New Delhi: I was browsing through some of the blogs which came up on my timeline when I stumbled upon one which read - A woman is not a woman's worst enemy. Patriarchy is. To be honest I didn't end up reading the whole post but the title somehow got me thinking on a completely different tangent.
Four different stories of domestic help abuse, four different household but all had three things in common.
All the predators were women, they are highly educated and they mostly lived by themselves.
A woman-only household is often considered to be a safer zone for domestic helps. Especially since the society is replete with examples of sexual violence on female domestic workers by male masters. In such a backdrop four separate cases in downtown Delhi of extreme violence and sub human behaivour looked out of pattern. So when I went ahead and put this question to the law enforcement agencies and the women's and worker's right activist I was surprised by their answer.
This kind of violence isn't uncommon at all! Prominent social activist Kavita Krishnan found this akin to the dowry violence cases. Women are generally lowest in the pecking order till such a time that a new 'Bahu' comes home. That's when the mothers-in-law and sisters-in-law find someone to throw their weight.
Unsurprisingly most dowry and 498A complaints name women in the household as the prime accused. She explains this in the context of the maid in a similar manner. Says these women confirm to the patriarchy to get that notional power which they then abuse on the helpless, hapless domestic helps.
Thus in a way she confirms to the very thought that: A woman is not a woman's worst enemy. Patriarchy is. But what woman is the woman who becomes a woman's worst enemy by confirming to the hegemony?
Problem doesn't end with the individuals here. A senior officer of Delhi police pointed at the feudal mentality that was in the play in the murder of Rakhi, the domestic help working for BSP strongman Dhananjay Singh's wife Jagriti. The officer with an experience of over 30 years claimed to have seen, throughout his career, these feudal families drunk in their power and position, treating domestic helps like bonded labours. Denying the helps their basic human rights is all too common.
It would be important to note that most of the domestic helps are immigrants without any local link. They are sourced by the dubious placement agencies from places like West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and the states on the North-Eastern front. Without anyone to call their own, they are twice marginalized in their own country and are dependent completely on the unholy nexus of the employer and the agency.
But then again, society is just a part of it. Blame has to be shared by the government who continue to deny the domestic helps the dignity of their labour. The government of India has not even signed the global treaty for the protection of domestic workers. This was adopted in 'The Domestic Workers Convention' of 2011 by the International Labour Organisation. This treaty set the minimum standards for the domestic workers who cook, clean, iron cloths and takes care of the children and elderly. It entitles the domestic workers the rights, like minimum wage at par with the country's laws, a day off in the week and minimum age bar before entering the profession.
At every level of the society we have failed those who perform the most important chores in our household. From the individual level to the community and then the nation state have all denied a significant population the basic right to live a human life.
Yes all of us are responsible
PS: I have to acknowledge the blog that started this chain of thoughts. It is here
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