Invisible toiling hands: the work and life of domestic workers in rural India

Abstract In rural India, a large portion of the population continues to struggle with poverty, limited access to resources and education, and few job opportunities. This leads to many individuals, including men, women, and children, having to take on daily wage labouring jobs to make ends meet. Women from marginalised communities often find themselves working in fields, brick kilns, construction sites, small factories, or as domestic workers in higher caste households. Unfortunately, the wages earned from these informal jobs are often insufficient for survival, and these women also face discrimination based on caste, class, religion, and gender in the workplace. This creates an undignified and oppressive environment for these women, particularly when they take on paid domestic work, which is often exploitative and rife with abuse in rural areas. This paper seeks to explore the intertwined experiences of paid domestic workers in rural India. It is based on primary research conducted through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 25 domestic workers during and after the pandemic in the Chandauli district of Uttar Pradesh, representing a rural area. The paper contends that domestic work in rural India remains deeply rooted in caste-based servitude. The organisation of paid domestic work in rural India is influenced by a complex interplay of caste, class, gender, and religious identities. There exists not only a division of labour but also a hierarchy of labourers within domestic work. They not only encounter caste discrimination but also perpetuate discrimination against fellow workers ranked lower in the caste hierarchy.