Succumbing to the recommendations of the parliamentary standing committee on the Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill, 2010, the women and child development (WCD) ministry has decided to include “domestic workers” under the ambit of the proposed bill.
WCD minister Krishna Tirath told this newspaper that “since it has been suggested by the committee we will see how we could include the domestic workers under the proposed bill. We had a view but since the committee has suggested otherwise, we will revisit,” she said.
Calling this section as most vulnerable to sexual harassment, the parliamentary committee, in its report earlier this month, had said it was in “full agreement for inclusion of domestic workers under the ambit of the proposed bill, innovative thinking is required for making the inclusion of domestic workers possible,” it said. Accordingly, the committee had asked for making necessary changes in the bill with respect to the definitions of employee, employer and workplace.
While the ministry was earlier adamant and had viewed practical difficulties in bringing domestic workers under the ambit of the legislation in the absence of any code of conduct laid down within the household, officials in the ministry said that they had started “examining” the recommendations of the panel. The ministry got the report of the parliamentary standing committee only last week. “We are studying the report and will formulate out view in the next few days. The ministry had taken a view but now that it had been suggested otherwise, we will have to study it thoroughly to take a final view,” officials in the ministry said.
“We will see how the committees would be formed if we include the domestic workers. This will take some time but it will be done,” added the minister.
The committee while making its recommendations had said that “Even the domestic workers who are women have equal rights like he other working women to have a safe and secure workplace and right to work with dignity”.
Incidentally, earlier even the National Commission for Women (NCW) had contradicted the view of the ministry. Submitting before the committee, the NCW had even told the committee that “difficulty” in enforcing the provisions of the bill within the privacy of home was “unfounded” as the Domestic Violence Act had “broken this myth” allowing legal scrutiny and extending protection to the confines of the home.
“Even though domestic workers were employed in homes, they were not covered by the act,” it said.