"Employers often praise me for how different green domestic workers are"

"Small people can also make big contributions, and green housekeeping has given me a sense of professional value." Ma Qiuling, who has 7 years of experience as an hourly worker, said.

Wu Yingying, a co-worker, also proudly said: "My employer often praises me for being a green domestic worker. ”

Ma Qiuling and Wu Yingying have a common identity - green domestic workers. They receive low-carbon skills training and practice low-carbon environmental protection in their housekeeping work, influencing more families.

A few days ago, a workshop with the theme of "Under the Dual Carbon Goals: Transformation and Social Innovation of China's Domestic Industry" was held in Beijing. The event was supported by Vanke Foundation and co-organized by Beijing Hongyan Social Work Service Center (hereinafter referred to as Hongyan) and the Home Economics and Home Economics Industry Development Committee of the China Old Professors Association. Seven green domestic workers, including Ma Qiuling and Wu Yingying, together with about 60 experts and partners from the government, industry associations, service enterprises, scientific research institutions, public welfare organizations, etc., discussed the opportunities and challenges for the development of China's domestic industry under the dual carbon goals, and explored how to promote the green transformation and social innovation of the domestic industry through multi-sector collaboration.

The workshop on "Under the Dual Carbon Goals: Transformation and Social Innovation of China's Domestic Industries" was held in Beijing. Photo courtesy of Beijing Hongyan Social Work Service Center

How can green housekeeping support a low-carbon life?

Green domestic workers, where is the "green"?

From the poems collectively composed by the workers, people may be able to get a glimpse or two: "We are domestic workers in Beipiao, shuttling between different families... Buy on demand and waste less, nutritious diet is good for health, classified and put for good treatment, and old things are reused to get a new life..."

As a representative of the co-organizer of the event, Ji Zhiwei, director of the Home Economics and Home Economics Industry Committee of the China Old Professors Association, said: "Achieving the dual carbon goal is an extremely difficult process, and the important factor that determines success or failure is whether everyone and every family in the whole society can consciously participate. ”

In this process, the value of green domestic workers to achieve the dual carbon goal was widely recognized by the participants.

Li Yuxuan, secretary-general of the Standardization Committee of the China Old Professors Association and deputy director of the Green and Low-Carbon Center of the Guojie Research Institute, believes that green housekeeping services can provide families with specific and operable green life solutions, such as environmental protection and cleaning, energy saving, garbage classification and recycling, etc., to help families and communities better understand and practice the green life system, so as to promote the gradual implementation and development of the green life system.

Chai Qimin, director of the Strategic Planning Department of the National Climate Strategy Center, also believes that the changes in the behavior of domestic workers in garbage classification, water and electricity saving, and the transmission of green concepts to families and communities in services will play a very big role in promoting the green and low-carbon life of the whole society.

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"Green Housekeeping keenly captures the space for the housekeeping industry to play in the policy context." Liu Jiaxuan, a reporter from Oriental Outlook Weekly, said that green housekeeping has opened the door to the home, changed household carbon emissions through labor, and even provided a new starting point for building low-carbon communities. Therefore, green housekeeping seems to be a small thing around us, but it is actually related to a major national event.

Li Dajun, director of industry support at Beijing Oneness Green Charity Foundation, described the green impact of housekeeping staff on each family as a "very great thing": "Housekeeping work may not necessarily improve the overall environment, but it can improve the small environment of a family. ”

Zhang Ji, director of the Social Training Department of the China Women's University (All-China Women's Federation Cadre Training Institute), also said: "Domestic workers play an indispensable role in promoting green and low-carbon life, establishing a green family style, and improving family green literacy. ”

Li Wenfen, the co-founder and business director of Hongyan, made an estimate: there are about 37 million domestic workers in China, and if each domestic worker serves 5 families, with an average of 3-4 people per family, then at least 600 million people can be covered. Therefore, the green transformation of the housekeeping industry will make a direct contribution to the national carbon reduction action, helping hundreds of millions of people to reduce carbon emissions.

What does green housekeeping skills training bring to domestic workers?

In 2017, Hongyan proposed the concept of green housekeeping, and with the funding of Vanke Foundation, Xianfeng Changtian Public Welfare Foundation and China Rural Development Foundation, it gradually built a green housekeeping empowerment system.

Ma Qiuling participated in the green housekeeping skills training organized by Hongyan. She said frankly that she not only learned the knowledge of garbage classification and low-carbon healthy diet, but more importantly, she understood that national carbon reduction requires the whole society to take action, "We domestic workers can enter the employer's family, give full play to our professional advantages, and small people can also make big contributions, green housekeeping has given me a sense of professional value." ”

In the past 6 years, Hongyan has continued to dig deep into the connotation of green housekeeping, continued to develop iterative courses on green housekeeping, cultivated a team of green housekeeping pioneers, and promoted the concept and methods of green housekeeping to domestic enterprises, reaching more than 100,000 domestic workers.

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In September this year, Hongyan launched a green housekeeping service, and Wu Yingying from Inner Mongolia became the first green housekeeping worker to connect with households through Hongyan. She assists employers with picking up children from school, cooking dinner, and cleaning the home environment. She said that every meal at the employer's house should be delicious, made in moderation, and there are no leftovers every day, so as to reduce the amount of garbage at the source. The employer praised her, and the green domestic worker is really different. Wu Yingying also mentioned that she is not young, "It is difficult to find a job in the domestic labor market, but after learning green housekeeping, I have the opportunity to work again." ”

"Green housekeeping training is not only an empowerment of housekeeping skills, but also makes the housekeeping profession more decent and dignified." Liu Yuan, Deputy Secretary-General and Project Director of Vanke Foundation, said, "We also see that the self-empowerment and learning process of green housekeeping is shaping the society's recognition of the housekeeping profession. ”

How does green housekeeping go from niche to mass?

The development of green housekeeping, in line with the theme of the times, hits the social pain points, so it is pinned on by many experts. However, the green housekeeping industry is still facing problems such as lack of industry standards and norms, insufficient social awareness of green housekeeping services, less green housekeeping training, and fewer service personnel, which need to be solved urgently.

In this regard, experts called for deepening and expanding green housekeeping services and training, adapting to the continuous innovation of the times and the situation, and working together to promote the development of green and low-carbon undertakings and promote the innovative development of the domestic service industry.

"The healthy development of green housekeeping needs to be promoted from three aspects: concept establishment, concept education and standard establishment." Zhang Li, honorary professor of China Women's University, former deputy director of the Office of the State Council Working Committee on Women and Children, and first-class inspector, suggested that Hongyan and other parts of the country should be promoted to experience in green housekeeping, and explore the gradual inclusion of green housekeeping content in the national housekeeping training curriculum system and the national housekeeping standard system.

Wang Shuxia, president of the China Family Service Association, agrees. She hopes that the garbage sorting and energy conservation and carbon reduction skills of domestic workers can be used as training content in the industry skills competition in the future, so that more domestic workers can contribute to the environment together. "Our industry will be more and more concerned by people, and it will be more and more valued by people."

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Ji Jianhua, general manager of Beijing Jia Home Economics Company, believes that housekeeping enterprises are a solid backing for housekeeping workers, "we must start from cultivating housekeeping teachers, and then train housekeeping workers, starting from ourselves, influencing customers around us, and affecting everyone around us." ”

"The cultivation of green housekeeping talents depends on housekeeping enterprises." Deng Xiaolong, editor of Chinese Human Resources and Social Security Publishing Group, believes that domestic enterprises can try to combine social hotspots to create brand advantages that meet their own characteristics. With the rich practice of the enterprise, the group to which it belongs can make efforts in the formulation of talent training specifications, the development of training courses, the publication of training materials, and the training of teachers.

In addition, Zhang Li also suggested that experts and non-profit organizations should apply for relevant departments or social science fund projects to conduct in-depth research on the green housekeeping industry and achieve results.

From being paid attention to and recognized by more people, to forming a new trend in the industry and setting a new benchmark in the industry, green housekeeping still has a long way to go.