In a bizarre move, one of the Pick n Pay chain stores in Observatory thought it would be a good idea to sell mugs labelled ‘maid’ and ‘gardener’. A Twitter user took a snap of the mugs and posted it, sparking outrage.

Now, a domestic workers union is demanding an apology from the retail chain, reports Business Insider.

Here’s the tweet that started the outcry:

hi @PicknPay these mugs were on the shelf at your obs store. finding them hella problematic. pic.twitter.com/GuqEEIl6Cb

— toni toni ton’z (@toni_verna) October 30, 2018

Myrtle Witbooi, general secretary of the South African Domestic Services and Allied Workers Union, notes the mugs were “very degrading”. Twitter agreed.

Unfortunately, not everyone understood why the mugs were offensive:

Note the pepe the frog/ Trump combo in that profile picture.

Let’s break it down:

Roughly one in five women in South Africa work as domestic workers in an industry that, because of the nature of the private space, is difficult to regulate despite laws that dictate a minimum wage and a contractual agreement between employer and employee.

The fact that the average household does not implement said contractual agreement or comply with state regulations or minimum wage is evidence of a system that for the most part has the potential to be, and in some cases still is, heavily exploitative.

The term ‘maid’, in particular, has a history of negative connotations tied to ‘women’s work’ and more specifically, in South Africa to the ‘women’s work’ performed for the most part by black women. The preferred term ‘domestic worker’ or ‘labourer’ labels these positions as what they are – work, and work that should be afforded the same level of respect and compensation as any other kind of work.

These women are not, as is commonly said amongst employers, ‘part of the family’. They have their own families and lives separate from the employer’s household, and are therefore not required to perform familial duties like working overtime without pay or working long hours for less than minimum wage as is often the case.

Let’s move on to the fact that it was commonplace under apartheid for domestic workers and gardeners to have separate cutlery and crockery allocated to them so as to prevent ‘cross-contamination’.

These mugs are a throwback to a racist history, that show up how far we still need to go to correct attitudes and practices within the private space – perfectly summed up in this tweet:

Janine Caradonna, Pick n Pay spokesperson, has the following to say:

“We have asked him [franchise owner] to remove them from sale immediately – which he has done,” says Caradonna.

The fact that they were manufactured and made it to the shelves in the first place is deeply problematic.

[source:businessinsider]