Mint Explainer: When will we stop exploiting domestic workers?

A leaked statement from a Bengaluru residential society recently surfaced on Twitter, supposedly exposing the discriminatory rules and segregation of domestic employees and service staff in gated communities. The tweet included a set of rules for domestic assistants, purportedly written by a residential society.

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

The incident sparked widespread outrage on social media, with many pointing out that while such rules are often justified in the name of security, they are based on deep-rooted biases among people who view those from lower-income groups as unclean or even potential criminals, and thus unfit to share common spaces with the privileged elite. While following a domestic worker to Prestige Shantiniketan, one of Bengaluru’s most prestigious residential addresses, Mint had reported in depth about a few telling indignities heaped on the poor in the city’s high-rises.

This episode marks one of the rare occasions when the lives of domestic workers have been discussed openly in India. Despite being in the country’s fastest-growing sector for female employment, women domestic workers are not counted or treated as such by the government.

According to the International Labour Organization, there are between 20 million and 90 million domestic workers in India. In Bengaluru alone, the number of people seeking domestic work is enormous — a whole train, for example, departs every morning from Kolar to the city 100 km away, filled with thousands of people who work as cab drivers, domestic help and construction workers.

However, domestic workers are gradually becoming aware of their collective power to fight for legislative protection. On International Domestic Workers’ Day, June 16, scores of domestic workers descended on Freedom Park, the city’s go-to protest location, and called for comprehensive laws to protect their rights. Among the primary demands of the protestors, organised by the Karnataka Gruha Karmikara Vedike (KGKV), an advocacy organisation, were fair salaries, including minimum wages that account for inflation rates, paid weekly offs, and year-end bonuses.

These will be extremely difficult to achieve, mainly since domestic work is not officially considered employment in India. According to experts, domestic workers are not covered by India’s labour laws and thus don’t have access to benefits such as minimum salary and pension. Laws to safeguard informal employees, such as the 2020 Social Security Code, are yet to take effect. The Domestic Workers’ Welfare Bill, 2016 and the National Domestic Worker Policy were drafted by the union government in 2016 and 2019 but are yet to be implemented. The exploitation of domestic workers – including physical abuse, sexual harassment and forced labour – thus remains widespread.

But conscientious employers need not wait for legislation to pay their workers well. The minimum wage for unskilled workers is usually listed in the state economic review surveys released before the budget, and on the websites of advocacy organisations. Yet most domestic workers are paid a pittance and work under inhumane conditions.

While some cases can be combated by criminal legislation — such as laws against sexual harrassment and child labour — the huge power differential between India’s well-off and their domestic workers makes this nearly impossible. According to The Hindu, a survey in Bengaluru found that 75% of domestic workers were from the Scheduled Castes, 15% from Other Backward Castes, and 8% from the Scheduled Tribes.

Updated: 23 Jun 2023, 05:34 PM IST