My Research Journey into Family Domestic Work: Methodological Reflections of Conducting Research with Sister-Maids and Sister-Madams in Limpopo

Authors

Percyval Bayane, Department of Sociology, University of South AfricaFollow

Abstract

Research has been conducted on domestic work in South Africa with studies focusing on domestic workers’ conditions during Apartheid and examining the little to no changes post-Apartheid. Domestic work in post-Apartheid South Africa involves the hiring of family and friends as domestic workers, and this is an under-researched area. As a young black man researching family domestic work, I was confronted with methodological challenges relating to negotiating access and conducting interviews with older black women hiring relatives and those working for family members as domestic workers. This reflexive paper reflects on my personal journey and experiences of conducting qualitative research on familial relationships in the domestic work sector, particularly with sister-madams^[1] and sister-maids^[2] in Limpopo. My paper contributes to the conversation on the significance of reflexivity in qualitative research, given how being reflexive assisted me throughout the research process to navigate my personal experiences, position as a researcher, and being a young black man, particularly in accessing participants and gathering data to avoid bias.

[1] The term sister-madam was coined by Bayane (2019) to refer to family members who employ their relatives such as cousins or sisters as domestic workers in their homes to assist with all the domestic chores.

[2] Bayane (2019) also coined sister-maids referring to family members working as domestic workers for their relatives such as sisters and cousins.

Keywords

family domestic work, sister-madams and sister-maids, qualitative research, reflexivity and personal experiences

Author Bio(s)

Percyval Bayane is a Lecturer at the Department of Sociology, University of South Africa (UNISA). He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from University of Johannesburg (UJ), which examined male and female Uber drivers' precarious working conditions and navigation of work-life balance in Johannesburg, South Africa. He also obtained his Master of Arts in Industrial Sociology from UJ. His publications and research interests include sociology of work, family domestic work, gig economy and work, digital platform work, Uber, precarity and precarious employment, and work-life balance in the digital age. Please direct correspondence to bayanp@unisa.ac.za

Acknowledgements

I acknowledge the University of Johannesburg for funding my MA through University of Johannesburg's Global Excellence Scholarship (GES).

Publication Date

12-30-2025

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2025.7319

Recommended APA Citation

Bayane, P. (2025). My research journey into family domestic work: Methodological reflections of conducting research with sister-maids and sister-madams in Limpopo. The Qualitative Report, 30(12), 4750-4763. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2025.7319

ORCID ID

0000-0001-5550-110X