Future of Domestic Workers
Ever since the cases of Covid-19 surged in India and lockdown was imposed by the government in the country, the domestic workers lost/started losing their jobs. In this article, we will take a look at the position of this class of society in the coming future.
With the overture of Covid-19 in India and the imposition of nation-wide lockdown on 25th March 2020, many domestic workers lost their jobs. People were afraid to continue the services of these people as they considered them to be the most vulnerable class to attract coronavirus and disseminate the disease in others (mainly where they worked). To an extent, it was the right step. Perhaps, we didn’t have the opportunity to continue as well due to the stringent guidelines imposed by the government to curtail an early outbreak of the virus throughout the country.
Exploration has begun…
Well, the domestic workers were now out of the houses, people started looking out for alternatives. There was a significant rise in the sales of devices like dishwashers, home cleaners, etc. People are seemingly investing too much on these home appliances.
Now, here’s the catch. These appliances start at somewhere around 20,000 bucks or so. If someone is buying a dishwasher and a home cleaner (assumed to be this minimalistic), they might end up investing somewhere around 35k to 40k. Thus, these households will eliminate the use of domestic workers forever (if not permanently, then at least for an extended period).
Are they even getting paid?
No, they are not. A survey conducted by Domestic Workers’ Rights Union (DWRU), Bruhat Bangalore Gurhakarmika Sangha (BBGS), and Manegelasa Kaarmikara Union found that as many as 91% of domestic workers were not paid any salaries in April.
We forget that the lockdown hasn’t just impacted our lifestyle. It has equally, or sometimes severely, devastated the lives of others as well. When asked about why they (people) are not paying these people (domestic workers) their salaries/wages, the usual reply is, “If we are not availing their services, then what is the point of paying them?” Rationally it is correct, but the situations aren’t rational themselves. Even our Prime Minister in one of his addresses mentioned the precarity of these worker classes and why we need to pay them even when we are not receiving their services. However, we neglected that and moved on with his idea of beating plates in commemoration of health workers.
The Fault in Our Society…
Covid-19 has revived the scars of social discrimination and brought them back to life. I am talking as if it was all gone but was gradually suppressing as people were trying to become more inclusive and accommodative to change. But soon after the rising wraith of coronavirus, this has redrawn the faulty-lines in our society.
One such example is the belief that COVID-19 could be spread only by poor, small-backward-class people and not from others. We forgot how this disease was first transported into the country. Well, the prevailing notion has overtaken reality, and people are following what they believe. Nonetheless, we must highlight the truth and open your eyes to see the bigger picture.
The disease is not going anywhere soon. It will be a long battle. But to shorten it, we have to put a closure on these lines and bring society back to the status quo. If we are impuissant to do so, then the battle will become longer than our expectations and may cost us higher than it would do now.
Well, the reason behind writing this article was to make you aware of what the reality beneath our shared understanding is. We can’t bear losing jobs ourselves, even when we can survive for months with our savings. Still, when it comes to these pitiful domestic workers, all our compassion and sympathy goes to trash, even when we know that they can’t survive as long as we can in a situation like this. A recent article published by The Wire talks about the discrepancies faced by these domestic workers and gives an account of the ground reality of the situation.
I am not accounting for the descendence of humanity here. My point is that we can at least give them what they are worth getting, rather than discriminating based on some virus’s communicability.
If I were to opine a solution, I would instead sound too leftist on my solution because it is too conventional for a world we live in. In my view, protection of petty and small paying jobs like these must be of high priority. An educated man can find a job anyway, but for someone disadvantaged of not being educated suffers to the very end. S/he doesn’t have options to explore outside their limited lists of alternatives. Home automation and similar technology are the future. Still, we can push the future a little further until our population is able enough to explore opportunities other than these small jobs.
Well, it is too conservative and irrational, but it all depends on how we perceive our thoughts and work upon them!
The views in this article are personal.
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