Book review: Samita Sen and Nilanjana Sengupta,Domestic Days Women,Work and Politics in Contemporary Kolkata

Recently, the rural sector has witnessed an unprecedented decline in agrarian produce and livelihood security which has prompted a large-scale migration of rural people to urban areas causing a significant spurt in the number of domestic workers in India. Domestic workers are largely unorganised with no formal contracts between the employer and the employee. They have poor bargaining power, no legislative protection and inadequate representation by trade unions and poor welfare measures with no provision for weekly holidays. Domestic workers can be divided into four types: family retainers (often engaged in domestic service transgenerationally); live-in, full-time domestic servants; full-time domestic servants who come in during the day (or sometimes in the night) and the part-time domestic servants who serve in a number of households (Ray, 2009).

This book by Samita Sen and Nilanjana Sengupta is a study concerned with the last type of domestic servant, an area primarily dominated by women workers and juveniles. This volume is based on part-time women domestic workers residing in two settlements of Kolkata and adopts a combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods to explore the lives of female domestic labourers to understand the influence of gender and class on their labouring lives.

The book is divided into seven chapters. The first presents a detailed analysis of the group covered in terms of age, marital status, income and family size and also a detailed description of the two settlements in which women live. Some interesting facts emerge from the analysis, revealing that 60 per cent of women have one or two children while 70 per cent of women are illiterate. Those with lesser number of children indicate some positive news for the government’s family planning programme. The settlements, where these women live are largely illegal, which means they live under a constant fear of eviction, and they do not have any basic civic facilities.

The focus of the second chapter is on the migratory feature of the women workers. For instance, a majority of the households in the settlements have migrated from areas south of city, that is, South 24 Parganas. The study highlights how there is an increasing trend of migration of single women, which is not reflected within the existing literature. Another interesting influential factor brought out by the study is the relationship between women’s employability and a family’s migrating decision.

The third chapter talks about the economy of the domestic work. It highlights issues of wages, working conditions, workers access to credit, leave and other benefits. The study points out that the terms of contract between worker and employer are unequal and are more in favour of the employer. Other interesting facts that echo from the narratives of the worker point towards the reducing influence of caste on domestic work and hold of employers over the life of the domestic workers. Further, women workers prefer to be engaged as a domestic worker because it allows adjustments with their own household responsibilities.

In Chapter 4, the influence of familiarity, dependency and subordination on the labouring lives of women domestic workers is under review. From the narratives of women workers, it is clearly seen that the influence of the above categories on the working relationship has to be read along with elements of care, affection and class. Also it can be seen that women workers adopt a strategy wherein they trade wages and other associated benefits with intimacy or security. Such a strategy helps them to minimise their conflict with employers, ensure their own safety and also achieve a measure of dignity and humanity in a work that is otherwise considered menial and denigrating. Another important fact which emerges from the narratives is that most workers want a different future for their children and they also want freedom and dignity for their future generation.

Chapter 5 tries to review the influence of gender and class identity on women domestic workers. Few interesting facts which emerge from this chapter include the following: a lack of scope for women domestic workers to adopt the practises that they have learned from middle-class homes into their own household; there is no substantial difference in the age of marriage across generations covered in the survey; a majority of young girls who enter the profession work as full-time residential domestic workers and after marriage enter the profession as part-time domestic servants; parents are not obsessed with sexual chastity of their daughters and are also fine with the idea of their eloping as it will save them the expenses incurred for a marriage; that women face a double-burden as they are expected to do household chores, take care of their children, the sick and the elderly in their homes with a limited involvement of male partners and also have to perform domestic work in their employer’s home.

In Chapter 6, an attempt is made to understand and analyse the differences in situations of domestic workers prior to migration and subsequent employment in paid jobs. Some facts which emerge show that women do agree that urban migration and paid employment have improved their lives and have given them a measure of dignity and independence; and that women workers who are especially negative about their own work say that they enter the job market due to the failure of patriarchy, that is, the failure of fathers/husbands/sons to play the role of a bread winner or protector. A unique feature noticed among the women workers living in clusters in urban settlement is the existence of a strong bond of support, cooperation and friendship, which helps them to back each other in their wifely and motherly concerns, but this sharing has not led them to collectively address common issues about their work. Chapter 7 throws light on the development of policy, institutionalisation and collectivisation in the area of domestic work and domestic workers.

The overarching goal of the book is achieved as it is able to provide a detailed understanding of the life of women part-time domestic workers. Personal accounts provided by women workers have helped to provide a micro-understanding of the suffering and the hardship faced by women domestic workers included in the study. Further, the study gives a detailed exposition on the role of class and gender in the exploitation of women workers. The book is a must-read for all researchers who intend to work on women domestic workers and also for students of developmental studies who focus on the informal sector as it provides a theoretical understanding of the concept of the informal sector. Another strength of the book is that writers have taken an in-depth review of literature on women domestic workers. The inputs provided by the book can be of great help for policymakers to frame welfare measures for women workers and similarly for activists who can play a more positive role in unifying women workers to fight for their rights.