Suja, a 45-year-old woman, travels over 25 km everyday from her home at Parandode, on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram, to the urban upscale residential area of Kowdiar. There, she does the rounds of three to four apartments, spending around two hours cleaning each of them.
The term ‘domestic worker,’ however, is not what she uses to refer to her occupation. “I help around the house,” is how Suja puts it.
For such help, she is paid around ₹200 a day by each household, a sum based solely on their discretion.
Although this is barely enough to make ends meet, Suja does not complain, as her employers are “kind enough to assist financially in times of need,” such as her daughter’s wedding.
Informal set-ups
Such informal arrangements shape the livelihood of many women like Suja, for whom concepts of minimum wage and job security, applicable to those employed in all other sectors, are alien simply because they do not consider themselves ‘labourers.’’
It is this misconception, borne out of the conversion of the domestic space to a workplace, that the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA)-Union has set out to dispel through its campaign ‘My Fair Home.’
The year-long campaign, launched in connection with the International Domestic Workers’ Day on June 16, aims at getting employers to declare their homes as ‘fair homes,’ where the rights of domestic workers are respected and obliged.
Educate
It also aims to educate women on the entitlements implied by their role as workers. As part of this, SEWA-Union has been distributing informative pamphlets to domestic workers in the city, which they are asked to read and hand over to their employers.
However, making domestic workers aware of the need to organise for their needs is not an easy task, says Sheena Basheer, Domestic Workers Programme Coordinator at SEWA-Union.
Working for someone else in their domestic space often muddles the notion of ‘workplace,’ and thereby also the perception of rights at the workplace.
Emotional quotient
It further adds an emotional quotient, creating a subservient attitude among many domestic workers that prevents them from connecting to others of their profession.
For example, Suja says she has never compared her wages to that of other domestic workers in the area.
Combined with the invisibility of the domestic space, this insularity makes workers vulnerable to issues ranging from economic exploitation and insecurity of employment to caste-based discrimination.
For example, many are unaware of their legal entitlement to a minimum wage of close to ₹400 a day, often settling for lower wages, says Sheena. Working hours are also unregulated.
However, no provision exists to address these issues, either in the form of legislation, or even a strong collective to voice them.
This also leaves the field free for exploitation by private agencies which act as middlemen between workers and employers.
Even so, when approached by organisations like SEWA, the workers enquire about the immediate financial benefits that they would receive by joining, rather than thinking of the long-term benefits of collectivisation, says Sheena.
SEWA-Union, which has been making concerted efforts towards tackling this problem, is also campaigning for the introduction of comprehensive legislation to ensure employment and social security for domestic workers, according to Soniya George, Secretary, SEWA-Union.
Primary demands
Primary among the union’s demands is the enumeration and registration of domestic workers, thereby lending job security and enabling their self-identification as employees.
A public rally and conference will be organised as part of the campaign on Friday at Gandhi Park. Vayalar Ravi, MP, will inaugurate the conference.
