Check out 16 Return-To-Work Programs In India For Ambitious Women Like You!
When someone on my housing complex WhatsApp group asked if domestic helps are allowed to come work between 6am-10am which is when shops are open for essentials, I had to call out their entitlement.
Karnataka, as you know, is in lockdown for 2 weeks.
Yesterday, on my apartment WhatsApp group, some people started asking if helps are allowed to come in during 6am-10am, because that is the time when shops etc are open for buying essentials.
Only six women spoke on this discussion, including me. Four of them essentially said, “why shouldn’t we?” The fifth said that since she was working from home, she needed the help, and that individuals should be allowed to decide. The sixth woman seconded the fifth, adding that “their community has better immunity- God given”.
I slept on it but couldn’t digest it. The sheer entitlement, othering people, and the selfishness!
I wrote a long post on the group answering this. Not sure if it will help sensitise people, but I feeling a bit proud of myself for calling out such entitled, classiest, elitist and plain inhuman behaviour.
Dear all, the conversation here about ‘allowing’ domestic help to come to work had me thinking all night.
Yes, I have chronic insomnia and I think. A lot. Here is what I understand, and I am saying it here because we are a community, and this situation at hand is a collective responsibility, so let me put down these points for you to think about.
~ Lockdown has been imposed for a reason; makes sense to stick to it.
~ Are we stepping out of the safety of our homes unless absolutely essential? Then why do we think it is okay to ask our helps to do so? Everyone is entitled to the safety of their homes, at these trying times. Because every life matters.
~ People are dropping dead like flies. Everywhere. Irrespective of their station in life. Irrespective of any kind of ‘community’s immunity’ of the domestic helps that was under discussion; whatever that means.
~ Othering people is never okay. Just because we are privileged does not mean we impose our entitlement on others.
~ ‘Movement’ of people does not merely mean transportation. Ingress and egress into a community of people is movement, not just about goods being transported.
~ The idea is to restrict mutual exposure by reducing footfall. Let us be an ally?
~ Most of us are working from home. Which means we are managing office work AND household chores, as best as we can. I’d also like to highlight the fact that ‘we are working’ is bordering on gaslighting for those who do not work at a job.
I do hope I have made some impact on the thinking of those who were not keeping in mind the well being of the domestic workers. They’re human too, and are just as, or worse affected, by this pandemic. Let us do our bit by being more humane and understanding of their lack of privilege.
Image source: a still from the film Thappad
Antara is the co founder and Chief Operations Director at Redili- a training and employment project for autistic adults and young adults. She is an Applied Behavior Analysis professional, a retired Indian Air Force Officer read more...
Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, individual posts do not necessarily represent the platform's views and opinions at all times.
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!
UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
Please enter your email address