By: Shreeya Bhayana

Abstract– As a part of Interlinked’s sub-series, Kitabon ka Karwaan, we held a book talk that explores a recent report published by the ILO on the “Deficits in Decent Work: Employer perspectives and practices on the quality of employment in domestic work in urban India”. For this podcast, We are joined by Dr Neha Wadhawan from the International Labour Organisation and Dr Divya Ravindranath and Ms Rashee Mehra from the Indian Institute for Human Settlements. The authors of the report take us through the methodology they adopted and give us a brief into their findings around the factors that determine the nature of domestic work in India from the perspective of employers. Dr Neha also provides valuable insight into the reasons ILO commissioned such a report and they hope the organisation has for exploring domestic work in the future, both in India and globally.

India’s female workforce participation rates have been steadily declining since 1992. One of the biggest factors behind women’s inability to join the workforce is the family responsibilities, mostly in the form of unpaid domestic work, that fall upon them. This implies the importance to understand the different dimensions of paid and unpaid domestic work within the household in order to allow for the advancement of a decent work agenda within India and elsewhere. Additionally, the domestic work industry, in the time that FLFPR has gone down, has seen an increase in the employment of women. 

To understand the intricacies of India’s domestic work industry, we organised a podcast that discusses a recent report published by the International Labour Organisation on a study conducted by the Indian Institute of Human Settlements that explores “Deficits in Decent Work: Employer perspectives and practices on the quality of employment in domestic work in urban India”. We are joined by Dr Neha Wadhawan from the International Labour Organisation and Dr Divya Ravindranath and Ms Rashee Mehra from the Indian Institute for Human Settlements. The authors of the report take us through the methodology they adopted and give us a brief on their findings around the factors that determine the nature of domestic work in India from the perspective of employers in Bangalore and Chennai. Dr Neha also provides valuable insight into the reasons ILO commissioned such a report and the hope the organisation has for exploring domestic work in the future, both in India and globally. 

The study is unique in the way that it adopts an employer’s perspective to understand the quality of work domestic work industry. It employs an innovative urban sampling technique and draws the sample from households belonging to different income categories, as balancing paid and unpaid work at home is a challenge for women across different class categories. The report measures quality based on income security (wages, bonus, increments); employment and work security (terms of termination, terms of assistance in illness or injury); and social security (terms of paid leave, medical insurance, and maternity entitlements). 

Through this report, the ILO wishes to engage in conversation with state and central governments to work towards instituting policies and schemes to better protect the rights of Domestic workers within India. Additionally, this report provides insight into the larger context of the role played by Domestic workers in the Care economy, both for freeing up women’s time, allowing them to engage in additional care work that falls onto them or to engage in paid employment. Furthermore, the report establishes the idea that Domestic work has become an integral part of the Indian Economy and is here to stay. 

Check out the ILO Report – Deficits in decent work: Employer perspectives and practices on the quality of employment in domestic work in urban India here

Check out the Podcast here