In an attempt to protect domestic workers’ rights in India, a petition has been filed by the NGO Common Cause along with social activist Aruna Roy and the National Platform for Domestic Workers. The petition seeks the Supreme Court’s intervention to lay down comprehensive guidelines and enforces the recognition of domestic work under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, among other demands.
Domestic Work and The International Labour Organisation (ILO)
The International Labour Organization (ILO), a United Nations agency established in 1919, deals with labor issues both domestically and internationally. According to its estimates, there are at least four million domestic workers in India alone. These workers are individuals who are employed temporarily or permanently in a household, often due to declining opportunities in agriculture and manufacturing sectors.
Need for Protection of Domestic Workers
Since domestic workers belong to the unorganized sector, they lack legal protection and benefits, including minimum wage requirements, health or insurance benefits, and job security. Most of these workers come from vulnerable communities such as Adivasis, Dalits, or landless Other Backward Classes (OBCs). Also, most of them are migrant workers and women, making it easier for their employers to exploit them.
Importance of Minimum Wage in Domestic Work
Minimum wage provisions are of utmost importance for protecting vulnerable and low-paid workers like domestic workers from unduly low wages. Recognizing the basic contribution of domestic workers to households on a financial and social level is crucial. In successive steps, it can also ensure the principle of equal pay for work of equal value.
| Fact | Details |
|---|---|
| About Domestic Workers | At least four million in India, mostly women and migrants, and from vulnerable communities |
| Legal Protection | Currently, they lack legal protection and benefits including minimum wages, job security and health benefits |
| Challenges | Absence of comprehensive, uniformly applicable, national legislation; gross inadequacy of existing laws |
| ILO Convention on Domestic Workers | India is a signatory but has not ratified it yet |
Challenges in Protecting Domestic Workers
While there are legislations such as the Unorganized Social Security Act, 2008, and the Sexual Harassment against Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, that refer to domestic workers, they fall short of providing comprehensive, uniform protection. Half the states have included domestic workers under the Minimum Wages Act, but this law is still inadequate. There lacks a mechanism for monitoring whether both parties are fulfilling their contractual obligations and for adjudicating conflicts.
The Convention on Domestic Workers and India
Convention on Domestic Workers is an ILO convention that sets labor standards for domestic workers. Ratifying states are required to implement protective measures against violence against workers and enforce a minimum age for employment. Even though India has signed the ILO’s 189th convention, known as the Convention on Domestic Workers, it has not ratified it yet. As a result, India is under no obligation to enforce these recommendations.
Domestic Work and Gender Equality
The large availability of domestic workers in India has created a shift in care responsibilities from women in households to hired domestic workers who are predominantly female and largely invisible. There needs to be a change in the societal perception that care-giving is a private domestic responsibility unique to women. The demands for decent work for domestic workers then become two-pronged – recognition of the rights of domestic workers for fair terms of employment, and the active involvement of the state in recognizing the existence of structural inequality perpetuated by not recognizing the value of ‘care work’.
