Everyday Challenges Faced by Domestic Workers: An Empirical Study among Female Domestic Workers Living in Chan Para, Salugara, Siliguri

Abstract

The involvement of women in the informal labor market constitutes a longstanding phenomenon, which has witnessed a notable escalation over time. Presently, the informal labor sector encompasses a substantial proportion of women, particularly those migrating to urban areas with limited educational attainment. This paper endeavors to meticulously examine the myriad problems and challenges confronted by women engaged in domestic work, elucidating their strategies for navigating these obstacles while sustaining their daily employment. A particular focus is dedicated to unmarried domestic workers who commenced their labor at a young age. Notably, the domestic labor force in this context often juggles multiple household responsibilities within a day, yielding meager remuneration. Primarily possessing rudimentary educational qualifications, these domestic workers predominantly hail from socially marginalized backgrounds, encompassing various castes, religious affiliations, and geographic origins, with a significant proportion migrating from rural settings due to multifarious reasons. The research inquiry centralizes on delineating the challenges encountered by women domestic workers within their occupational milieu. To address this inquiry, the author proposes a methodological framework integrating diverse data collection techniques such as in-depth interviews, unstructured interviews, participant observation, snowball sampling, and purposive sampling. The study site is Chan Para Salugara, situated in Siliguri, West Bengal, where the multifaceted dynamics of domestic labor are to be scrutinized and
analyzed.