In this post, I will look at the article 'Of Rasoi Ka Kaam or Bathroom Ka Kaam'. The piece intends to look at women in domestic work roles, but in a different light as it inverts the lens, now looking at it from the women's points of view. In order to present this, it first establishes two ways in which the relationship between the workers and their employers is carried out. The first, is through the lens of a caste based relationship, while the second, a class oriented relationship, simply takes on a more nuanced form of using class and caste interchangeably to hide the inherently casteist notion of labor present in Indian society.
It is through the discourses of these nuanced ideas that the articles examines the sociological construction of work for the lower caste women. Distinctions between 'Hygiene' and 'dirt', seen through the lenses of caste allocated work, seem to hamper the opportunities women in society have, as the lower caste women are often forbidden from entering the kitchen, being termed as 'ganda', and that is where this idea of purity in caste lenses seems to hamper the economic necessities of women. Interestingly, these ideas of purity seem to vary and carry different meanings for different sections of women, which heightens the class based narrative on display here. A younger girl who might be skimpily clad and considered promiscuous may be referred to as 'gandi', while at the same time the work being done by the workers is also 'ganda'. It is also interesting to see how this class and caste setup impacts those workers, who may not be Dalit, but their expression of resistance to caste based discrimination could hurt their livelihoods. Ultimately, it is in this space of class and caste that there exists a position in which these women are caught in, and cannot seem to move out of. It is therefore interesting to see how these sociological determinants of the work done by these women seem to keep them trapped in this space, especially given the fact that these are women, the possibility of understanding the struggles another woman goes through should be there, but due to circumstances out of their control with respect to their caste and class, it really is a privileged assumption we hold in an idealistic world.
It is through the discourses of these nuanced ideas that the articles examines the sociological construction of work for the lower caste women. Distinctions between 'Hygiene' and 'dirt', seen through the lenses of caste allocated work, seem to hamper the opportunities women in society have, as the lower caste women are often forbidden from entering the kitchen, being termed as 'ganda', and that is where this idea of purity in caste lenses seems to hamper the economic necessities of women. Interestingly, these ideas of purity seem to vary and carry different meanings for different sections of women, which heightens the class based narrative on display here. A younger girl who might be skimpily clad and considered promiscuous may be referred to as 'gandi', while at the same time the work being done by the workers is also 'ganda'. It is also interesting to see how this class and caste setup impacts those workers, who may not be Dalit, but their expression of resistance to caste based discrimination could hurt their livelihoods. Ultimately, it is in this space of class and caste that there exists a position in which these women are caught in, and cannot seem to move out of. It is therefore interesting to see how these sociological determinants of the work done by these women seem to keep them trapped in this space, especially given the fact that these are women, the possibility of understanding the struggles another woman goes through should be there, but due to circumstances out of their control with respect to their caste and class, it really is a privileged assumption we hold in an idealistic world.
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