The reason to abolish domestic work

that was a hook.

the reason to we must reconsider the entire idea of domestic work and not have a specific group of people condemned to do cleaning work.

There are screenshots and videos in this article and I’ll update them as I find them from my archives. Many ranges from 2016–2017, when I felt like a lone voice screaming about the issue online. We have come a long way since then, meaning, there seems to be some consensus online on the syntax. The outrage at using the word ‘maid’ seems to be more than employing the services of one. However, I argue that the terms evolved as respectability politics which continues the exploitative system.

These screenshots should not be considered an exception. It is the rule and a reflection of the way people talk in their upper-caste social circles. I’ve kept their upper-caste surnames as a reflection of this trend.

I’m acutely aware of disabled-differently abled people who require support. As do elderly people or people recovering from physical illness, surgeries and so on. Please keep in mind that this is not a structure I am critiquing in this article. I am largely speaking about a system where young, able-bodied people are following in the footsteps of caste practices and treat people working in their office spaces or homes akin to the way bonded labourers are treated.

The discussion about the need to have a person clean your space always ends with conversations over economics. “If we pay them enough, if we pay them fairly, then it's okay”. India does not regulate pay for people who do jobs such as cleaning homes, offices, cars or cooking. The idea of what is considered fair pay varies across individuals making it exploitative at best.

Paying above and beyond whatever your neighbours are paying may still not be fair pay. Here are the factors to consider: Is there a fixed work time, overtime pay, additional pay when other people visit, weekly off days, paid leave, medical leave, vacation leave, increment of pay adjusted with inflation, bonus, medical compensation/aid?

Desi feminism’s sole focus on ‘class’ or economics is a sham. Their idea of ‘fair pay’ does not include any of the above-mentioned basic economic rights. Another comment often made is if we ‘remove’ this line of work, many people employed will become jobless and lose a stream of income. I highly doubt anyone reading this is going to feel compelled to stop people from working at their homes or offices and if you are one of them, I’d love to meet you.

Think of yourself. Think of your dream job, you may already have one if you’re lucky. Isn’t that something you wish everyone could experience? Is it not reasonable to expect in a society that everyone at some point in their lives deserves to do work that brings them joy? I would say yes.

I know cleaning and cooking are work one can be passionate about. There are a million chefs and a few Marie Kondo’s living their best lives. Yet, the people employed as cooks in Indian homes are not treated as chefs worthy of respect. The people cleaning homes and offices are not seen as skilled workers.

It’s hard to be passionate about a job when you are treated less than a pet animal in India. It’s not a myth that women who work in houses are sexualised and sexually violated. It’s not a myth that women are physically beaten, and have hot oil or water thrown at them. It’s not a myth that separate utensils are kept in a separate space even though they touch every part of their employer’s physical space. It’s not a myth that employers do not allow them to use the same toilets as they do. If they don’t have a separate toilet often called a ‘servant’s toilet’ in builder's plans, they do not allow them to use toilets at all. If there is a toilet for their use, it is not clean or broken. It’s not a myth that in the 21st century, apartments still build maid’s quarters less than 70sqft even in luxurious apartments which are 600–1600sqft. Such quarters can be likened to windowless prison cells. They often directly connect to the kitchen and have a separate door so that they don’t have to move inside the house to get out of the house (the primary reason being that their presence should not be seen by other house guests).

None of this can be repaired by ‘fair’ pay. And, there may be the odd example of someone paying them 15k or letting them live in their houses in a separate unit with their families and so on. The people who can do this belong to a section of the upper middle class and all three sections of the middle class employ help with cleaning or cooking services in some manner or another and they do not and may not be able to extend the same benefits to their employees

We must consider the question of why we require someone else to do our chores. The answer cannot be that we work and lead busy lives. There are demands that commute time must be counted as working hours, especially after covid-19 popularised work-from-homes. In the same manner, we must also demand work that allows us to have time to return home and manage our chores. A 9–12 hour office work is built on gender inequality where the woman is expected to be at home and take care of the household. However, women's empowerment has become having another woman (more exploited and oppressed) take the place of our oppression.

But, the most important issue to address is the issue of not having joy or pride in domestic work. Cleaning is considered tiresome and cooking every day perhaps for a family is considered a burden. If cleaning one's own space/maintaining one’s space is a chore that one does not like, why would someone else? Who else can be more invested in cooking for their family or themselves?

And, the reason I suspect is that these jobs are considered menial i.e. assumed to not require special skills or training. No one goes to college to study cleaning. People working as cooks at home have not studied at Le Cordon Bleu nor are they home science graduates. But, you will be surprised to know the number of people working as cooks, office staff, housekeeping staff, drivers, and cleaners is educated, literate and perhaps college educated. And, the reason to take these jobs was unemployment.

If the concern is endangering their source of income, the solution cannot be exploiting their labour with no end in sight. The solution is alternate employment. Our country prides itself on cost-effective space missions but still employs manual scavenging, dry toilets in railways and has one of the worst sanitation practices in the world killing hundreds of Dalit people every year. It has failed to provide dignity of labour for generations of people stuck in the lowest jobs. No job is less or menial and if we truly believed it we would not have competition between jobs for essential labour rights.

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