Ray of Hope for India's Domestic Workers

By Samuel Grumiau

India's 15 million domestic workers are not recognised in legislation. Unprotected and denigrated by society, these young girls are joining a movement that is starting to obtain better working conditions.

Girls make up 90% of India's domestic workers. Jeanne Devos, the co-ordinator of the National Domestic Workers Movement (NDWM) has spent the last 15 years organising young domestic workers. Employers strongly opposed any action by the movement, who made it very difficult for organisers to speak to the workers in houses. The NDWM then started meeting the workers in places where they often went to collect milk, water, did the shopping or at school entrances where they delivered and picked up the bosses children.

One of the first aims was to help develop a sense of dignity amongst the workers, who had lost any self-confidence they may have had. The notion of dignified work also presupposes that the work is recognised as "real work". The NDWM made the comparison with air hostesses, whose work also involves serving people, but is prot4ected by labour laws. The NDWM teamed up with various partners such as Antislavery International, the Global March Against Child labour and various women's organisations).

Many of the workers are below the age of 14, an age that under Indian law makes it illegal to work, but as the domestic work is not seen as work under the law, children as young as 8 are used and abused in households.

The NDW now has 100,000 members and has opened counselling centres for abused workers and helps domestic workers find work with a list of decent employers.

(Trade Union World; no. 7-8, July-August, 2002)