As regulations against workplace harassment gain ground, it's time we turn to abuse against home-based workers too

While there has been a feminist reckoning of harassment in formal workplaces across the world since 2017, the violence committed on home-based workers has remained relatively unexamined. In 2020, when the workplace became the home, COVID-19 lockdowns brought the spike in violence against women into sharp focus. Still, the abuse of home-based workers, who are simultaneously targets for both domestic and workplace violence, went largely unreported and unmeasured.   Home-based workers are a category of informal sector workers who earn by working at home or adjacent places rather than designated workplaces. They are either self employed or employees in traditional industries like carpet or basket weaving and jewellery making or contemporary ones like assembling micro electronics. Low job security and low access to legal and social recourse puts them at high risk of exploitation and violence, especially women who form a large part of this workforce, and suffer gender discrimination. In a new Homenet South Asia study, respondents from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India shared their experiences of physical, financial, verbal, psychological, and emotional abuse. “Sometimes I make jewellery (from) 2 kg of raw material. But the income is very low (from jewellery making). It’s a lot more work for less money. Women should at least earn Rs 100/day but they don’t receive it, but I earn Rs 300 in a week,” said a respondent from Mumbai. Others reported that middle men and contractors would engage in verbal abuse and state arbitrary justifications to not pay workers. In a few instances, contractors expected sexual favours in exchange for work. The study also reveals that home-based workers recognised that when the home was the workplace, there was a greater intersection between workplace and domestic violence. Often respondents would keep the experience of workplace violence to themselves, fearing mobility restrictions put on them by their families and victim blaming.   Any kind of disaster exacerbates situations of violence, continuing and escalating cycles of exploitation and abuse. But according to regional coordinator of HSNA Navya Dsouza, while sexual harrassment from men in the workplace could have decreased over the lockdown because of lesser contact, there is strong anecdotal evidence that economic violence has increased. A majority of respondents reported that during COVID-19, the home-based work opportunities plummeted substantially, which precipitated the workers’ economic hardships. One worker from Mumbai was forced into massive debt during the pandemic, which she is struggling to repay. A few respondents were not even paid for the orders they took up before the lockdown.   [caption id=“attachment_10546091” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  Home workers. Representational image[/caption] In a few cases, domestic abuse increased. Home-based workers were stuck at home with the perpetrators. Respondents from all three countries report emotional, physical, and verbal abuse at the hands of their husbands, and even in-laws. “My husband doesn’t bear my expenses. He doesn’t even bear the household expenses. At times, I have to bear all the expenses of the house, children, and everything else. This creates a lot of pressure on me,” said a respondent from Karachi. More than three women talked about specific instances of heightened violence during and owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. When earlier, the anger was owing to perceived neglect of household duties and childcare, it was now because of the double loss of income. “When husbands were laid off and couldn’t find work, they displaced their frustration on women workers as well,” said Dsouza. Anything could set them off, such as too much salt and unsatisfactory cooking. In India, the community also played a role in sustaining a culture of silence. One respondent noted the discrimination at the hands of community members. Because she was separated, her neighbours treated her as if she was a widow. “People look down on me, think of me as a low life. While some people, when they do auspicious ceremonies, avoid me by considering me a widow; some taunt me,” she said.

Several women who sought help from trade unions and local organisations were cut off during the pandemic. And where police were the last resort for them,  even they were over extended as first responders, and were engaged in enforcing lockdowns.

“When you’re stuck at home, how do you make a call out of that small home in Dharavi? The perpetrator of violence is probably inches away; it’s difficult to reach for help in these circumstances,” said Dsouza.     At the level of legislation, existing provisions such as The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) (POSH) or the Minimum Wages Act are not enforced stringently enough. While Pakistan recently passed an act on home-based workers, there is no separate legislation for this vulnerable group in India and Bangladesh. No South Asian country has yet ratified the International Labour Organisation conventions 177 on Home Work or 190 on Violence and Harassment at Work. There is dearth of adequate data on violence in the workplace in South Asia, especially in the informal sector. “If you want to advocate for better laws, advocate with brands and companies, the first question that will be asked is where is the data. It’s a large-scale problem and we said we’ll start by doing research,” say Dsouza.   The invisibility of home-based workers is so pervasive, it negatively impacts productivity and succeeding generations, but more significantly, it affects the physical and mental health of as many as over 55 million people across East and South Asia. “Family life is disturbed, children also misbehave with the mother seeing their abusive father. They do not go to school and have no interest in education. Many a time, their education is also discontinued because the family can’t afford their education,” said a respondent from Lahore. Another respondent from Karachi said, “Due to violence, my brain doesn’t work. I just keep on thinking, I don’t remember anything. I’ll forget everything that you have asked in an hour.” Women home-based workers, especially in India, seemed to have internalised the reality that they needed to endure violence in order to abide by social norms. “Because the burden of the pandemic was so large and complex, women who are taught to live with violence may not even had taken great notice of it,” Dsouza said.   Eisha Nair is an independent writer-illustrator based in Mumbai. She has written on history, art, culture, education, and film for various publications. When not pursuing call to cultural critique, she is busy drawing comics. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.