Mint Explainer: When will we stop exploiting domestic workers?

A leaked statement of a Bengaluru residential society recently surfaced on Twitter, which allegedly exposes discriminatory rules and segregation of domestic workers and service staff in gated communities. The tweet included a set of rules for domestic helpers, allegedly written by a housing society.

Domestic workers were specifically told not to use communal areas such as parks, amphitheaters and gazebos while waiting between shifts. Instead, these “maids” were to live in designated waiting rooms. the reason? Residents apparently felt uncomfortable when surrounded by domestic workers and security guards, and their presence made it difficult to efficiently monitor common spaces.

The incident sparked widespread outrage on social media, with many pointing out that although such rules are often justified in the name of safety, they are based on deep-seated prejudices among people that treat people from lower-income groups as unclean or dirty. seen as possible criminals. , and are thus ineligible to share common space with the privileged elite. While following a domestic worker at Prestige Shantiniketan, one of Bengaluru’s most coveted residential addresses, Mint reported in depth about some of the humiliation faced by the poor in the city’s high-rise buildings.

This episode is one of those rare occasions when the lives of domestic workers in India are openly discussed. Despite being one of the fastest growing sectors in the country for female employment, women domestic workers are not counted or treated as such by the government.

According to the International Labor Organization, there are between 20 million and 90 million domestic workers in India. In Bengaluru alone, the number of people looking for domestic work is huge – for example, an entire train leaves Kolar every morning for the city, 100 km away, including cab drivers, domestic helps and construction workers. Thousands of people working are filled.

However, domestic workers are slowly becoming aware of their collective power to fight for legislative protection. On International Domestic Workers Day, 16 June, a large number of domestic workers arrived at Freedom Park, the city’s protest site, demanding comprehensive laws to protect their rights. The primary demands of the protesters, organized by Karnataka Griha Karmikara Vedike (KGKV), an advocacy organisation, included fair wages, including a minimum wage commensurate with inflation, weekly offs and year-end bonuses.

These would be extremely difficult to achieve, mainly because domestic work is not officially considered employment in India. According to experts, domestic workers do not come under the purview of India’s labor laws and hence do not get benefits like minimum wage and pension. Laws to protect informal workers, such as the 2020 Social Security Code, have not yet gone into effect. The Domestic Workers Welfare Bill, 2016 and the National Domestic Workers Policy were drafted by the central government in 2016 and 2019, but are yet to be implemented. Thus the exploitation of domestic workers – including physical abuse, sexual harassment and forced labor – remains widespread.

But conscientious employers need not wait for legislation to pay decent wages to their workers. Minimum wages for unskilled workers are usually listed in state Economic Review surveys released before budgets and on the websites of advocacy organizations. Yet most domestic workers are paid very little and work in inhumane conditions.

While some cases can be combated by criminal law – such as laws against sexual harassment and child labor – the enormous power differential between India’s rich and their domestic workers makes this nearly impossible. According to The Hindu, a survey in Bengaluru found that 75% of domestic workers were from Scheduled Castes, 15% from Other Backward Castes and 8% from Scheduled Tribes.

UPDATE: June 23, 2023, 05:34 PM IST