Fraught with risk, why teenage girls in Gurgaon are pushed to work as full-time help

The domestic workers’ union has now sought a ban on 24-hour contracts. While discussions for a charter spelling out the rights of domestic workers have been ongoing, Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav said it would take another 10 days before it is ready.

Shakira (45), a West Bengal resident who works and stays in Sector 47, said many women look for such prospects for their daughters as a full-time job pays Rs 14,000 a month: “We don’t do it as we have a family to look after so we send our girls who are not yet married. Sometimes, I feel it is safer sending them to the employers’ houses than making them stay in the jhuggis.”

“My 14-year-old daughter has been working since she was 10 and has done all kinds of work… We have five children and seven mouths to feed. I get Rs 15,000 and my husband works as a housekeeper and earns even less. Why would we not send our children to work?” she added.

Sharmina (21) from West Bengal’s Malda, who has a six-year-old daughter, sought a divorce recently and has been staying alone. “I started working when I was 10… I worked full-time for 6-7 months before I got married at the age of 14. Since then, I have been working fewer hours. I quit jobs because men would misbehave or employers would accuse me of stealing or wasting time…,” she said.

A 16-year-old, who stays at a jhuggi in Sector 43 with her family comprising her parents, two brothers and a sister, worked for a month as a domestic help until her father passed away in November. “My mother lost her job as we had to go back home for the funeral. We came back in the first week of December and have been looking for a job,” she said.

Her mother used to work at five houses and get paid Rs 20,000 a month. Her father was doing scaffolding work when a sheet fell on him and he died. “We are yet to get compensation from the contractor for the accident,” she added.

In the Winter Session of Parliament, the Ministry of Labour and Employment was asked if the government had data on child labour and if any steps were taken to prevent it. Minister of State for Labour and Employment Rameswar Teli replied, “The government has taken various measures and made efforts to prevent child labour which include legislative measures, rehabilitation strategy, providing right to free education and general socio-economic development.”

The minister also cited data from the National Crime Records Bureau and said there were 476, 613 and 751 cases during 2020, 2021 and 2022 respectively under the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, in the country.

Meanwhile, Maya John, convenor of Gharelu Kamgar Union, said they are yet to hear back from the Gurgaon administration on the charter. “If they don’t reach out in the next three days, we will protest,” she said.

She said in a city like Gurgaon, migrant labourers who are in debt and have a family to look after are pushed into accepting such prospects, adding that Article 23 of the Constitution is violated in such cases. “Girls and women enter an employer’s home and become invisible to the public eye as they fully control them. Their movement is restricted, the number of hours is unquantifiable and they work below minimum wage, fostering an environment of forced labour. Moreover, data collected by government agencies regarding such labourers is conflicting,” she said.

Rishi Kant of Shakti Vahini, a social services organisation in Delhi, said forced migration, dropouts especially after Covid, and unregistered placement agencies who reach villages in states like West Bengal and Jharkhand with false promises result in the employment of minors in such jobs. “Cities like Gurgaon and Noida have many similar cases because of a lack of regulation. Agencies provide many girls for domestic work and rob them of their monthly income as well. This is where the RWA should step in. When incidents of torture surface, the RWA heads should also be booked. They give permits for entry to the society to workers and they have to take accountability in such cases,” he said.