Mistreated, Harassed and Exploited, No End to Domestic Helps’ Plight

Lucknow: Manju, 33, starts her day at as early as 4 am. It starts with cooking food for her three daughters and a son, followed by daily chores in her makeshift hut – which stands on a plot between two big bungalows in Vikrant Khand of the very posh Gomti Nagar in Lucknow. She works as a domestic help. Manju’s husband used to work as a washerman, but suffered losses when he bought a second hand e-rickshaw about a year ago. He has now stopped working, owing to his alcoholism.

Manju has allegedly been a victim of domestic violence, but she has never complained about it to anyone. She was, four months ago, picked up by the police based on a complaint of theft made by one of her employers. She was immediately rescued by a few members of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA). Ever since this incident, Manju is traumatised, and has resorted to work at only a few houses where she feels confident.

“We are poor people and anyone can easily make an allegation against us. It is easy for everyone to make people like me a scapegoat and there are not many who would listen to our plight,” says Manju, adding that there is no happiness in doing chores at other people’s houses, but there is no other option.

Narrating the ordeal of a domestic help, Manju says that she does not get leave from work, and whenever she has to take leave, her salary is deducted.

“We are underpaid. There are no medical facilities; we can’t even use bathrooms at our place of work. Neither [PM] Modi nor [CM] Yogi or any other big leader has ever taken up the issue of domestic helps,” she says.

When asked where they go to relieve themselves, Rita Lodh, 29, a mother of two daughters and a son, hesitantly says that she tries to find bushes nearby as the employers do not allow them to access the restrooms.

“I am three months pregnant; the house owner knows about it, and she is also a mother. But she has never ever allowed me to use her toilet. When I asked for leave for a few days, she asked me to stop coming altogether. I drink less water in order to produce less urine, and continue my work,” she says.

She further says that her work does not provide her with any kind of insurance or bonus or any other perks that are available in the organised sector. “Bonus for us is old, used clothes, leftover food, old utensils and things like that. It is never cash or increment in the monthly wages,” she says.

Listing a number issues the domestic helps – comprising mostly women – have to face, Rita says, “We cannot work at bachelors’ apartments, as we have heard a lot of stories about the boys trying to take undue advantage of their helps. Other employers too question our character if we work at the boys’ houses. Everyone, these days, has installed cameras without our consent, with no regards for our privacy. Forget about maternity leaves, we do not even get Sundays off or festival holidays.”

Yashwant Kumar, a senior official at the Labour Commissioner’s office in Lucknow says that there are no laws for the domestic helps or maids as they fall under the unorganised sector.

“There are a few guidelines for the maids, but they are not that useful. There is no registration for them, so, it is impossible to know the number of domestic helps active in any city. But the number is high for sure. The government is contemplating to bring a law for them and once it’s implemented, I am very sure that they will be getting a lot of benefits and will be saved from problems like underpayment, harassment and will also be getting the leaves,” he adds.

Seema Rana, a senior member of the AIDWA, says that the domestic helps suffer a lot in the absence of any law, and that these women are subjected to sexual harassment, mental harassment, and sometimes even are beaten up. They are soft targets when it comes to theft.

“You can understand the seriousness of this subject when these women drink less water to avoid going to the toilets during their working hours and their working hours are not even fixed,” she says.

She further says, “This is a growing leaderless community and no one is standing with them. Not even a single leader has mentioned working for them in its manifesto.”