Maid in India: Tripti Lahiri on her book on domestic workers in India
In her book, Maid in
India, Tripti Lahiri reports from the trenches of an often-invisible class
conflict – that between the millions of India’s domestic workers and their
middle-class or upper middle-class employers. That conflict flared up in
spectacular disorder in a recent apartment complex in Noida, but its lines are
negotiated daily in upper-caste, upper-class homes: can the maid sit on the
dining table? Where can she sleep? Is she allowed to open a fridge to pour
herself a glass of water? In this email interview, the Hong Kong-based Lahiri,
who is Asia bureau chief for Quartz, speaks about how what led her to write
this book, why employers in India organise against their workers and why the
life of maids represent both a fulfilment and denial of the promise of economic
mobility. Excerpts:
What set you off on
writing this book? Was it a particular case of abuse?
It wasn’t a case of
abuse, actually quite the opposite. It was spending time with a woman whom I
first got to know as a cook, but who I realized over time was a significant
figure in her own neighbourhood—a banker for other women, a one-person
character verification service, and so much more. I realized I knew very little
about the lives of people who worked as help—away from their jobs in our
homes—and it made me curious.
Is there anything
that surprised you about the recent events at Mahagun Moderne, Noida – a maid
who went missing, her family which allegedly attacked an apartment complex, and
the subsequent backlash from the state, including a central minister who sided
with the employers?
One thing that doesn’t
surprise me is that a minister would side with employers. That’s happened
before as well, when a minister said homes shouldn’t be treated like factories,
speaking about demands to better regulate work in homes. I’m also not surprised
to hear the employers referring to the migrant workers as “Bangladeshi
illegals”—though I’m surprised by how quickly those comments surfaced. I am not
saying there aren’t any undocumented immigrants working in India. But the speed
with which the employers sought to undercut the complaints of the migrant
workers by suggesting they don’t have any status to demand rights was
astonishing. I am surprised that the workers revolted, because of the
likelihood of facing repercussions from police and municipal authorities, or
losing their jobs, and while we still don’t know all the details, I would
understand that to mean there were long-simmering unaddressed grievances
against employers.
What are the number
of domestic workers in India?
The National Sample
Survey Office in its most recent survey of employment put the numbers at 3.5
million or so, which seems an underestimate. For context, Brazil, about the
same population as Uttar Pradesh, counts seven million domestic workers. At the
upper end, the estimate is nearly 20 million workers from the government-backed
Domestic Workers Sector Skill Council… read more:
