Women who work in choultries as cleaners and assistants are more vulnerable to sexual harassment and exploitation, according to Ensuring Dignity and Security in the Lives of Choultry Workers, a study report on the status of choultry workers which was released on Monday by ActionAid.
The study, which was conducted in association with the Slum Mahila Sanghatane, has said that due to the gendered nature of the choultry work, the workers do not get value or recognition for their labour.
The study has included individual case studies as well as findings from focus groups across various clusters of choultry workers. It has been identified in the report that choultry workers are usually women who are single and sole wage earners in the family. The average income of these workers is between ₹500 and ₹700 for two days. They find work for a maximum of 15 days in a month, the report says.
The report has also pointed out that caste and class discrimination and exploitation is also very prominent in choultry work. It also says that the lack of redressal forums for such issues and bargaining power of trade union memberships has made it difficult for the workers to resolve such issues. Several other issues like job insecurity, lack of security, pandemic induced problems have also been discussed in the report.
Hundreds of choultry workers who took part in the release of the report listed put their problems, while also placing several demands before the government. S.B. Ravikumar, Joint Commissioner of Labour Department, who was present underlined the need for all workers to be registered under the e-shram portal.
