Anushri Joshi Week 7

Opinion on Perspectives of Women Domestic workers

Despite claims by upper middle class and caste that the caste system does not exist there are certain practices that continue that seem to reflect caste biases. Having a separate tumbler for domestic workers is one I see most commonly in private spaces that otherwise boast of being above it all. The author of the piece tries to show how the notion of 'purity' and 'pollution', something that was often related back to the caste hierarchy, fits perfectly when describing perspectives of women workers. The public and private space have always had a distinction and an individual is always seeking to protect his or her private sphere. Women are generally segregated into this private sphere and the cleaning of dirt seems to reproduce their feminity. Women domestic workers on the other hand are not just essential to the private sphere but are, apart from their work, treated like the dirt they clean. There is a clear power dynamic between the master and the worker but it must be important to remember the paradox that the master continues to subscribe to; the plates cleaned by the worker are used as though clean but the tumbler used by her is dirty despite being cleaned by the same hands subsequently. Domestic sexual workers are paid for services, thereby valuing their work but are otherwise termed gandi ladkiyan so as to attach dirt to them alone. Intersectionality of religion, caste and gender naturally, also play a large role in making someone dirtier or undesirable for certain jobs.

It is this notion of dirt that can never be brushed away and doesn't stick to those from certain classes or caste that ultimately lead to creation of a different discourse within the private sphere