Over 30 Lakh Domestic Helps Continue To Face Sexual Abuse Despite Existing Law To Protect Them

Domestic workers or helps are one of the biggest working populations in India. In 2017 a government estimate had stated that there are around 47.5 lakh domestic workers in India including 30 lakh women.

This, however, only reflects a section of the total workforce as a majority of them are neither registered or recognised as domestic workers.

Being one of the least organised workforce, the domestic workers are susceptible to several kinds of exploitation including sexual abuses at their workplaces.

BCCL

According to activists and rights and campaigners, not even one percent of the cases of sexual abuse of domestic workers are reported.

Several reasons including the fear of livelihood, a lack of awareness and a lack of proper laws are some of them.

Most of the domestic workers earn as little as Rs 5,000 a month from their job and that is vital for their families survival. Any scenario which they are out of a job will have an adverse impact on their families, which force them to remain silent.

Despite the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2013 recognises domestic workers, it doesn't have a proper redress mechanism.

"Beyond recognising domestic workers, the law doesn't do much. One of the provisions in the act is the formation of a local committee for redressal. But these local committees are non-existent in many cases. Even if they are there, only if they feel that there is a case of sexual harassment to the Police. This could take up to 90 days," Nandita Bhatt of Martha Farrell Foundation, said.

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She also pointed out that there is an ambiguity about the nodal officer, who should be appointed at all block levels to address sexual harassment complaints.

"The law says that every block level there should be a nodal officer. But who is this nodal officer? It is not defined. And if it is a man how do you expect a victim to go to him and file a complaint," Nandita said.

She added that the provisions of the current law are counterproductive and will only stop women from filing a complaint.

"Yes, there is a provision for a three-months leave for the complainant while the local committee investigates the matter. But a domestic worker may not be working in just one flat. So even if she is given leave from one of the flats she has to come to work in other flats in the same building," she said.

She also said that existing laws should be amended and all states should have separate laws to meet the local needs.

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The Martha Farrell Foundation has been working for years in the field of educating and empowering domestic workers and help them against exploitation.

"In Delhi, last year we did a pilot project where we equipped these women with the information and train them. The law only says that the nodal officer at the block level will only route the complaint to the local committee. But we created a route where the complaint will be sent to the local committee," she explained.

"One of the immediate impacts, Nandita said their work has created is that the domestic workers they trained are in turn now making their friends aware of their rights and the legal protection they have, which most of them were previously unaware of," she said.