Creating safe workspaces for women workers in the informal sector
Women domestic workers and women construction workers
In India, only 7-8% of the working population belongs to the organized sector and others make the larger section which is the unorganized working population. Domestic workers comprise a significant part of the workforce in informal employment and are among the most vulnerable groups of workers. It has been estimated that there are 4.2 million domestic workers in India and approximately 70% of the workers were women.
Sexual harassment at workplace is one of the most under reported forms of violence against women. While little is documented or known about its numbers and spread, the situation becomes even more severe among female migrant workers in the informal sector where there is always an impending threat of the loss of employment.
In India, the Sexual Harassment of women at workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, Redressal) Act was passed in 2013. It clearly defines and includes in its ambit both formal and informal workers. It mandates the constitution of an Internal Committee (IC) at the institutional level and a Local Committee (LC) at the district level for prevention, prohibition and redressal of sexual harassment. The constitution of LC and its effective functioning is of particular relevance for the informal sector.But despite having such a progressive law, a large majority of women are still regularly subjected to sexual harassment in all its forms in India.
The Dignity of My Labour: Making Institutions Accountable towards Women Workers in Informal Sector attempts to create safe workspaces for women workers in the informal sector, particularly women domestic and construction workers in the districts of Gurgaon, Faridabad and South Delhi. It seeks to organise women workers engaged in domestic and construction work to increase their capacity for lobbying and advocacy in order to address the issue of sexual harassment in their workplace. Given their unequal gender relations at home and work, a holistic strategy that allies political empowerment with economic empowerment has been designed in the project.
The project, which began in November 2016, has seen some encouraging results within 15 months:
1. 1260 domestic workers in Gurgaon and Faridabad are now aware of their rights under the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act, 2013
2. Multiple stakeholders and institutions responsible for the safety of women domestic workers have been mapped and involved in understanding their obligations towards women's safety in the workplace.
3. participatory Safety Audit conducted by domestic workers themselves in Gurgaon tell how unsafe they feel
4. Other civil society organisations and labour unions have joined in the cause. They are now more aware of the provisions of the Act and are willing to raise it as an issue among other informal sector workers.
Overall Objective
The overall objective of the project is to ensure a safe, secure and dignified workplace for women domestic and construction workers in Gurgaon, Faridabad and South Delhi districts of India.
Expected Outcomes
• Visibility: Public awareness about the extent of Sexual Harassment among female workers in the unorganised sector
• Voice: Organised Women workers demanding accountability from the governance institutions
• Inclusion: Civil society groups working on labour issues include (youth groups, trade unions, NGO) include sexual harassment of informal workers into their agenda
• Accountability: Government institutions become accountable and effective (formulation and effective functioning of LC under district administration, labour ministry and commissions, women’s commissions, law and judiciary)
Specific Results
• 3000 organised and aware women domestic and construction workers enhance advocacy capacities to prevent and demand redressal of sexual harassments at their workplaces in 3 districts;
• Local Complaints Committees and other governance institutions effectively prevent sexual harassment at informal workplaces and respond to women workers’ complaints in 3 districts.
• Civil society organisations, trade unions and support organisations include sexual harassment of women informal workers in their agenda and actively work with them.
Strategy
The project will be implemented for three years following a three-phased strategy. Each year a particular phase and related activities will be emphasised, while many activities will continue across years.
• Phase 1: Conceive. Assess. Visible.
In Phase 1, the activities will focus on women domestic workers. It will involve, participatory assessment of their working situation and extent and forms of sexual harassment that they face in their workplaces. Having understood these issues, a number of activities will be undertaken to organise and to build capacities of women domestic workers which will prepare them for lobbying and advocacy.
• Phase 2: Include. Strengthen. Scale-up.
In Phase 2, the focus will be to strengthen the functioning of LCCs and other governance institutions in three districts to respond effectively to the grievances of women domestic workers. In addition, other stakeholders like the Resident Welfare Associations, placement agencies, other intermediary civil society groups, media, etc.) will also be engaged and sensitised on the issue. A number of workshops and interface events will be organised to enhance their understanding on the situation and issues related to sexual harassment in informal workplaces. The experience drawn from working with domestic workers in phase 1 will be scaled up to include construction workers in phase 2. The intervention with them will follow similar logic of mapping, assessment, organising and capacity building for engaging in lobbying and advocacy.
• Phase 3: Voice. Accountability. Sustainability
In Phase 3, the experience gained and lessons harvested from the earlier two phases will be used to catalyse a robust coalition of domestic and construction workers, their support organisations, champions from district level governance institutions, media and academia. Efforts in this phase will be to scale up the impact further through state and national level policy advocacy and reforms. The experiences will be documented in a manner so that the state and national policy actors can replicate such interventions in other parts of the country and provide institutional sustainability.
Time Period: 2016-2019
Client: Embassy of The Netherlands
