Report on the plight of Women Domestic Workers in India and the ray of hope in recent government schemes - by Arushi Goyal
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India is known to have one of the lowest divorce rates in the world of a mere 1%. This often shocks people, as the rates of infidelity, domestic violence, and addiction, which are thought to be the main causes of divorce, are extremely high. When researchers looked more closely, they were shocked to find that most divorces in the West are caused not by infidelity or domestic violence but by the unequal distribution of household chores.
It has been hypothesized that the unequal distribution of chores is never a cause of divorce in India because women either conform to traditional gender roles and do all the housework, or domestic help cushions some of the impact of this disproportionate burden on women.
This means that domestic help not only cooks our food and cleans our homes but also keeps our marriages intact. So, if domestic workers are so essential to Indian households, why are they treated so poorly?
Around India, millions of young girls are forced to work in households. They are employed to cook, clean, and provide essential care for 14 to 18 hours a day on a salary less than minimum wage. They are often physically and mentally abused with no resources to escape their terrible situations.
Activists and NGOs around the world have been fighting with governments to create laws that help protect domestic workers; however, they do not qualify for any government benefits, lack protection against exploitation and abuse, and aren't guaranteed the minimum wage. Even when schemes are created for domestic help, there needs to be more awareness, and an insufficient support structure prevents them from being useful.
Domestic helpers are more vulnerable to harassment and abuse for a large number of reasons. Women in this sector are often poor, immigrants, illiterate, have low bargaining power and belong to a lower caste like SC or ST.
Over the past few decades, the Indian government has been working towards making this country a safer place for domestic workers through different schemes. The most prominent ones include the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-Dhan (PMSYM) scheme, which provides social security benefits to unorganized sector workers, including domestic help, through voluntary pension contributions; the Unorganized Workers' Social Security Act of 2008 aims to extend welfare measures, such as health insurance, maternity benefits, and life insurance; and the National Domestic Workers Policy, which seeks to regulate employment conditions and establish minimum wages, further protecting the rights of domestic workers.
These initiatives represent crucial steps toward formalizing and improving the working conditions of domestic workers in India; however, the long-term impacts of these schemes are yet to be seen.
Over the last five years, especially during COVID-19, the rates of abuse towards domestic workers have shot up drastically. The mistreatment of domestic workers in India is a grave social injustice that needs immediate attention and action. Recognizing their roles in society and providing them with legal protections, fair wages, and social security benefits is not only about keeping domestic workers safe but also about ensuring that every citizen in this country has access to their fundamental human rights. It is imperative that India takes substantial steps to eradicate the mistreatment of domestic workers and ensure their rights and dignity are upheld because if they don't, there will be unforeseen consequences.
