Determinants of Empowerment: An Insight from the Study of the Female Domestic Workers

Abstract

Female domestic workers (FDW) are one of the most vulnerable segments of a society facing adverse social domination and economic discrimination. The present article aims at investigating to what extent the participation of poor women in economic activities empowers them. The study amalgamates data collected from 334 female domestic workers living in different areas of South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal through a semi-structured questionnaire during a period of 6 months from January 2016 to June 2016. This district was chosen on the basis of existing inter-linkage between the growth and expansion of the city of Kolkata in her southern part, existence of a large number of Bangladeshi migrants in South 24 Parganas (Kumar, 2010), evidences of large scale commuting of unorganized workers (Roy, 2003) and the expanding informal market where the supply of manual labour comes from the fringes of the district. The article tries to explore the different dimensions of empowerment from the study of female domestic workers. This includes workers’ involvement in taking household decision, free movement, possession of assets and restricting domestic violence. By adding the obtained scores and weights of the indicators, a cumulative empowerment index is constructed. Restrictions in mobility and lack of ownership of permanent assets amongst workers indicate their subordination in the household hierarchy and highlight that women are excluded from asserting influence over household properties. Severe domestic violence against women is common and visible even when husbands are unemployed. About 69 per cent of female domestic workers report incidences of physical assault at home. The index, thus, establishes that the majority of the domestic workers level of empowerment is between low to moderate.