Shubham Mishra, Week 7

Of Rasoi ka Kaam/Bathroom ka Kaam

 by Sonal Sharma

“Of Rasoi ka Kaam/Bathroom ka Kaam Perspectives of Women Domestic Workers” by Sonal Sharma talks about the aspect of purity and pollution in between the relationship of the employer and the employee and the barrier of caste and class thus created. This narrative according to the author is established due to the existing narrative of the relationship between caste and class.

The 'dirty' work is restricted to employees and kept in line with lower castes. This is often limited to cleaning the house, which, in the patriarchal society, is often performed by women. Women thus of the lower caste, doing menial jobs face this problem because of intersectionality. Their gender, caste, and jobs give them a certain stratum which is lower in the eyes of the Indian domain. The author says that ‘according to Mary Douglas (1966), we cannot look at “dirt” or “pollution” in isolation as it is “order and schemes,” established and reestablished through socialization, that construct the “dirt” the dirty is not absolute, it is relative. Douglas defines dirt as “a matter out of place”  and through a few examples illustrates how certain objects create situations of “uncleanliness,” “dirt” or “pollution” when they are in places where they should not be.’

Like, workers higher in the hierarchy of caste do not prefer doing “menial/impure” chores like cleaning the bathroom and associate these tasks with those belonging to the lowest rung; others, like Muslims or workers belonging to different religions, are not permitted in the kitchen. Thus, we understand how stereotypes are not only created by the employers for the employees but also by the employees themselves. Though the magnitude of segregation or demarcation differs, the notion or perception of clean, hygienic or dirty, polluted remains the same among all.