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MARRIAGE , MIGRATION AND LABOUR MARKET- A CASE STUDY OF A SLUM AREA IN DELHI

Seema Joshi ABSTRACT It is well documented in literature that migration is emerging as a significant livelihood strategy for poor households in several regions of India. Marriage related migration is a crucial factor affecting mobility. It is interesting to note that a large number of poor women enter labour markets in urban centres at the place of destination through marriage. However, existing conditions of the labour market in urban centres are inhospitable, deplorable with long hours of work, low wages, absence of job security etc. It is vital to study the existing position of female migrants to put in place policies to improve their living and working conditions. Even though social and ethnic factors may differ in case of India and CARICOM(Caribbean Community), yet various gender studies conducted in CARICOM region (some in The Centre for Gender and Development Studies—The University of West Indies itself) reveal that economic realities of women in CARICOM do not differ from women in India as they are subject to discrimination in the home front (e.g. domestic violence) as well as in the job market. Besides ,despite the fact the constitution of India and the Costitutions across CARICOM region as well as legislations emphasise on no discrimination on the basis of sex.How ever, in reality it is seldom practiced. That is why , CARICOM Declaration consistent with international standards and international instruments was approved on 26-28th April,1995 ,in Bahamas. In the light of these facts, the above-mentioned study carried out in a slum area of a Delhi is not only useful but highly relevant for CARICOM as well ,as such a study can be conducted in various parts of the countries falling under CARICOM and and can help in drawing parallels as well as contrasts in the experiences of these two regions .

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Contextualizing the Issue It has been sufficiently revealed by the earlier studies that poor members of households tend to migrate (Connell et al , 1976 ). It is well documented in the literature that migration is emerging as a significant livelihood strategy for poor households in several regions of India ( PRAXIS, 2002;Mosse et al ,2002; Haberfeld et al ,1999; Rogaly et al 2001; Srivastva ,1998 and forthcoming, Srivastva and Sasikumar,2003). Despite masculine bias in many studies in labour mobility, there are studies which highlight the role and position of women in the process of migration ( Roy, 2003; Mukherjee,2001, ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Senior Lecturer of Economics, Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi, Delhi. E-mail : seemajoshi143@hotmail.com.

• The author is grateful to Prof.V Chandrasekara Naidu,MIDS, Chennai for his insightful comments on earlier draft of this paper.

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Dumon,1981, Kasturi, 1981,De Souza and Singh,1976). There is also a lot of secondary data provided by both Census and NSS along with various studies to substantiate the thesis that marriage is a crucial factor affecting mobility. Srivastva (1998) study reveals that as per 1991 Census , 226 million persons changed their place of residence with in country. Among males as compared to females , economic reasons( employment and business) played more important role in their decision relating to migration. A large percentage of males migrated because of employment or business reasons as compared to females where marriage was found to be the major factor behind migration . Nearly 77% of females changed residence due to marriage. These results have been further corraborated by NSS 55th Round ( July 1999-June 2000). NSS data reveals that marriage was the main cause of migration in case of 59% females and in case of 31% females’ movement of parents / earning members accounted for migration.It is interesting to note that women migrants enter labour market in urban centres at the place of destination through marriage. However, existing conditions in urban informal sector are inhospitable, deplorable with long hours of work, low wages, and absence of job security. More over, lack of organizational initiative and legal protection (Srivastva and Sasikumar,2003) have made them vulnerable and prone to exploitation in the labour market. It is in this context, it is vital to study the existing position of migrant women in the labour market and also to examine the extent of intra- household gender-bias they have to experience to put in place policies to improve their living and working conditions and also to empower them to cope with stresses and harness the potential of migration in most efficient ways. Even though social and ethnic factors may differ in case of India and CARICOM(Caribbean Community), yet various gender studies conducted in CARICOM region (some in The Centre for Gender and Development Studies—The University of West Indies itself) reveal that economic realities of women in CARICOM do not differ from women in India as they are subject to discrimination in the home front (e.g. domestic violence) as well as in the job market. Besides ,despite the fact the constitution of India and the Costitutions across CARICOM region as well as legislations emphasise on no discrimination on the basis of sex.How ever, in reality it is seldom practiced. That is why , CARICOM Declaration consistent with international standards and international instruments was approved on 26-28th April,1995 ,in Bahamas. In the light of these facts, the above-mentioned study carried out in a slum area of a Delhi is not only useful but highly relevant for CARICOM as well ,as such a study can be conducted in various parts of the countries falling under CARICOM and and can help in drawing parallels as well as contrasts in the experiences of these two regions . The objective of the study is to examine the various socio- economic dimensions of women migrants living in a urban slum. The existing literature helped to identify a number of critical variables such as age, income , education profiles, caste composition, family size, debt position, factors behind migration, process of migration, employment status, earning profile, family responsibilities, extent and nature of gender discrimination, remittance patterns, adjustment problems, perception about migration become all the more important. Hence in order to capture a wide variety of forces operating on women migrants we have conducted a field survey of 40 married women migrants in a Delhi slum. Delhi is one of the fastest growing cities of India. Its population stood at 1,02,51,059 as per 2001 census. According to 1991 census, the toal population within its jurisdictional

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boundaries was to the extent of about 90.25 lakh ( both rural and urban) which has been growing at a very high rate of growth. The total number of migrants to Delhi stood at 37,23,462 out of which 20,02,615 were males and 17,20,847 were females. Delhi has been attracting migrants through pull and matrimonial factors from various states of Bihar, U.P., Maharashtra, and Rajasthan since long. Every year 4.87 lakh persons per annum get added to the population being served by Municipal Corporation Of Delhi (MCD). Its area also increased correspondingly,according to 1991 Census the total physical area of MCD is 1483 sq km.The MCD possesses certain distinct qualities,besides being the largest municipal authority of the National Capital Territory ( NCT ),serving largest population all over India., it is the only corporation of the country having both urban (599.63 sq km) and rural (797.66 sq km) areas with in its jurisdiction.The cumulative effect of all this is – heavy demand for urban services and infrastructural facilities(Jha,2002). The number of jhuggi (slum) clusters in Delhi have registered a phenomenal growth. There number at present stands at 929. Presently, the number of jhuggies(slums) in these identified jhuggi clusters is estimated to be 2,59,344 , as per the list of Food and Supplies Department (Slum Wing Delhi Development Authority ). The responsibility of providing basic amenities in these JJclusters lies with Slum and JJ Department of MCD. At present this department provides facilities like brick pavements or cement concrete pavements,drainage system, Basti Vikas Kendras( for education and health),Jan Suvidha Complexes(i.e. toilets), Shishu Vatikas(i.e parks ) etc. The needs of water and electricity are dealt with directly by Delhi Jal Board and Delhi Electric Supply Companies (DESCOMS) respectively. A visit to any slum area of metropolitan city like Delhi makes it quite clear that poor married women steeped in poverty and unemployment are migrating from landless households of various states in search of secured livelihoods by taking up gainful employment in the unorgainised sector of Delhi. Therefore, the present study is an attempt to explore the following concerns in the case of female migrant workers in a slum area of Delhi. Some of the central questions, which are important in understanding the position of migrant women in the urban informal sector labour market are:

1) What are the backgrounds (social, educational, geographical, occupational) including the previous work experience of these migrant women? What are the factors responsible for their migration?

2) How do they enter urban informal sector labour market. And what is their current

employment status?

3) What are their labour market conditions?

4) How much workload and responsibilities they have to undertake and also what kind of problems do they face?

5) What is the role of such female migrant` workers within their households in matters

like decision-making; the nature and extent of intra house hold gender bias or

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discrimination experienced by them in matters of consumption and disposal of income etc.?

6) What are the policy implications and recommendations?

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Initial Conditions of Married Women Migrants The socio-economic, geographical profiles of migrant women play a significant role in influencing the supply of labour force in the urban centres. Their backgrounds do vary from women to women but with certain visible and discernable commonalities. As Table 1 shows majority of the surveyed women migrants came from the States of Uttar Pradesh (43.5) as has been shown in the table. About 22.5% of them belonged to Madhya Pradesh, 15% to Bihar, 7.5% each to Maharashtra, Nepal and 15% to the state of Rajasthan.

Table 1

State –Wise Distribution of the Respondents

State Percentage of Respondents U.P 43.5 M.P 22.5

Bihar & Rajasthan 15.0 Maharashtra 7.5

Nepal 7.5 Source: Survey Data,May, 2003 It was found that majority of the respondents migrated to Delhi in the nineties and the rest during eighties with the exception of one , who migrated before 1980. The study also revealed that about 45% of female migrants did not work outside their homes earlier ( i.e. prior to migration) .About 42.5%worked on the farms of landlords. But the wages were low and the work was seasonal in nature/ of short duration. Consequently, they faced the problem of an uncertain livelihood .Two respondents worked in a bidi factory on piece- rate wages basis. One respondent each was having a shop in a village and worked in a bidi factory. One female migrant worked with Social Welfare Department and another was engaged in the sale and purchase of goats. All this is shown below.

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Table 2 Previous Work Experience Previous Occupation No. of respondents Percentage to the total

Seasonal work on landlords farm

17 42.5

No work experience 18 45.0 Others* 5 12.5 Note: *Others include running of a shop in village, sale and purchase of goats, working in a Bidi factory and working in social welfare department. Source: Field Survey, 2003. Coming now to the educational background of the respondents, it was found that out of these 40 migrant women, 77.5% were illiterates, 12.5 % were educated up to fifth standard and 5% each up to eighth and tenth standard. Education wise distribution of family size reveals that the size of family was dependent to a large extent on the level of education. As can be clearly observed from Table 3, higher the literacy level, lower is the family size.

Table 3

Education –Wise Distribution of Family Size

Family Sizes

Education level Up to 2 2-5 More than 5

Total Illiterate 2 26 3 31 Upto V 2 3 - 5

VI to VIII - 2 - 2 IX to X 2 - - 2 Total 6 31 3 40

Source: Survey Data, 2003

III

Role of Personal and Social Networking In order to provide an answer to the question relating to the process of entry of the women migrants in the urban informal sector labour market, it is essential to understand the crucial role played by personal and social net-working in the migration process and also in the

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employment of migrants in certain sub – sectors of urban informal sector e.g. domestic services. At the international level, recruitment agencies, contractors play an important role. However, at the state/ regional level, the role of relatives, friends and co- villagers cannot be ignored. The married migrant women and their families are extended support either by their relatives or friends or co- villagers, which results in a chain of migration of workers from rural to urban centres of Delhi. It is through their personal networking that migrant women enter labour market, otherwise for a fresh migrant, having no references and no body to identify them, entry becomes difficult Married women migrating along with their partners for the sake of livelihood are aware of the availability of domestic jobs in the city, relative higher wages (compared to the wages in their native place/ place of origin) and the conditions of work. The study also brought out the fact that when members of the households settled in Delhi go back to their native place, they provide them the basic information.

Table 4 Source of Information on Delhi

Source of Information Percentage of workers Relatives 75 Friends 15

Co-villagers 10 Source: Survey,2003 In around 3/4th of the cases, relatives living in Delhi provided the basic information. About 15% and 10% of the respondents migrated at the instance of their friends and acquaintances, mainly their co-villagers respectively. The migrants who have settled down here in Delhi or are engaged in some work here; spread information regarding work opportunities in Delhi among friends, relatives and co-villagers. Sometime desperate job aspirants accompany them in their return. The job aspirants are provided all kinds of support like information about the area /locality where job is available, boarding and lodging on arrival in the cities, assistance in finding job and loans to mete out initial expenditure. Married migrant women could not get jobs immediately after arrival. About 80% of them found jobs after migration .The waiting period varied between few days to five months. It has also been observed that generally speaking migrant families show a tendency to live close to the host family. This results in the concentration of people belonging to same area, village and caste in certain pockets. III.a Current Employment Profile With their low end skills, majority of these migrant women(85%) are absorbed in the household sector as domestic servants/ maids. Some others were working as beldars (5%),

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tailoresses, water women, ayahs in hospitals and in aanganbaris (1-1 each) and one of them was running a vegetable shop. Their occupational pattern is shown in Table 5 below:

Table 5

Occupation of Married Migrant Women Occupation No. of respondents Percentage to the total

Domestic servants 34 85.0 Beldars* 1 2.5 Tailoress 1 2.5 Vegetable shopkeeper 1 2.5 Water woman 1 2.5 Ayah in hospital 1 2.5 Ayah in aanganbari 1 2.5 Total 40 100.0 *those who do menial work like that of gardeners. Source: Field Survey, 2003 The table clearly shows that 85% of the married women migrants with specific socio- economic profiles were absorbed in the domestic services sub –sector of the urban informal sector, being a major and growing activity in the urban centres. Migration and domestic services are inextricably linked. On the supply side, there are neither any barrier to entry into this segment of informal sector nor is there any formal skill requirement. On the demand side, with the emergence of dual career as a new family norm, securing a paid domestic has become a necessity in almost every urban household’s life in Delhi. With the growing disintegration of joint family system, growing female workforce participation rate in the organized sector, employing maids is becoming largely a middle class and upper middle class phenomenon. Having someone to assist them in their daily household chores, their double burden of a workingwomen is reduced to a great extent without disturbing the traditional patriarchal system 1. Having observed from above that the prominent source of employment for migrant married women is domestic work, the analysis of caste –wise and age wise occupational distribution of these women show some discernible patterns of employment.

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Table 6

Caste-wise Occupational Distribution of Respondents Occupational Distribution

Caste

Domestic Servants Other occupations*

Total

High Caste 3 2 5

SCs 13 3 16 BCs 9 1 10

Others** 5 - 5 Total 34 6 40

Note: *Other occupations include beldars, tailoress, vegetable shopkeeper, water woman, Ayah in hospital and in aanganbari (one-one each). Source: Field Survey, 2003 The above table very clearly shows the concentration of lower caste and socially backward migrants( SCs & BCs ) in domestic services. This phenomenon is not of recent origin. Domestic work was considered to be an occupation of sudras and scheduled castes ( low castes ) and slaves, not only in the ancient times but also through out the medieval period right up to 19th century. This was also an inevitable part of the feudal landlord system and the colonial British period 2. The remaining migrants were employed in certain other varying activities as is quite evident from the table.

Table 7

Age- wise Occupational Distribution of Respondents

Occupation

Age

Domestic Servants

Other Occupations

Total

0-20 2 - 2 20-40 29 4 33

40 and above 2 3 5 Total 33 7 40

Source: Survey Data, 2003 From the figures given in the table, there seems to exist a strong preference for young women in the age group of 20-40 as they are considered to be more obedient, efficient and also more reliable. This finding is also supported by the previous two studies conducted by viz.Banerjee (1982) and Indian Social Institute(1993) 3.

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Having discussed the role of social networking and the occupational pattern of married migrant women, the next question which demands an answer is: What are their labour market conditions? The following section deals with this.

IV Labour Market Conditions Coming now to the next question on labour market conditions it is important to mention here that as in case of all kinds of services including domestic services the problem of measurement arises because they do not produce something tangible like goods. Therefore, the task of wage determination becomes more complex. Not only this variation in wages and wage relations on the one hand and working conditions on the other can be noticed within the same locality or across different localities, depending on the economic and social characteristics of the employer and employees. As domestic work comprises of a number of activities, wages vary across activities. Further, it would be inappropriate to capture the work relation in this occupation purely on economic terms, as one cannot afford to ignore the role of subjectivity and personal relations. Moreover, in some situations one encounters patron-client relationship as existed in feudal agrarian societies. The employment relations in domestic service are highly indefinite and unorganized ( Neetha, 2003).

Table 8

Average Monthly Wages of Domestic and Other migrant Workers

Average Monthly Wages Per person per month

(in Rs)

Domestic Servants Others

Less than 500 3 2 600-1000 11 3 1100-1500 16 1 1600 and above 4 - Total 34 6 Source: Field Survey,2003 The wages received by different categories of migrant women workers reveal that current wages of these migrant women are not very high. Out of 40 women, only 4 women earned a relatively satisfactory amount (i.e. in the range of Rs 1600 and above), rest of them earned less than this amount. The wage category of Rs 1100-1500 accounted for the largest number of workers. It needs to be pointed out here that the full- time live- in and part- time domestics placed through organizations manage to get comparatively better wages due to their fixed salary structures.

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As domestic work involves more of a personal relationship, it was also found that sometimes these domestics are given certain pecuniary benefits by their employers especially on special occasions like birthdays, marriage or during festivals, over and above their wages. These extra wage benefits can be in cash or kind ( old or new clothes or food ).But what is more important is their wage income gets supplemented. It can be observed from the table that all the married migrant maids reported to have enjoyed this pecuniary benefit, which was not experienced in case of others involved in other occupations 4.

Table 9

Details of Extra Wage Benefits across Occupation Status of Extra Wage Benefits

Domestic Servants Others

Cash 13 - Kind 21 -

Source : Survey Data ,2003 An interesting point noted during the study was that the importance of extra wage benefit in cash form especially appears to have been declining and generally other benefits assume the form of old clothes or left over food. The issue of lower wages is to be looked into in a wider perspective (i.e. vis-a vis formal sector labour) as the complete absence of various social security provisions makes it difficult for them to have a decent standard of living in an expensive city like Delhi. An analysis of their expenditure pattern shows the intensity of the issue (Table 10).

Table 10

Average Monthly Expenditure of Domestic Servants Category % of Total Expenditure

Food & Clothing 45 Education 1.7

Rent 30 Medical Expenses 18

Miscellaneous* 4.3 Total 100.0

*This category consists of tobacco, pan , savings. Source: Field Survey, 2003 The expenditure pattern of domestic servants reveal that their average monthly family expenditure was less than Rs. 1500. Within the various expenditure groups, the expenses on food & clothing, rent and medicines were found to be substantial ( 45% ,30 % and 18% respectively). After meeting the expenses, only five migrant women were having some savings. Two out of these five migrant women maintained a bank account and one of them had invested in the Life Insurance Policy in the name of her son. Almost all the respondents

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were not satisfied with their current earnings as these were not enough even to meet the present requirements of their families.

Table 11

Reasons for incurring Debt

Reasons for incurring Debt

% of Total Respondents

Social obligations * 47.1 Consumption Expenditure 12.0

Miscellaneous** 41.0 Total 100.0

*social obligations include marriage of son, daughter or for ‘mundan’( ‘tonsure’) or for death ceremonies etc. **Miscellaneous expenditures include health expenses, buying shop or buffaloes. Source: Field Survey, 2003. Strikingly, 47% of migrant women’s families incurred debt mostly for meeting their social obligations like marriage of son, daughter or for ‘mundan’(‘tonsure’) or for death ceremonies etc .Forty one percent of them borrowed money for other purposes like meeting health expenses, buying shop or for purchasing buffaloes. About 12% of respondents borrowed for meeting their normal consumption needs. Majority of them obtained these loans from their friends, relatives & neighbourers i.e. non –institutional sources. Only one person took a loan from a bank. Majority of them reported the amount of debt to be above Rs. 10,000 and paid a rate of interest in the range of 5 to 10 % per month. Thus their poverty was compounded by their having to borrow at such usurious interest rates. Since the same domestic worker is engaged in different activities at different houses, It becomes essential to know the wage variations across activities/ jobs. Amongst the various activities , cooking is considered to be somewhat superior to the cleaning operations, therefore, cooks occupy the upper strata and those involved in doing cleaning and other related activities belong to lower strata. This distinction gets reflected in their wage differentials as shown in the table given below.

Table 12

Average Monthly Wages of Domestic Servants across Activities/ Jobs Activity

Average Wages (Rs.)

Cooking 500 Cleaning Utensils 150

Sweeping and Mopping 200 Washing Clothes 75 per member

Baby sitting 500 Source : Field Survey Data , 2003

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As the above table clearly shows that cooking and baby care were found to be the most remunerative jobs as compared to other jobs which are looked as somewhat inferior kinds of jobs. How ever, out of 34 domestic servants only a few worked as baby sitters and cooks due to lower demand for them. Since the main concerns of an employer in both the cases are hygiene and cleanliness, these domestics sometimes fail to fulfill this criteria due to multiple and somewhat inferior jobs they perform in different houses, hence less demand for them. In case of baby sitting another criterion was found out to be, safety. Having discussed their labour market conditions mainly wage pattern and wage relations, the following section would attempt to answer the fourth question relating to the workload and responsibilities of the married migrant women who were working as part- time maids. Slowly, we have shifted our focus from the entire sample of 40 to 34 only because these constitute 85% of the total and to bring out any pattern in their behaviour which would conform to the larger group behaviour to be studied later.

V

Workload and Responsibilities of Married Women Migrants Domestic work like any other informal sector activity is known for its long and irregular working hours. The hour- wise distribution of their paid and unpaid work across different occupational categories of workers would provide more insights into the longer schedules of these informal sector workers.

Table 13

Distribution of Occupational Categories across Average Daily Hours of Work

Domestic Servants

Other Categories

Hours of Work

Paid Work Unpaid work Paid Work Unpaid Work Up to 2 1 6 - 1

2-4 3 8 3 4 4-6 6 11 2 1 6-8 7 7 1 -

8-10 12 2 - - 10 and above 5 - - -

Total

34 34 6 6

Source: Survey Data, 2003 Most of the migrant women working as domestic servants were found to be working for more than 8 hours a day. Their working hours are to be looked into different perspective as these

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women do not only perform paid work but they also engage in unpaid household work. Their own household work along with commuting from one work place to another, matching the time schedules of different households makes their lives very stressful. In the absence of job and income security, we observed a general tendency on their part to take up maximum number of jobs. In an expensive city like Delhi, due to the job and income insecurity on the one hand and low wages on the other, they have to struggle through out the day to meet out their basic needs for food, clothing and shelter. Accordingly they have to follow strict time schedules daily due to the fear of losing their jobs. The time- schedule of a typical part- time worker is shown below.

Table 14

Daily Schedule of a Typical Part- time Domestic Worker

Time Daily Routine 5.00 a.m--- 6.00 a.m Cooking and washing utensils 6.00 a.m--- 1.00 p.m Paid domestic work in about 5 or 6

households 1.00 p.m--- 4.00 p.m Cleaning, sweeping, mopping, washing and

their household chores in own house 4.00 p.m--- 7.00 p.m Paid domestic work in about 5 or 6

households 7.00 p.m--- 9.00 p.m Cooking, attending the needs of the

members of the family Source: Survey Data, 2003 Long hours of work and hectic time schedules put these workers in a worse situation. Besides, visiting multiple houses for work they expose themselves to varied kinds of temperaments and expectations of their employers. They have to make adjustments accordingly due to the fear of losing jobs. Moreover, another factor which adds to their woes is lack of standards regarding holidays, monthly day-offs, sick leave, maternity leave, etc. Domestic workers do not have any fixed number of days as leaves. At the most they can take one day’s leave per month and that too at the pleasure of the employer. If they extend their leave or take regular leave or go on prolonged leave without informing the employer, there is a great risk of loosing their jobs as well as wages. There is no system of annual holidays as is there in case of live in domestic maids placed through agencies. If ever they have to go on leave they have to make alternative arrangement for the employer by engaging some other worker, otherwise they might lose their jobs. Leave also means loss of pay during the period 5. It is quite clear from the foregoing discussions that growing job and income insecurity along with absence of fixed tenures, quick termination that too very often by the unilateral decision of the employer himself makes the position of migrant women workers vulnerable. The workers too can leave their jobs, but given their economic distress and problems faced in

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finding new jobs, they are often hesitant to take such hard decisions. Only a miniscule 2% of workers left jobs on their own, remaining were terminated by the unilateral decisions of their employers. Having dealt with the huge workload and a long list of responsibilities of migrant women workers, the next questions which needs further probing is: What is their role in decision- making process? Do they face any gender bias? What are the difficulties faced by them? Section V has been devoted to these questions.

VI

Role in Decision-making and Intra-Household Gender- Bias Before examining the role of migrant women inside their households in matters like decision making, it would be more appropriate to find out the say/ role they had in the decision to migrate. In approximately 50% of cases, the crucial decision on migration was taken by their spouses alone. But in 35.5% of cases women were the primary decision makers. This may be because of the fact that a household migrates after exploring the employment possibilities of women in the urban centres as a major and immediate resort for family survival. As has been explained that after migration married women entered the urban- informal sector labour market and three- fourth of them started working as part – time domestics and their spouses took up casual work or got engaged in other informal sector activities such as hawkers, rickshaw pullers, vegetable vendors etc.In most of the households,women made significant contribution to income and survival of the household by bearing a large chunk of household expenditure on food ,clothing ,shelter, education and health etc 6. Whereas a considerable share of the income of their male counterparts is spent on own expenses, tobacco, alcohol and intoxicants. This aspect of information gathered by us has a bearing upon some significant dimensions of the personal wellbeing of these women and it also points to the unequal distribution of resources within household 7. 24out of 40 migrant women revealed that they did not enjoy the freedom to spend their earnings as they liked but 16 respondents did enjoy this right over their earnings. Moreover, 21 out of 40 respondents experienced gender- bias in the matters relating to consumption. It is disheartening to note that that despite women’ s significant contribution to income of the family and its survival. social control largely rests with males under the patriarchal social order. Due to patriarchal social relations, the common forms of intra- household gender discrimination /problems were found to be physical- violence by the unsupportive and often unemployed husbands; use of abusive language; lack of freedom to spend money and also lack of freedom to go out and socialise. The extent of their sufferings can be judged from the fact that a few of the migrants reported that their husbands indulged in excessive drinking and gambling, physical violence, selling off of household items and taking away their children and leaving them with their parents in the native village, etc. One of the migrant women

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revealed that when she refused to tolerate the aforesaid treatment of her husband ,the latter deserted her and left for his native place along with her children. Some selected viewpoints about the extent and nature of intra- household gender discrimination as reflected from the following case studies are presented below:

1) Sanjeevani (25) is a scheduled caste landless woman. She studied till 11th standard and hails from Maharashtra. She is having three children. According to her she had a love marriage with a man who was already married. They migrated from their native place due to their poverty & unemployment. Her husband remained unemployed. She used to work to earn money to run day –to –day life and repay the loans. Despite the fact that she did engage in paid work for six hours and unpaid work for four to five hours at home, her husband used to drink a lot and quite often indulged in physical violence. At the time of our survey she was passing through the phase of acute mental distress as her husband took away her children and went back to his native place, when she was out for work. She was naturally missing her children. Moreover, she was earning just Rs.740 per month by working as a domestic servant, paying Rs. 400 as monthly rent and was not able to meet her basic requirement of food with the balance amount of Rs.340 and was at the mercy of her employers.

2) Nirmala (30 YEARS) is a scheduled caste, illiterate, landless woman having four

children. Her husband used to take away the money earned by her and often indulged in physical violence so much so that he broke her bones once and then she had to go for stitches. Gradually his atrocities increased. He took away her children and left them with her parents back home. He himself, however, came back but was having an extramarital relation and was not ready to give her maintenance charges.

3) Draupadi, a domestic servant of 40 years from U.P is illiterate and landless and

migrated to Delhi because of her poverty and unemployment. She reported to be doing paid work for eleven and half hours and unpaid household work for three hours on daily basis. She was overburdened and was frustrated, as she had to bear with her unemployed husband and five unemployed sons. After doing so much for her family she neither enjoyed any freedom to spend the money earned by her nor was she allowed to socialise with anybody. Moreover she had to tolerate abusive language and violent behaviour of her husband. She cried whenever she felt frustrated. She couldn’t share her problems with her relatives back home as she visited them once in three years due to paucity of funds.

VI. a Other Difficulties Faced by the Sample Women The other difficulties faced by these migrant women were as follows: (1) The three major problems faced by them were that of incomplete job, inadequate income

and food security, which are inter-related, Due to lower and insufficient earnings they are unable to fulfill their daily requirements not to talk of enjoying decent living. Moreover,

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most of them have to incur regular health expenses which impose an extra burden on them.

(2) Almost all the female migrants found it difficult to visit their native places quite frequently due to lack of money. The study also brought to notice the fact that majority of the respondents visited their native places only once in a year due to high train/bus fares. Moreover, train reservation poses another problem for them due to their iliteracy. The reduction in the number of unreserved compartments add to their miseries.

(3) Due to paucity of funds they are not able to send/remit money for their left behind parents or relatives. They are often worried about them and get frustrated whenever they are reminded of the situation at their parents homes. Their illiteracy is a serious problem creating communication gap 8.

(4) Almost all the respondents with the exception of two lived in the rented accommodation and faced the problem of high rents. It was found that 5% owned their jhuggies , only 2.5% of these women paid high rent of more than Rs. 600 per month, about 35 % between Rs.500 to 600 , about 52.5% of them paid up to Rs. 500 and 5% paid less than Rs.500 . Besides high rent they also faced the problem of lack of sewerage and drinking water facilities and lived in unhygienic conditions.

VII

Policy Issues and Suggestions The above- mentioned pattern of female migration and the status of their work, earnings and personal well- being have their policy implication. As has rightly been observed by the National Commission on Rural Labour (1991), migration policy should not aim at supporting migrants, but should combine migration with development. Some of the major issues in this context have been summarized below. • Gender-focussed and Issue- Specific Strategy Our study broadly indicates that the

process of development in some of the states has been slow and uneven there and, therefore, is not sufficient enough to absorb the additional labour force productively by providing the illiterate, landless and unemployed women and other members of their households the opportunities for earning their livelihoods. It is time for these states to reorient their poverty alleviation strategies by making them more gender- focussed and issue- specific 9.

• Food Based Intervention Since poor migrant workers families suffer from food insecurity, there is a need to make food accessible to them through PDS. Access to food can be improved through a more effective PDS, through grain bank scheme, or through ‘food for work’ scheme 10.

• Introduction and Enforcement of legislations There is a need to recognize domestic servants as a ‘category of workers’ as there are no legislations to protect their interests. Although certain legislations were introduced like the Domestic – Workers (Condition of Service) Bill, 1959, protection of their rights under Payment of Wages Act, 1936, The

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House Workers (Condition of Service) Bill reintroduced in 1989 but with no concrete outcome. This asks for the need for a legislation and its enforcement so that there interests are protected 11

• Organisational Initiatives There is also a need for organizational initiatives to mobilize and organize them. No doubt, it is an uphill task to develop group sensitivity among migrant women workers having short- term interests (i. e. earning as much as can) belonging to different communities, having distinct cultural and religious backgrounds. Further, since this sub- sector of services is dominated by women, as in case of any other female labour, the social problem of organizing them is high. Moreover, since the relationship in domestic services is largely personal, therefore, response of workers varies a lot 12.

• Role of NGOs Poor migrant women workers lack bargaining strength. Their ignorance, illiteracy, coupled with alien environment and short-term interests make them more vulnerable and prone to exploitation. Here in comes the role of NGOs. It becomes essential that more interactive sessions should be organized by NGOS with the migrant women to learn about their problems and ways of resolving them in places like Delhi where they are currently working and also to sensitize them about their rights.

• Improvement in governance of Delhi 13 There is multiplicity of agencies responsible for similar purposes but accountable to different levels of government in Delhi. The differences in the governance is likely to have far reaching implications. For example, MCD, a local body has been made accountable to the national government, as is obvious that the latter with its pre-occupation with the macro objectives of economic stability and national security might overlook the basic requirements of the citizens including that of slum dwellers. Therefore, it has been suggested by some (Bagchi, 2003) that keeping in mind the interests of the residents of Delhi, the MCD, the DDAand the Delhi Police need to be made accountable to the GNCTD (Government of National Territory of Delhi). There should be a clearer model of a national capital region than is operational at present. This becomes all the more important because the target 11 of Millenium Development goal 7 (emanating from the UN Millenium Declaration (2000)) binds all the 189 committed member countries (of UN) including India to do more to improve the conditions of slum dwellers as it aims at bringing about significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020(HDR, 2003).

• Empowerment of Women Above all there is a need to identify means and ways to empower these women in the slum areas. At the national level, the Tenth plan suggests a sector specific three-fold strategy for empowering all women through -1). Social empowermwent.2) Economic empowerment 3) Gender justice. The National Policy on Empowerment of Women (2001) set its major objective to eliminate gender discrimination on priority basis and to create a positive environment for empowering women (GOI, Planning Commission). There is a need to effectively implement these suggestions on priority basis through good governance. Besides as has been rightly emphasized in WDR (2004) that gender inequality is one of the several other aspects of poverty (low income, illiteracy, ill health, environmental degradation etc.), which is a multi-dimensional concept. To get rid of poverty and to promote development, we will have to make services work for people and improve their delivery. Therfore, One of the two prongs of the strategy for development (of World Bank) concerns investing in people and empowering people through the availability of basic services to all and through

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improving service delivery by bringing about such institutional reforms that will strengthen the relationship of accountability ---between policymakers, providers, and citizens.

One of the main problems is the absence of regular employment and incomes. These women migrated to Delhi after marriage and expected to get rid of these problems. Although the problem of ‘uncertainty of work’ persists yet the pangs of hunger have been overcome to a large extent. All the migrant women covered under the study sample agreed that they are certainly ‘better-off’ and would not like to go back to their roots. When they were asked during interviews whether they were satisfied with their living conditions in Delhi or not, the women were of the view that they were unable to answer this question because what they know is that they have to adjust and there was no other alternative available to them. However, they live in deplorable, unhygienic conditions with lack of sewerage and clean drinking water facilities and are vulnerable to diseases. They have to pay higher prices for food as migrants fail to get ration cards. There is no provision of sick or medical leave for women workers, no crèche facilities for their children. Some NGOs need to alleviate their personal sufferings and to provide them at least a minimum medical care and nutrition.

VIII

Conclusions It is well documented in literature that migration is emerging as a significant livelihood strategy for poor households in several regions of India. Marriage related migration is a crucial factor affecting mobility. It is interesting to note that a large number of women enter labour markets in urban centres at the place of destination through marriage. However, existing conditions of the labour market in urban centres are inhospitable, deplorable with long hours of work, low wages, absence of job security etc. Moreover, lack of organizational initiatives and legal protection have made them vulnerable and prone to exploitation. It is vital to study the existing position of female migrants to put in place policies to improve their living and working conditions. The study also reveals that in addition to their paid work in the informal segment of the labour market, migrant women perform both paid as well as unpaid household work for long hours in the home market. However, majority of them do not enjoy much decision –making power in respect of disposal of money earned by them and even freedom to socialize with others. Besides, they have to tolerate various forms of intra-household gender discrimination and atrocities like physical violence, abusive behaviour of their husbands, lack of freedom to spend and socialise which all make them mentally sick and subordinate to their husbands always.

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The study also highlights some of the main issues such as complete uncertainty of work and regular income earnings which could have enabled the migrant women workers to lead a decent standard of living in society. Hence the study suggests for a gender- focussed and issue based poverty alleviation strategies to be adopted by both governmental and non- governmental agencies.

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Notes

1. See Neetha. N(2003) also. 2. ibid 3. Banerjee (1982) observed that as family migration increased, the proportion of

younger women among total domestic workers increased. The survey conducted by ISI (1993)also revealed that the employers showed a preference for young women as they are more reliable, obedient and efficient in domestic work, in child care and nursing the elderly.

4. Similar observations have been made by Neetha. N (2003). 5. ibid 6. This conclusion is in confirmation with the research findings of Ananya Roy(2003),

where she has studied the migrants of Southern outskirts of Calcutta. 7. Roy(2003) also noticed the same trend in her study and pointed out the unequal spread

of resources an outcome of structural imbalance which is gender-based. 8. Mukherjee(2001) pointed towards somewhat similar difficulties faced by women

migrants from landless households of West Bengal who have settled down in Alaknanda slum of Delhi.

9. ibid 10. Srivastva and Sasikumar,2003. 11. Neetha.N(2003) 12. ibid 13. .It is important to point out here that on the basis of the recommendations of the

Balakrishnan Committee (constituted vide Oder No U14111/164/87-Delhi, December 24,1987)the 69th Amendment to the constitution of India upgraded the status of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) to its present form. The governance of Delhi and the status of GNCTD have remained significantly different from that of other states and the status of respective state governments. Besides there are multiplicity of agencies responsible for similar purposes but accountable to different levels of government in Delhi. For example, the MCD and the NDMC and DDA are responsible to the ministry of urban development and poverty alleviation (MoUDPA), GOI. The Delhi police is responsible to the ministry of home affairs (MoHA),GOI, Delhi Jal Board, Delhi Vidyut Board and Delhi Transport Corporation are responsible to the respective departments of GNCTD. The differences in the governance is likely to have far reaching implications (Bagchi,2003).

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--------- (2003) (forthcoming) : “ Labour Migration and Agrarian Change in Eastern Uttar Pradesh”, IDPAD Study Report, New Delhi . Srivastava Ravi and Sasikumar, S.K. (2003) : “An Overview of Migration in India, Its Impacts and Key Issues”, Report prepared for Department for International Development (DFID), U.K. UNDP(2003) : Human Development Report, Oxford University Press. World Bank (2004), World Development Report, Oxford University Press. -