Pains and Pines

What Women Domestic Helpers in Dhaka Taught Me About Poverty, Gender, and Invisible Labor

By Soheli Khadiza Azad | Originally researched and written in 2008

A note before you read: This piece is drawn from a research I conducted in 2008, commissioned by Assistance for Slum Dwellers (ASD), Dhaka, under their project titled Integrated Development Programme for Urban Adolescents and Women (IDPUAW), funded by ActionAid Bangladesh. The full report — which included a detailed challenges section and an institutional action plan for ASD — was submitted to the commissioning organization. What I share here is only the methodology and findings section of that research. The broader analytical and institutional sections of the report remain with ASD and are not reproduced here.

Domestic helpers and domesticity are probably one of the most unexplored research areas in Bangladesh. There is a paucity of relevant information and data on them. The lived experiences of the women I met during this research — ninety-four of them, working in different households in and around Mohammadpur, Dhaka — stayed with me long after I left the field.

Where I Started: The Theoretical Frame

Amartya Sen's model of 'gender' and 'cooperative conflict' seeks to understand gender relations and discrimination within the household in terms of negotiation and bargaining power. The intra-household negotiation often takes place from unequal bargaining positions. According to this model, the person who works in the formal labor market outside the home — generally the male member — commands more respect in the family due to his financial independence. This gives him an edge over negotiating and bargaining issues with the other person in the family who is not working outside, typically the woman in the South Asian context. In any negotiation, relative bargaining power impacts the quality of the outcome. As Hicks (2002) notes, a woman who has intermittent or no labor market experience has fewer viable alternatives to economic dependence on her husband.

Unfortunately, the situation of women working as domestic helpers in Dhaka largely defies Sen's presumption. In spite of these women being active agents — wage earners and direct financial contributors to the family — they do not fit into Sen's framework to command equal bargaining power, either in the workplace or at home.

This gap between theory and reality is also where Naila Kabeer's work becomes relevant. Kabeer (2003) argues that women's labor market participation does not automatically translate into empowerment if structural inequities — in wages, mobility, social capital, and legal protection — remain intact. The women in this study were earning, but they were not empowered. That distinction sits at the heart of what this research found.

Methodology

The research area, Mohammadpur in Dhaka city, is considered one of the most densely populated areas, with a blending of lower middle class, middle class, and upper middle class residents. The area is increasingly getting modernized with the advent of land developers, commercial buildings, and shopping complexes. The present housing pattern is varied — private dormitories, modern apartments, single and multi-storey buildings with old architectural design, slums, offices, and different national and international non-government organizations — all can be found in this area.

Study findings are based on one-on-one interviews with some participants and five Focus Group Discussions (FGD). The research participants were mostly confined to part-time helpers. Out of ninety-four respondents, only five full-time helpers were available for the study, with ages ranging from thirteen to sixty.

Who They Are: Bandha and Chuta

Rahman (1995) classified domestic helpers in a number of ways. Full-time domestic helpers are termed as bandha whereas chuta refers to the part-time helpers. Bandha literally means 'tied down' — the word itself expresses the nature and terms and conditions of domesticity. Bandha helpers are living-in, full-time workers for a particular household with a fluid but extensive workload. Ages range from five or six years to sixty or more. Chuta helpers are part-time workers, hired to do specific but heavy and labor-intensive jobs like mopping, washing, and sometimes cooking. Chuta helpers mostly take up work in more than one household and are all women, usually with a family of their own. They live nearby the employer's house, mostly in slums.

These women bear the double burden of poverty. They render service as part-timers in other people's homes, and as full-timers in their own family — including looking after minor children.

Little boys and children of bandha helpers also form another category. They are in much demand to run various errands and come up as very cheap and useful labor for the employer.

Except for a few qualitative studies, there is probably no detailed information or statistics on women, girls, and children working as domestic helpers in Bangladesh. Non-availability of data makes their work more invisible and insignificant.

Why They Are Where They Are: The Vulnerability Context

Livelihoods are shaped by a multitude of forces and factors that are themselves constantly changing. It is important to identify the factors that make up the vulnerability context, because they have a direct impact on people's assets and available options in pursuit of a beneficial livelihood.

Small-scale studies from the 1970s and 1980s noted a high proportion of destitute women in slum areas, mainly working in the informal economy as domestic helpers. Because restrictions on women's mobility in the public domain tend to be more strictly followed in rural areas, women from rural areas often migrate to cities and engage in the informal economy (Kabeer, 2003). People are also forced to come to cities because of natural disaster, landlessness, and other shocks.

The following are some of the major causes that compelled the respondents of this study to trade off their time and energy in an informal labor market like households and domesticity. Poverty — the root cause and the most pervasive form of vulnerability — has deliberately been kept aside from this discussion due to its obvious role in contributing to marginalization.

Unfavorable and hostile village life

The majority of the women migrated from rural areas to Dhaka city. Existing rural mechanisms and economic conditions failed to offer a sustainable livelihood. Women respondents and their families did not find their village offering an enabling atmosphere or suitable opportunity. This triggered their migration decision to Dhaka.

Natural disasters and 'Shocks'

Different shocks can destroy assets directly — flood, storms, landslide, river slide due to river erosion. These can also force people to abandon their home areas, dispose of their assets, and migrate as part of their coping strategy. Out of ninety-four participants, an overwhelming number of women had lost all their wealth and land in natural shocks like river slide. Nineteen women became sole or lead earners of their family due to the death or illness of a male member. Only twelve participants said they could probably go back to their village if the situation demanded — but they have either a home or land there, not both. This implies they would either have to build a house or search for a viable livelihood option, the chance of which is really thin.

Seasonal shifts in prices, employment opportunity, and food availability

These are among the greatest sources of poverty and hardship for the poor. The price hike makes the position of domestic helpers more vulnerable, as their salary raises at a snail's pace or not at all. Women were found working in the same household for three to five years with a negligible salary raise of Taka 100 to 200. This does not commensurate with the rate of inflation and prices of essentials in the market.

'We cut down our consumption of food simply because we cannot afford it' — candidly stated a few.

Case Study 1: Dimensions of Vulnerability

Amena Bibi, age 50, works in two households with a combined monthly salary of taka five hundred for the last three years. Her husband has been bedridden for the last five years from paralysis. She will look for another job after Eid ul Fitre if her employer does not increase her salary as promised. Amena Bibi's age, her husband's health, and her lack of physical capital have made her risk-taking capacity lesser than the least.

The Present Situation: A Volatile Mix of Asset and Capital

A) Lack of Human Capital

Women in this study were found mostly illiterate. Some could hardly sign their names. Except for a few, they also do not possess special skills to pursue alternative livelihood options. Some have informal skill in cutting and sewing and one could make paper packets — but their level of expertise in no way matches the desired standard in today's competitive market.

Women's health and physical status also portrays a sorry state of their human capital. Suffering from gastritis, diarrhea, regular cold and cough were common. Most cited skin disease, especially at feet and hands, due to heavy contact with water (mopping, washing, cleaning). A negligible number of participants confirmed that their employers empathize when they fall sick. The majority are rebuked for not turning up for work due to sickness, let alone being offered medicine or rest. Some employers also deduct salary for absences.

Long working hours do not necessarily result in having good and nutritious food from the employer. Domestic helpers are usually served with leftovers.

'I get cold and dry rice kept in the fridge with some vegetables perhaps. These are uneatable. But I have to eat, because I become really hungry doing all the hard works from the morning' — responded one participant.

'They will give us only that food which already got stale or will be soon' — scoffed another.

There are exceptions to these as well. Some participants stated that they are 'happy' with the way they are being treated.

B) Absence of Natural Capital

Natural capital refers to the natural resources from which people derive their livelihood — from favorable atmosphere to visible assets like land and trees. Seventy-six respondents (close to eighty-one percent of the total) have no land or any other natural capital. Many lost their land and home in river slides. There is a remote chance for them to acquire or rebuild their wealth with the present income.

C) Insignificant Social Capital

Social capital refers to social resources that help in building livelihood strategies — built through networks and connectedness, membership in formal groups, and relationships of trust and reciprocity. Respondents in this study were found to be very low in social capital.

Respondents are not formally connected to any local club or committee. They do not receive any monetary support, counseling, or education on awareness of their rights from any development organizations. Women have to cook their lunch for the family after coming back from part-time work, with very little or no help from male members of the family, who adhere to specific gender roles due to the socialization process and stay away from household tasks.

Case Study 2: Network and Connectedness — Child Care

Nurjahan takes care of her own child after getting back home. Her child accompanied her to the FGD session as there was no one to look after her at home. The employer does not permit taking the child to work. The child, of minor age — seven to eight years — stays back home almost on her own, with little supervision from a neighbor.

Relationships of trust and reciprocity as social capital facilitate cooperation and work as informal safety nets amongst the poor. However, domestic help is probably one of the few occupations significantly characterized by a lack of mutual trust and respect between the employer and employee. Most domestic helpers do not believe their employers have genuine concern for their well-being. Many view them as oppressors and unkind.

Employer attitude and behavior towards domestic helpers often contribute to newspaper headlines. Verbal abuse forms an integral part of the job condition. It is very common to get reprimanded and rebuked for minor mistakes. Interestingly, the woman of the home — the wife or daughter-in-law — is seen as the transgressor in the eye of domestic helpers. All participants found male members and boys at home to be well-behaved and sympathetic. In answer to a probing question as to why they feel that male members are no threat, some replied that they hardly see them — 'Saheb' (the main male member of the family) mostly remains outside, at the office or work.

This reveals an intriguing fact: the absence or non-interference of male members makes them a more acceptable presence to the domestic helper than the woman of the home, who usually remains in a supervisory capacity. This also stands to validate the possibility that the absence of sexual harassment of part-time domestic helpers by many male members is not necessarily because they hold a positive attitude and respect for women helpers — but because they lack the opportunity. Part-time workers usually render their service during office hours when most male members stay out. The same male members can be quite different and difficult for full-time domestic helpers. Domestic helpers being sexually abused by male members in the family is a reality that everybody in the family realizes but rarely lets come open.

Except two women, participants in this study had not come across physical or sexual harassment in their own work — but they are aware of such situations. Physical abuse is mostly experienced by full-time young girls and children. Thus these women as guardians hardly allow their young girls to take up full-time work in any house. Some have witnessed, and many have heard of, incidents of inhuman physical torture to young full-time girls. One respondent revealed that she came across a girl in her previous workplace who was raped by one of the relatives of a family member.

'Why would they (employer) sexually harass us? We work as chuta (part-timer). It happens with the bandha (full-time) workers' — one participant firmly stated.

This says a lot about the correlation between job nature (part-time and full-time) and the nature of abuse (verbal and/or sexual), and also the presence or lack of opportunity.

Case Study 3: Harassment in the Workplace (Quid Pro Quo)

Ayesha, age 22, is married to a deaf person. Her previous employer — in the prolonged absence of his wife — proposed that she marry him, and threatened to withhold her last two months' salary if she refused. Ayesha left the job immediately with the comment: 'I spit on your money, I spit on your proposal.'

Case Study 4: Harassment in the Workplace (Hostile Environment)

Dilu, age 24, has to endure hostile behaviors and attitudes of her employer, as her husband is ill and she has no other recourse. There are lots of unnecessary pushing and shoving from the adult boys of the home while she works — at the time of cleaning and mopping.

Absence of these social factors impacts adversely on the bargaining position and space of negotiation of domestic helpers with employers. It also has its impact on the wage structure. An interesting finding reveals that an area-wise standard market rate for each household chore has somehow already taken hold among domestic helpers. For Mohammadpur, it is Taka 200 per month per task. In Gulshan, Banani, Dhanmondi, and Baridhara it is Taka 300. For Uttara it ranges from Taka 200 to 300. The vast majority of respondents were exasperated because they felt they are being deceived from their due.

'In practice I should get two hundred taka per month for each task (mopping, washing etc). But I surely don't get according to this rate; it is much lower' — one respondent said.

Also, leaving the job on short notice obviously results in salary deduction, delayed payment, or sometimes no payment for that month at all. The situation is the other way round for the employer — who has the authority to instantly fire a worker on any grounds, with no notice period. Absence of a formal body to protect the interest of domestic helpers, and a lack of agency, give birth to discrimination and exploitation for this group.

D) Poor Physical Capital

Physical capital includes infrastructure like a secure home, water, energy supply, sanitation, and access to information. The majority of the respondents lived in slum areas or in cheap rented rooms in unhealthy, damp, and swampy places with poor ventilation. Part-time workers are thus associated with low physical capital.

E) Inaccessibility to Financial Capital

None of the respondents could save a single penny out of their income. In fact, they regularly fall short or barely manage. Since their work is not secured, regular inflow of money is not always guaranteed at the end of the month. For most of them, their male counterparts are also not in stable work — many are rickshaw pullers and day laborers. Accident, ill health, sickness, and political unrest can take away their day's income at one go.

This group also does not have any access to credit facilities from financial institutions. A few have mentioned their association with samity (informal cooperative systems) from which they took loans for personal reasons — a daughter's marriage, paying off other debts. Only one respondent mentioned taking a loan to buy a rickshaw. However, the rickshaw was stolen soon after. Instead of generating income, the family is now burdened with repaying the loan every month.

Many respondents expressed their desire to get some financial support to start a small-scale business on their own and quit their present job. Lack of additional skill and financial capital are the greatest obstacles.

F) Lack of Enabling Structures and Processes

Domestic helpers are perhaps the most untouched area of any governmental or non-government intervention. There is no policy or legislative action taken to protect their interest. They are not legally recognized as part of the country's productive labor force (Rahman, 1995). Cases of violence and abuse sometimes flash in the media, and the law intervenes — but both law and media coverage fades away after a while.

G) Limited Livelihood Strategies

All respondents were in unanimous consensus that they would take no time to leave their present work if given a chance to work in another profession. To them, it is the most demoralizing and dissatisfying task to render services as domestic helpers. This is a thankless job.

H) Negligible Livelihood Outcomes

For the target group of this research, their livelihood has resulted in less income than before (for women who lost their land and home in natural disaster and migrated to Dhaka) and could not ensure their long-term well-being, as the income is unstable and inadequate. This group is still vulnerable to different adverse situations as they are not protected through any formal code of conduct.

Core Problems: A Summary

Taking into account the above findings, the core problems of women domestic helpers can be summarized as follows:

Inadequate salary and little or no bargaining power. For a whole day's work, the average monthly salary comes to Taka 1,000 to 1,200. This is an almost absurd amount to live on. Employers often do not stick to their promises in terms of workload — the initial understanding of performing certain specific activities ultimately leads to running many household errands without any increase in salary. There is also no holiday for domestic helpers.

Care-giving responsibility. Women with minor children are the least preferred group among employers. A woman's care-giving responsibility restricts her mobility, weakens her market price as an employee, and reduces her income.

Lack of skill and access to formal credit. Women working in households are forced into this work because they do not possess any other livelihood skill. Some still dream of starting a small business. But they lack capital or access to formal credit.

Lack of all livelihood capitals. Part-time workers in particular lack all types of capital — human, physical, financial, natural, and social. While the lack of the first four types of capital drove them to their present situation, the lack of social capital (networks, formal and informal bodies, mutual trust and reciprocity) perpetuates the vulnerability.

Lack of awareness. Women are not aware of their rights. They have no access to information. They tolerate abuse in the workplace and violence at home in silence.

Closing Reflection

In principle, livelihood seeks to promote choice, opportunity, and diversity. In practice, the livelihood of domestic helpers emerged as a result of limited choice and opportunity. Domestic helpers are standing at the juxtaposition of unjust social structure and poverty. This is a social malaise and also a livelihood strategy of a significant group of people. It is difficult to bring an overnight change to this system. However, it is very much possible to improve it. A concerted effort needs to be directed at one of the most disadvantaged sections of our society.

Sen's cooperative conflict model says that a woman who earns commands better bargaining power. This study says otherwise. The women in Mohammadpur were earning. Many were the lead earners of their families. And yet they could not negotiate their salary. They could not refuse extra workload. They could not leave a job on short notice without losing a month's pay. They could not even fall sick without penalty. Sen's model perhaps holds in a labor market that has some basic structure to it — a contract, a minimum wage, something written down. In the domestic labor market, nothing is written down. Everything depends on the goodwill of one employer. In that situation, the premise of bargaining does not just weaken. It simply does not exist. These women were earning. They were not negotiating. There is a difference.

Kabeer's argument is harder to refute here — and this study, in fact, bears it out in a rather telling way. Kabeer says that entering the labor market is not enough for women's empowerment if the structures around them remain unequal and unresponsive. In this study, every structure was unequal and unresponsive. No law, no policy, no formal body, no access to credit, no social network — nothing that could convert a woman's labor into any form of leverage. But what makes this finding particularly difficult to ignore is that these women already knew what fair pay looked like. They knew the going rate per task, per neighborhood. Taka 200 in Mohammadpur, Taka 300 in Gulshan. They knew. They were simply in no position to demand it. Awareness without structure is not empowerment. These women had the awareness. What they lacked was everything else.

References

Hicks, Douglas A. 2002. Gender, Discrimination and Capability: Insights from Amartya Sen. Journal of Religious Ethics. 30(1). 137–154.

Kabeer, Naila. 2003. Gender Mainstreaming in Poverty Eradication and the Millennium Development Goals. Commonwealth Secretariat / International Development Research Center.

Rahman, Helen. 1995. Child Domestic Workers: Is Servitude the Only Option? Shoishab Bangladesh. Mohammadpur, Dhaka.

Research conducted in 2008. This post shares only the methodology and findings. The full report, including challenges and institutional recommendations, was submitted to and remains with Assistance for Slum Dwellers (ASD), Dhaka.