For domestic workers, fighting exploitation an uphill battle

Ahna Prakash | NT
Bengaluru

Kaushlaya, a domestic worker, was brutally hit by her employer after being accused of stealing a coffee mug. However, with no other means of income, she had to continue working in the same house.

Kaushalya has been working as a domestic worker for nearly 15 years and has changed her workplace multiple times. All these years, she has faced verbal and physical harassment several times. But this isn’t only Kausalya’s story; domestic workers are often abused, harassed and exploited by their employees.

“It all depends on the employer’s mood. If the employer is happy, it’s a good day. But sometimes, when their mood is bad, they verbally abuse me. They would even say bad things about my community as well. There have been times when the owner would pull my hair because I didn’t wash the clothes properly,” says Karishma, a migrant from Assam, who works for a family at Ejipura.

Another domestic worker Rashmi, who works in Koramangala, says that her previous employer would touch her inappropriately, “I complained about this to the Domestic Workers Rights Union, and they helped me find this new job.”

Currently, domestic workers are often paid meagre wages despite working for long hours; they don’t get a guaranteed off day and are vulnerable to physical, mental and sexual abuse. The exploitation of domestic workers can partly be attributed to gender, caste and race discrimination in our society.

As per a survey conducted by the Martha Farrell Foundation, that works for gender equality, it was found that only 29 per cent of female domestic workers report sexual harassment at work. Around 19 per cent ignored the incident entirely, while 15 per cent spoke only to their friends.

One of the major problems of sexual harassment cases in the unorganized sector is that they often go unreported. There is no demarcated workplace in domestic work. Women working as domestic helpers are usually from lower castes. Hence the caste angle also comes into play.

There is almost no means of grievance redressal for women workers in informal sectors to address workplace harassment. The Sexual Harassment of women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, Redressal) Act was passed in 2013. It recognizes that sexual harassment violates a woman’s fundamental right under Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the constitution. But many cases go unreported.