Why India does not protect its domestic workers despite the decades of abuse.

Smitha (not his real name), a domestic assistant in Delhi for 28 years, cannot forget the day he was hit in public by one of his employers.

The woman had accused Smitha, a Dalit woman of the most discriminated against the caste in the entrenched social hierarchy of Hinduism, of stealing her daughter’s earrings and then refused to pay her.

“After many requests, I confronted it in public. It was then that he began to abuse and hit me. I fell his hands to stop the abuse, but the guards came and took me out of the housing society and closed the door,” says Smitha.

Finally, a miserable 1,000 rupees ($ 11; £ 9) for a month of sweeping and washing dishes, after a more comprehensive family intervened in his name. But he was forbidden to enter the housing community and did not bother to go to the police, since he believed they would not take measures.

Smitha’s story is one between hundreds of thousands of accounts of abuse, abuse and sexual assault reported by domestic workers in India. The majority are women and many are migrants within the country, belonging to castes that are despised.

Last month, the Supreme Court of India raised concerns about its exploitation and asked the Federal Government to seek a law to protect them from abuse.

But this is not the first time trying to create such a legal framework. Despite the years of defense of several federal groups and ministries, such law has never been approved.

The separate bills proposed in 2008 and 2016, with the aim of registering domestic workers and improving their working conditions, have not yet been approved. A national policy written in 2019 has not been implemented with the aim of including domestic workers under existing labor laws.

Sonia George, of the Association of Women of Auto -employed (SEWA), which was part of the working group that formulated the draft of politics, is called one of the “most comprehensive policies for domestic workers”, but says that the Successive governments have not implemented implementation. .

As a result, the vast army of domestic assistants of India must trust the goodwill of the employer for basic concepts such as salaries or license or even a basis of respect. According to official statistics, India has 4.75 million domestic workers, including three million women. But the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that true numbers are between 20 and 80 million.

“We have a condescending relationship with help and not a employment relationship,” says Professor Neetha N of the Center for Women’s Development Studies.

“This maintains the status quo and is one of the greatest obstacles to regulate and legalize domestic work.”

As things are, private houses are not considered an establishment or workplace, so domestic work is beyond the reach of social protections, such as minimum wages, the right to safe working conditions, the right to unionize and access social security schemes.

At least 14 Indian states, including Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Kerala, Meghalaya, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, have ordered minimum wages for domestic workers and some federal laws, such as antisexual law harassment and child labor of India, They include domestic workers in their reach.

But there is very little awareness among domestic workers that they can take advantage of these provisions, says George, and adds that the nature of the profession also raises challenges.

The workers are scattered and there is no mechanism to register or even identify them, since they generally do not sign any type of contract with their employers.

“We will have to establish systems to register domestic workers: overcoming their ‘invisibility’ is a great step to regularize the profession,” she says.

That also applies to employers. “They are completely invisible in the system and, therefore, escape responsibility and responsibility,” says George.

The caste system also raises more complexities: workers in some castes can accept to clean the toilets in a home, while others of slightly different castes may not.

Ultimately, the entire concept of domestic work must redefine, says George. “Domestic work is considered an unqualified job, but that is not the case in reality. You cannot take care of a sick person or cook a meal without being an expert,” he adds.

In addition to not passing their own laws or implementing their own policy, India has not ratified Convention 189 of the ILO, an International Historical Agreement that aims to ensure that domestic workers have the same rights and protections as other workers. Despite voting in favor of the Convention in 2011, India has not yet adjusted to all its provisions.

India has a “moral obligation” to adjust to the ILO convention, says George. He adds that having a law will also help regulate private recruitment agencies and avoid the exploitation of domestic workers who go abroad to work.

Last year, the rich Hindu family arrived at the headlines after a Swiss court declared them guilty of exploiting their domestic workers. The family was accused of traffic Indians vulnerable to Switzerland and force them Work in your mansion for times unbearably long without adequate salary. Family lawyers said they would appeal against the verdict.

Perhaps the simplest explanation for decades of inaction against a tide of abuse lies in the conflict of interest that represents such regulation for the decision makers of India, George suggests.

“At the end of the day, people at the table who have the power to sign a bill or law are also employers of domestic workers and those who benefit from the status quo,” she says. “Then, for any real change in the system, we first need a change in our mentality.”

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