Recognition, social security among demands of domestic workers from new government

There are around 6-7 lakh domestic workers in the State. While most of them are influenced by societal and peer pressure, some workers have empowered themselves to see beyond that. Apart from individualistic issues, the sector also has a few important demands for the Minister who will head the Labour Department.

Mahalakshmi has two children. One of them is in Class 5 while the other has just completed Class 10. While she is a domestic worker in Vidyaranyapura, she hopes to provide quality education for her children so that they build a better future for themselves. However, to send her children to private or aided educational institutions, she does not have enough money. For her, the major demand she could place before any government is for educational scholarship. 

“When candidates come near my house for campaigning, I will ask them if they can promise scholarships to my children. Then, I will see whom to vote for,” she said.

For many domestic workers like her, their demands from the new government are mostly on a micro level. Savitha, another worker at Puttenahalli, travels around 5 km every day to her workplaces. She gets down at a bus stop, works at two houses and then catches a bus again to reach the third one. “I can see that the government has made good roads and provided many buses, but ticket prices eat up half of my salary. I hope the new government reduces ticket prices or give us some concession,” she said.

There are around 6-7 lakh domestic workers in the State. While most of them are influenced by societal and peer pressure, some workers have empowered themselves to see beyond that. “As a woman and as a domestic worker, I will look for a party which will fight for our causes. Like every other sector in society, we are also burdened by the rising prices of all commodities. We want leaders who can reduce this burden and not just do communal politics,” said Radha, another domestic worker.

Apart from individualistic issues, the sector also has a few important demands for the Minister who will head the Labour Department. “We hope the new government in Karnataka works for our welfare and gives us the identity of labourers. We want to be spoken to and treated with dignity. Registration, recognition, and social security are what we ask for,” said Geetha Menon, joint secretary of the Domestic Workers’ Rights Union.

(This is the first part of a series on what people want — people from sectors whose voices are often unheard, and who are not on the top of priorities in votebank politics.)