Child Domestic Work in India

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Child Domestic Work in India
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Child Domestic Workers are

• Child Domestic Workers are children who work
  within homes outside of their own family, doing
  domestic chores for a wage in cash or kind.
• 12.6 million children work in India (Indian
  Government)
• UNICEF estimates there are 35 million child
  labourers
• 20-40 of child labour is domestic work
• There are approximately 50,000 child domestic
  workers in Kolkata
• 86 of child domestic workers in Kolkata are
  girls
• Child domestic workers can be as young as 10
• Most children leave their homes in rural areas to
  work as domestic helpers in urban areas
• Child Domestic Workers carry out a number of
  household chores including cleaning, cooking,
  and running errands for their employer

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Why do children become domestic workers?

• Poverty
• Source of income
• Large families one less mouth to feed
• Education is too expensive
• Repayment of parental debt
• Lack of alternatives
• Families are unable to make enough money from
  agriculture
• Lack of health and educational opportunities
• Social inequality
• Middle classes demand domestic workers
• Cultural and personal attitudes to children and
  work
• Parental attitudes of female education
• Absence of law enforcement preventing domestic
  work

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How do they find their work?

• Family most children find work through their
  relatives
• Placement agencies 1 in 3 children
• Child recruiters approach families and list the
  advantages of sending a child into service
• Recruiters then pass on the child to placement
  agencies who find the work
• Agents find children domestic work at the cost of
  one months wage
• 1 in 3 children have to give their salary to the
  agents
• Many children do not know the name of the
  placement agency
• 1 in 3 families do not know where their daughters
  are working
• In Sandkda village with 150 families, 70 children
  have been sent to work
• In Ajgara village with 300 families, 105 children
  have been sent to work

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Working Conditions

• Working hours
• Child domestic workers on average work 15 hours a
  day
• Most children get less than one hour break a day
• Child domestic workers are isolated from other
  children
• Half of child domestic workers do not get any
  holiday
• Half of child domestic workers do not want a
  similar job
• Half of child domestic workers need permission to
  have food. Children often have a poor diet and
  are more likely to be ill than when they were at
  home
• Salary
• Half of child domestic workers earn less than 12
  a month (Rs. 1000-1500) and 77 have not had a
  wage increase in the last 1-2 years
• Child domestic workers face all kinds of abuse
  physical, emotional and sexual.
• Over two thirds of child domestic workers faced
  physical abuse
• 86 of child domestic workers faced emotional
  abuse
• One in four children has/had to experience sexual
  abuse at work

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There in the employers house I had to work a
lot, from washing utensils, to fetching water and
cooking I also had to wash two cars there. They
never gave me proper food- I only used to get two
pieces of burnt bread and left over vegetables. I
had to wake up at 4am. Whenever I said to them
that I needed to sleep they used to say didnt
you work in the agricultural field? So, why are
you tired?. I used to cry but they never loved
me. I worked there for 6 months. Once I broke one
glass and I was severely beaten by them. Former
Child Domestic Worker, Usha, 15, Midnapore
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• I used to work at a place where I had to take
  my masters son to tuition classes and bring him
  back home. Then I had to wash utensils, cook
  vegetables, sweep and mop the floors, and then
  buy things from the market. After doing all these
  I used to come home in the evening
• Mumtaz, 13

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• When I used to work, sometimes I would make
  mistakes. Then my master would scold me a lot,
  and at times hit me also
• Akhil, 14

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Are there any positive aspects of child domestic
labourers?

• It provides an income for the poorest families
• My family, consisting of my father, mother, two
  younger brothers and my granny, were literally
  going without food and basic necessities, and so
  I decided to quit my studies and look for a job
• Protima, aged 15
• Some domestic workers may learn new skills
• Earlier this year I started domestic work at
  another familys house and I still work there.
  They are very nice people and I call them Uncle
  and Aunt. They have a daughter, Firdaus and a
  son, Arshad. Both have completed their education.
  Arshad works in a show room and Firdaus teaches
  young children. She helps me with my English. She
  loves all of us a lot
• Jahida, aged 16
• Culture and tradition
• Domestic work is seen as the best option for
  teaching girls the skills they will need as adults

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What is being done?

• Government response
• 2006 14 has been made the minimum age for
  employment and work in all occupations including
  domestic work

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What does Save the Children do?

• To make sure boys and girls are protected
  against harmful work, Save the Children has two
  roles
• To support direct interventions to prevent
  harmful work or improve the lives of working
  children
• To influence those who have a duty to children to
  fulfill their obligations.

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Where does Save the Children work?

• West Bengal
• (Kolkata and source districts-East Midnapur,
  North and south 24 Paraganas)
• Maharashtra (Thane and Mumbai city)
• Jharkhand (Source districts- Gumla, Simdega,
  Ranchi)

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Save the Children and Child Domestic Labour

• Save the Children works in four areas
• Where the children come from (source)
• Anti-trafficking committees have been set up to
  disrupt the supply of children
• Educating parents about the risks to their
  children and the importance of education
• Barring recruiters
• Urging the police to enforce the law
• Where the children work
• Encourage child workers to go to informal
  education drop-in centres
• Educate employers to encourage them to be child
  friendly
• Public opinion
• Change public acceptance of chid domestic work
  through the media
• Research
• Research is conducted to understand the causes
  and consequences of child domestic work

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What are the challenges?

• Child Domestic Workers are difficult to protect
  as they are in private homes
• There is little accurate data on the number of
  children involved in domestic work and the extent
  of violence.
• Domestic work is culturally acceptable. Parents
  often believe domestic work provides better
  prospects for their children
• Because of the booming economy the demand for
  domestic help has risen
• There are few job alternatives in source areas