Milind Malhar Sharma, week 7

The following is a comment on the piece written by Sonal Sharma titled ‘Of rasoi ka kaam/ bathroom ka kaam: Perspectives of Women Domestic Workers’

In the given article, Sonal Sharma argues that questions surrounding women domestic workers become far more complicated when they are viewed from the perspectives of the workers themselves. She argues that existing methodologies of looking at domestic labour need to evolve in order to understand the complex reality which exists in this sphere. This becomes especially important when the dynamic of caste becomes apparent in workers’ understanding of employers( with the preference for saaf- sutra ghar ) and workers themselves ( lower preference for jamadars and muslims in households ). The ethnographic survey carried out by Sharma helps the reader understand the graded hierarchyof caste as reflected by the workers’ views themselves about the work they do: non dalit workers resist from engaging in so called bathroom ka kaam and would much rather do kitchen ka kaam. According to her, this leads to unequal access to space within the household, entrenching hierarchies of caste. The stigma associated with cleaning excreta and bathrooms according to the author can be traced to practices embedded in feudalism and colonialism.