Siti Khotimah, a resident of Jakarta was beaten, forced to eat animal faeces and confined to a dog’s cage in Indonesia, highlighting the government’s failure to safeguard domestic help workers at home and assisting those trapped abroad. The 24-year-old now walks with a limp and has noticeable burn scars on her legs as a result of months of torment at the hands of her employer. Khotimah’s plight is not exceptional in Indonesia, India being the world’s largest democracy lacks a domestic worker protection statute, leaving more than four million people, mostly women, susceptible to abuse.
Recently, the relatives of a 10-year-old domestic worker who was allegedly battered by her employer in Dwarka, southwest Delhi, claimed the kid was frequently assaulted with hot iron tongs and sought stern punishment against the perpetrator. They claimed the girl was hired to care for the accused couple’s child but was also forced to do domestic chores as well.
Similarly, a 14-year-old girl who had been coerced into domestic servitude was rescued by the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW). The girl was clearly traumatised and terrified when she was rescued. According to the lawsuit, she was exposed to mental and physical abuse while being held against her will in a household.
Domestic labour is the fastest-growing sector of employment for women and girls in urban India. It is unfortunate that it is deemed as informal labour that is both unpaid and underpaid. There is no legal contract, resulting in arbitrary work hours, discrimination, assault, sexual harassment, and exploitation at the hands of agencies or traffickers. There is no specific regulation or policy in place to protect those who are employed in the domestic work sector. As a result, workers are left without social protection, such as minimum wage security.
Indian labour law does not apply to home work as there are limited interpretations of the definitions of ‘workman,’ ‘employer,’ and ‘establishment,’ as well as whether the house can be considered as a place of work. Cooking, cleaning, and care jobs are stereotyped as ‘unproductive’ due to their gendered nature.
Domestic worker legislation has been dormant for nearly two decades, and activists accuse the government of dragging its feet. Maids are not recognised as workers under the current legal framework, requiring them to operate in an informal and uncontrolled sector. Even if the measure is passed, advocates believe it will mostly benefit individuals recruited by agents to work abroad.