Articles by Geeta Menon

Geeta Menon is a women’s rights activist. For over three decades, she has been involved with women and women workers, especially in the informal economy, in the building of women’s own voice and leadership. As a representative of Stree Jagruti Samiti and the Domestic Workers Rights Union, she has worked on issues like domestic violence, sexual harassment, issues of domestic workers especially that of forced labour.

Domestic workers protest lack of social security, ineffective govt scheme

by November 16, 2021

Domestic workers are found in all urban and semi-urban households in India, and are yet invisible. Many domestic workers/care workers toil long hours, and are seen hurrying to their places of work as early as 5 am, be it rain, shine or the cold winter! At their workplace - the employer’s home - they face caste discrimination, sexual assault, have no social security, leave, protection or rights like other workers. With the gendered notion of housework, it's considered natural that domestic workers - majority of them women - should slave, and their work, like all housework, is devalued. Thousands of…

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Domestic workers to protest loss of jobs, wages during lockdown

by June 15, 2020

In the first two weeks of May, a survey of over 2500 domestic workers in Bengaluru was conducted by us at Domestic Workers Rights Union (DWRU), Bruhat Bangalore Gruhakarmika Sangha (BBGS), and Manegelasa Kaarmikara Union. Some of the most startling findings from the survey are below: 2084 (about 87%) of the workers were told not to come for work since the lockdown in March, and were not sure if and when they would be called to work again. 341 workers in the areas surveyed by BBGS, and 150 workers in the areas surveyed by Manegelasa Kaarmikara Union, lost their jobs entirely…

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