Abstract
This paper presents a sociological examination of the workplace discrimination and exploitation experienced by domestic women workers in Mathura City. Mathura, though widely known as a pilgrimage centre, is also a rapidly urbanising town in which women from diverse social backgrounds are increasingly engaged as domestic helpers within private households. Domestic work in India operates largely outside the framework of formal labour regulation, leaving workers without written contracts, fixed wages, or social security, and rendering the employer household a largely unmonitored workplace. Against this backdrop, the study explores the socio-economic profile of domestic women workers and the forms of discrimination and exploitation they encounter in relation to caste, income, and migration status, while situating their experiences within the gendered devaluation of domestic labour.
Keywords
- domestic women workers
- workplace discrimination
- informal labour
- caste
- migration
- decent work
- Mathura
- social inequality
How to cite
Thakkar, A. (2024). Feminist perspectives on domestic labour in urban India. Gender & Society, 38(1), 78–95.
References (2)
- 1.Prof. Birpal Singh ThenuaAssociate Professor, Department of Sociology and Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, Dayal bagh Educational Institute, AgraEmail ID: drthenuan@yahoo.com
- 2.Ms. AnjaliResearch Scholar, Department of Sociology and Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, Dayal bagh Educational Institute, AgraEmail ID: anjali.deiphd@gmail.com