The Quint speaks to Prof Neeta N Pillai at the Centre for Women’s Development Studies about the significance of volatile protests by domestic workers and their families at a Noida gated community on 12 July. We ask her if this event is a signal of deeper tensions that might topple an otherwise taken for granted relationship between maids and their employers.
Q. From the mundane matter of maids in middle class homes, how did we get here? A volatile face-off at the gates of a Noida housing society?
Noida is an example of a huge residential hub of multi-storeyed buildings that require an army of people to service them. The poor who don’t have alternative sources of income live in clusters nearby. But there is a duality. On one hand, the middle class depends on these workers to take care of their children and do all personal menial chores of the household. On the other hand, when there is a problem like this, the feelings of ‘us’ and ‘them’ surface.
Q. Should we see this as a signal of rising tensions between domestic workers and employers in middle class homes at large?
As the middle class swells in prosperity, the number of domestic workers are growing and they are increasingly becoming part of middle class life. At the same time, their collectivist and community spirit is increasing. Domestic workers know that they are exploited and used by the middle class. So there is this anger. Maids are now more vocal than other informal sector women. Over time, once they have worked in a few houses they do exert their rights.
Q. But what made these protests turn violent?
Violent situations are never the answer, but ironically they have helped to expose some issues. This was beyond non-payment of salaries or theft. Because the family and friends of the maid believed that she was kept captive, and couldn’t find her, the group that mobilised resorted to violence. I don’t think the workers would do this unless they believed that she was kept captive.
Q. Have situations like this been known to happen before?
May be not violent ones, but as per my research and reports in Jaipur, Bangalore and Delhi, groups of workers went to housing complexes and demanded that overdue salaries be paid.
Q. What about the middle class that feels unsafe despite the premium they have paid to live in a secure gated community?
The middle class has the right to feel secure. But by and large, the middle class has not accepted domestic staff as workers who have rights. The feudal mindsets of them as servants still prevail and in all the research I have done, this has come out very clearly. They expect them to do extra work, come at odd hours and not have any leave. If employers can consider them workers and not see them a servants, we may not have these issues. We talk of the violent ‘Other’, but are not so willing to look within.
Q. And finally, do you see any progress on the policy front?
There has been a lot of talk for many many years about regularising domestic work. But a maid today has to negotiate everything at the individual level. Draft after draft is coming up, but there has been no action. There is no protection from the state. We have been discussing a national policy for domestic workers since 2009.
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