Respect and recognise domestic worker's contribution to the care economy

Sr Regina Mareem *

“In everything I have done, I have demonstrated to you how necessary it is to work on behalf of the weak and not exploit them.” (Acts.30:35) “If any man is rich and does not give help to one who stands in need, the love of God is missing from his heart.” (I John).

In this contemporary world, the rich and poor divide, unequal distribution of natural resources, unemployment, scarcity of resources, hoarding of wealth in the hands of a rich few, and attitudinal differences have led to financial crunch in India. In India, poverty paves the way to various forms of slavery and the poor and needy become the victims of all exploitative situations.

The rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer. This happens not just in one country, but all over the world. All people need food and love. But it is true Human Dignity and love possible where one person is totally dependent on another for daily food.

The owners have income producing property, such as land, factories, and extra houses, from which they make money and the non-owners have little or no property. They depend entirely on selling their labour for a living.

This division between those who can make money from property as well as from workers, and those who can only make money by selling those labour, is still the basic division today. This is one of the major causes of the growing gap between the rich and the poor.

A domestic worker is a person who is employed to do domestic work either on a permanent or temporary, part time or full time basis. In general a few categories such as drivers, gardeners, poultry or daily workers watch and ward staff, chowkidar, sweeper, washing, cooking, cleaning, working full time or part time are often considered as part of domestic workers.

An employer is a person who hires the labour of another person to perform domestic work on payment either in cash or in kind or both, either on a regular or irregular basis, on prescribed or understood terms and conditions on oral or written contract. Often it is a sort of verbal contract and in most cases laid down unilaterally by the employer.

Domestic workers are the most neglected and vulnerable persons, as they come from very poor families, often illiterate or semi-literate, Most of them are women or girls who have migrated into cities and township, far away from their parents and relatives, with no legal protection and no trade unions to defend their rights. They are generally considered more as a tool rather than as a productive labour force working for the economic well-being of the employer’s family.

Today the hours of these workers, their wages and their social employment security are neglected. The domestic workers belong to a section of the disorganized working class that has been exploited in many ways in what concerns working conditions, remuneration, terms of employment and securities.

Often in spite of his own economic status the employer fails to appreciate and value the domestic workers’ service and their improvised life of manual tasks. The tremendous increase in the demand for domestic workers arose due to the changes brought about by industrialization in the economic and social life of the people, especially in the urban areas.

With increasing numbers entering various areas of the economy, the traditional role of women in India has been changing. In many middle-class homes and absence of expensive labour-saving devices is met by the services of domestic workers.

Domestic workers are often from underprivileged groups such as backward or scheduled caste or tribal village communities who have traditionally been cast into Indian ethos, none of them have experience of domestic work except what has been picked up in one’s own home. The reason for their choice of domestic work is due to poverty at home, while others selected it due to lack of other jobs available in their place of habitat.

Domestic workers render their services according to priority such as washing and cleaning utensils, washing clothes, sweeping and cleaning the house. Other jobs include marketing, carrying meals and taking children to school and back.

In many cases there are no rest hours during the day. However some enjoy brief hours of rest and relaxation. Some have the facility for weekly holidays. Some of the families accept the domestic staff as part of the family and even provide them occasionally with the basic amenities, clothes and toilets and have better living and working conditions.

In domestic service payment is made both in cash and kind. Employers pay low wages because they feel that domestic workers are maintained by them by providing them with food, shelter and clothing. Sometimes their wages rate is not fixed and so remains uncertain.

It is very obvious that there had to be a basic change in the attitude from the master-servant relationship where a worker does not become a tool but employment becomes a way out from the pit of poverty and hunger for the employee.

It is high time in the present context that our society responds positively to further the cause of the domestic workers who find themselves in tight compartments unable to speak and demand their rights for themselves. They need moral support to live and work as a person who has a right to live, and be respected and recognized.