Social media saw raging debates on period leaves at the workplace when food delivery giant Zomato introduced period leaves in August this year. While some applauded the move, others considered it a blow to feminism. However, something was missing in these conversations.
They seemed to be centred on socially accepted ‘workplaces’, meaning jobs in the formal sector. What was missing was the inclusion of domestic workers. Women and children make-up 90% of the 80 million domestic workers in India. Their work has been invisibilized through the years and is often not considered ‘real’ work.
What Is Domestic Work And Who Are Domestic Workers?
Domestic work includes work related to the household, including sweeping, cleaning, washing, cooking, and care work. Migrant women often take up this work. Studies show that informally educated women are more likely to migrate than men. Once they move to urban spaces, they look for jobs. Since a large part of migrant women are not formally educated, they work in the informal sector at jobs with low pay like domestic work. The majority of this workforce includes women from lower castes and Adivasi communities and come from some of the poorest and most exploited communities in the country.
Struggles Of Domestic Workers
These jobs pay less, provide no job security, and consist of long working hours. Domestic work is physically laborious, often involving bending and squatting, which can be difficult for some women during their periods. Women do this for long hours and have to bear menstrual cramps and PMS. Taking days off from work to rest for these women would mean a cut in their monthly salary. Under these circumstances taking a period leave costs women their basic amenities like water supply at home, groceries, etc.
A study done on the vulnerability of migrant women living in slums of Mumbai to Reproductive Tract Infections (RTI) showed that one-fourth of them suffered from RTI, and many were vulnerable. These infections occur due to a lack of sanitation facilities. Since most of these workers also suffer from period poverty, they are not well aware of menstrual hygiene, do not have access, or can afford menstrual products.
Also, a lack of private spaces in their households and access to clean water, along with poverty, makes their menstruation days hard and increases the risk of infections. Even with these problems, domestic workers have to work every day of the week at menial wages. Most drivers in India are men, and they get paid more than women working in households.
Toilet Inequality
Casteist ideas of purity and pollution have been moulded into an invisible structure in urban households. Domestic workers are often told not to touch things in the home. There also exists ‘toilet inequality’. Employers do not let their domestic workers use the bathrooms without explicitly saying it is because they practice the caste system. Instead, they say that the workers will not be aware of how to use the toilet or that they will make it ‘dirty’.
Durga, a domestic worker, says, “They tell me to wash my hands constantly and say, don’t touch this, don’t touch that.” If it is full-time employment, then the women mostly have separate bathrooms. Domestic workers, therefore, are restricted from using toilets in their ‘workplace’ even during their periods. How can a worker change their pad or cloth without access to a bathroom or clean water?
Preeti says, “I work in 5-6 houses, where I sweep and mop the floor and wash the dishes. Only one aunty that I work for allows me to use the toilet in her house. Otherwise, I either wait till I go home to use the loo, or I relieve myself in one of the parks.”
The Invisibilization
They are often called ‘maids’ or ‘servants’ or ‘house help’. These words are oppressive and demeaning. They limit their roles and furthers their invisibilization. Even though domestic workers form the backbone of Indian households, they are dehumanized and treated as inferiors. Their work is looked down upon and involves a lack of well-deserved respect.
The Necessities Of Conversations About Domestic Workers
While it is essential to talk about period leaves for domestic workers and practice it, it is not enough to do just that. Better steps need to be taken and implemented to end period poverty and provide women with social security benefits. Casteist treatment should be opposed to removing the idea of the ‘other’ in households. Also, toilet inequality has to be addressed for women domestic workers to stop their invisibilization and recognize domestic work as real work and families as workplaces.
Featured image courtesy of ILO on Flickr
The author is a part of the current batch of the #PeriodParGyan Writer’s Training Program