'No Toilets at Night; Abuse Common in Public Transport': Delhi's Domestic Helps

Jagori's latest report focuses on how lack of public infrastructure jeopardises domestic workers' safety in Delhi.

Apart from touching upon working conditions of domestic workers, Jagori's latest report focused on how lack of public infrastructure continues to risk their safety. The Quint looks at key findings.

(Image: The Quint/@Aroop Mishra)

One in every four domestic workers in Delhi said they faced sexual harassment in the last two years. Of them, 34 percent—or one in every three domestic workers in Delhi—said they experienced sexual harassment while commuting in public transport, i.e. buses, local trains or auto-rickshaws. 

These findings were documented in a report titled ‘Navigating Care Work, Safety and Informality in Urban India: Evidence from Delhi's Women Domestic Workers.' It was released last week by Jagori, a women's rights organisation, in partnership with Nikore Associates, after surveying 270 domestic workers and conducting four safety audits across Delhi-NCR. 

Apart from touching upon working conditions of domestic workers, the report focused on how lack of public infrastructure continues to risk their safety. For instance, most domestic workers are compelled to relieve themselves at railway tracks at night as community toilets shut at 10pm. And they are often subjected to harassment here. 

And the commute to their workplace is not easy either. A domestic worker, living in Taimoor Nagar village in south Delhi, described crossing an open, garbage-filled canal every morning to work. “But returning home in the evening becomes dangerous as there are no streetlights in the area,” she complained.  

The report presents shocking revelations on how domestic workers—who provide essential care work—continue to be vulnerable to harassment and exploitation. The Quint looks at key findings: 

'Free Bus Travel of No Use; Experience Most Harassment in Public Transport'

The report indicates that domestic workers engage in highly localised work patterns, choosing employment opportunities close to their homes and predominantly (~80%) walk to their workplace. Very few commute through public transport and this is despite bus travel being free for women in Delhi.  

“Buses are free, but they don’t stop for us unless there are men waiting at the bust stop. They are usually overcrowded with no space to sit or stand, and the conductor is of no help. I don’t feel safe in them,” said 38-year-old Kiran Gautam, a domestic worker residing in Kirti Nagar area of west Delhi.

34 percent of the women surveyed experienced sexual harassment while commuting in a bus/train/auto. Meanwhile, 17 percent experienced it while commuting to the next place of work. More than half of the domestic workers said they experienced verbal abuse in public transport or public spaces. 

(Screenshot from report)

“Besides, the bus drops us as the main road. The path from there to my house in the basti gets very dark in the evening. We have streetlights in the area but no electricity connection. So, I come back home early and ask my daughter to do the same,” Kiran said. She said she would’ve taken up more work if she felt safe returning home late in the evening. 

(Screenshot from report)

Reports of sexual harassment were the highest in public spaces, including deserted roads, markets, drains, highways and near homes, the survey indicated. Besides, 65 percent domestic workers felt “very unsafe” at night.

'Gaps in Public Infrastructure Putting Women's Safety at Risk'

The safety audits conducted by NGOs identified glaring gaps in public infrastructure that put the safety of domestic workers at risk:

• Lack of footpaths:

Even as close to 80 percent of domestic workers regularly walk to their workplace, lack of proper footpaths is leaving them vulnerable to road accidents.

• Difficulty in accessing public transport:

Many women described having to walk through garbage dumping sites and along canals to reach the main road, their first touchpoint for public transport. A domestic worker from Dayal Nagar Basti in Faridabad described taking “a narrow area over a drain leading to a garbage dump yard, followed by a railway track and a short wall that they have to jump over” every morning to go to work.

1. Path leading to the dump yard

2. Dump yard during the day

3. Railway track along Dayal Basti route

People climbing the wall along the Dayal Basti route

• Lack of clean public and community toilets:

Closure of community toilets at night and poor maintenance are leading to health risks for women domestic workers and making them vulnerable to harassment during night emergencies to use toilets.

A defunct community toilet

(Photo Credit: Jagori)

• Inadequate and/or dysfunctional street lighting:

Restricts women’s mobility and labour participation after sundown.

• Gaps in the supply of potable drinking water:

Forces the communities to fetch water from a distance and at specific times.

• Poor drainage and garbage disposal systems:

Contribute to unhygienic living conditions, exposing these workers to severe health risks.

• Gaps in Security:

While some areas lack police booths or stations in the vicinity, some do not get regular police patrolling.

“The area I live in is quite bad and very unsafe. There are no streetlights or security guards. The police patrol the main road at night but there are no policemen checking the bylanes in our area,” complained Rinku, a domestic worker residing in Taimoor Nagar. She claimed that there was no notice or helpline number for safety.

Why Women Domestic Workers Don't Report Instances of Sexual Harassment

According to the report, 61 percent of the domestic workers said that they did not report instances of sexual harassment; while 39 percent said that they reported harassment to relevant authorities.  

When asked about instances of sexual harassment at the workplace, i.e. the houses that they tend to, Rinku said, “If we tell the woman of the household that their male relative touched us inappropriately, they either deny it, or terminate us accusing us of theft or petty crime.”

(Screenshot from report)

Although, Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) at Workplace Act applies to all women workers, including gig workers, ambiguity still exists for domestic workers.  

“In case of grievance redressal, women domestic workers can approach Local Committees (LC) set up at the district level, however, in Delhi they remain largely dysfunctional,” Jayashree Velankar, Director, Jagori told The Quint.   

She attributed women domestic workers’ reluctance in reporting instances of sexual harassment to saving their job. “Their priority is to save their job. If they complain, they risk losing it,” Velankar explained.

'Could Take On More Paid Work If..."

An interesting finding from the report was domestic workers’ preference to work part-time in multiple households instead of working full-time in one household.  

“There are two reasons for this—the primary being care work in their own house, and second, they don’t want to be dependent on one household only,” explained economist Mitali Nikore, who was one of the lead authors of the report.

According to the survey, domestic helps work an average of 13.5 hours daily— including more than eight hours of paid work and five hours of unpaid care work at their own homes.  

Nearly two in every three domestic workers said that they could take on more paid work if the burden of care work at their own homes was better distributed among household members, the report pointed.  

However, many claimed that they have started receiving help from male family members, in what Velankar described as a “welcome and positive change in attitude.” 

(Screenshot from report)

At the same time, the average monthly income of domestic workers surveyed was nearly Rs 7,500 even as their household income was Rs 15,418. This means that women domestic helps are contributing nearly half to their total household income. 

“Lack of care facilities is certainly a hindrance for low participation of women in the workforce. We have piloted a programme of providing creche service for Anganwadi workers in villages and seen a positive change. It can likely be implemented in cities as well,” said Dr Praveen Kumari Singh, Advisor to the Union Labour Ministry.  

She reiterated PM Modi’s vision of increasing female labour force participation to 70 percent by 2047.

'Most Domestic Workers Started as Child Labourers'

The report suggested that nearly 52 percent of the sample was illiterate, while approximately 20 percent had completed primary and secondary education. By contrast only 0.4 percent had completed graduation.  

“This shows that there is scope for policy intervention; bringing back evening schools for adults. Educating domestic workers would not only give them better negotiating power but it’s also a tool for upward mobility,” Nikore said. 

Another disturbing finding of the report was that the average age at which most domestic workers started working was 13 years—i.e. most were engaged in child labour.  

“I started working at 15 and had to stop going to school. Now all I wish is I could learn. I want my children to have a proper education so that they don’t have to work like me,” said Shabnam, who lives near East of Kailash in south Delhi and has been working as a domestic help for more than 20 years.  

Another thing that Shabnam wishes for is at least 3-4 leaves in a month so that she can rest or visit her parents in her native village.  

'65% India Covered Under Social Security', But What About Domestic Workers?

Last week, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), in its ‘World Social Protection Report (WSPR) 2024-26', said that India’s social protection coverage has doubled from 24.4 percent in 2021 to 48.8 percent in 2024. 

Even as the Union Labour Ministry stated that nearly 920 million people, or 65 percent of the population, are now covered by at least one form of social protection, domestic workers largely remain excluded from its purview. And this is because domestic work is deeply unorganised and unregulated.  

The e-Shram portal was Introduced in August 2021 to create a National Database of Unorganised Workers (NDUW) so as to provide social security to unorganised workers. “As of March 3, 2025, over 30.68 crore unorganised workers have registered, with 53.68% of them being women,” the Labour Ministry stated.  

“e-Shram is a digital tool, which has at least acknowledged that unorganised workers need to be given social security. However, there needs to be a defined mechanism to onboard more domestic workers on this portal,” Nikore explained.