07/11/2024
What is wrong with the house-help system in Pakistan?
An insight into the most underrated and dysregulated profession across the country:
If there is one common feature among every second household in large metropolitans across the country, it is the presence of at least one house help; the terms and conditions vary greatly of course. Even in modest households, a part-time sweeper for sweeping and mopping the floors is a regular thing. Ironically, for a profession that is represented by hundreds of thousands of people, albeit below the poverty line, there is too much that is wrong and needs to be addressed.
a) No formal documentation and contracts:
With few exceptions, hiring a housemaid in Pakistan does not require any documentation or contractual basis that could bind any party. It’s an informal interview conducted by the lady of the house whereby the terms of salary, compensation, timing, resignation, and termination are verbally decided and are often very conveniently violated. It’s an easy come easy go policy where both parties enjoy the freedom and liberty it gives them and hate the same for the other party. As an employer, one would deem it reasonable to have their maid stay longer on tough days or work on weekends if one has guests coming over or even work on festivals and national holidays for paltry compensations. Likewise, maids and servants would love to dump their entire family’s health and education expenses on their employer and mint money whenever possible, effectively playing the misery and poverty card while conveniently taking days off as per their liking and backing out of a commitment at most crucial times. There is no authority to check either side.
b) Undocumented personnel
Surprisingly enough, many people who engage in household help do not even have the most basic identity documents like ID cards and are non-existent officially. Slums and ghettos neighboring posh areas and gated societies make the supply line of such undocumented manpower and there is no number count, no database, and no records to keep track of the personnel or their services. Where official grants and subsidies can’t reach them, since their existence is not documented, it is equally difficult to track them in case they commit a crime and vanish. But apparently, it’s not a matter of concern for most people as long as their household chores are taken care of.
c) No defined JDs
Though adherence to the contractual job description is not strictly observed in many other departments as well in Pakistan, house-help is particularly notorious for not having any limits or boundaries around what you can ask your maid to do for you. From sweeping your toilets to eating your leftover food to rubbing your feet, they do it all.
d) Sheer lack of institutional basis
A few agencies in some provincial capitals have recently started providing house-help services but the stats are very low and a major populace is adamant about doing it the conventional way without involving any third party. Of course, agencies tend to regularize the process and bring it under certain rules and checks which, unfortunately, neither the hiring nor the hired are willing to abide by.
e) Abuse, ill-treatment, disrespect and exploitation
Since the profession is largely devoid of any institutional basis, a natural byproduct is abuse and exploitation on so many levels – and it is both ways. People associated with this profession are mostly looked down upon and are not treated with respect, particularly in the case of minors. In worst cases, they have met inhuman treatment at the hands of their employers ranging from verbal and physical abuse, overburdening, harsh punishments over petty mistakes, and generally degrading practices like making them sit on the floor, allocating separate pots and utensils, treating them like untouchables, taking them to restaurants but not letting them sit alongside the family etcetera. Nevertheless, behaviors like manipulative exploitation, excessive use or abuse of resources, inefficiency, and inadequacy in the performance of tasks are rampant on the part of house-help workers.
f) No rules, regulations, or accountability
Since there is no governing body or regulatory authority involved, the house-help system has no formal rules and regulations and therefore, no accountability. There are no standardized procedures to follow and a lot is decided based on how good a bargaining power one has. It is fairly possible to find two maids serving in two households performing the same chores but one being paid half of the other, and there is no one to intervene. Likewise, there is no one to decide how many clothing articles a person can wash or the number of dishes one can do per day for how much compensation.
g) Forced child labor
Despite all the laws regarding child labor, a large number of minors are working as house helpers in various cities of the country. Some are even forced to do the labor while the parents/custodians conveniently collect the wages from the employers. The lack of regulations and documentation makes it so easy for both parties to impose labor on children. Some employees even consider it a favor by claiming that we are keeping them in far better conditions than their own families. Children as young as ten years old can be seen working as domestic workers and this readiness encourages the likes of their parents to keep making babies undeterred.
h) No criteria
Interestingly, for someone who needs to work closest to you and your family, have access to your valuables, and more than often, is going to handle your kids, there is no well-defined criterion of hiring; at least none that can be verified or proven.
i) Rendering a large populace unfit for proper/formal jobs
The current house-help system and its dynamics might be convenient for some factions of society but unfortunately, it is rendering a big chunk of the population unfit for other jobs. The workforce used to domestic help and its informal procedures does not feel and realize the need for legalities and technicalities and is often rigid towards it, hence mitigating the chances of any reforms in the system or betterment in their own lives. As long as the meager house-help salaries are putting food on their tables, they are not inclined to improve their skill set and seek better opportunities. The hand-to-mouth circle barely leaves funds for decent education for children which ensures a never-ending cycle of poverty and continues an endless supply of domestic helpers in successive generations.
j) Breeding hubs for thieves
Many of the above-listed facts together provide excellent breeding grounds for thieves and criminals. Imagine being deprived, hungry, underprivileged, and frustrated while coming across riches, mostly unsupervised with no reputation, legal status, or social standing at stake. While police are hardly involved in cases of insignificant misplaced items from home, the greatest penalty one can face is losing a job, which is hardly a thing to bother in this profession since there is always another home in need of a domestic worker.
Vacuum for entrepreneurs and governmental agencies to fill:
Where a lot is due on the part of federal and provincial governments to bring these masses on books and take measures for their proper habilitation, there is a clear vacuum and untapped opportunity on the part of entrepreneurs and investors to transform this profession into an organized, regulated and well-paying industry.
• Open a network of agencies providing house help across the country with standardized procedures on the pattern of the international market.
• Hire individuals with basic ID documents through proper contracts.
• Liaise with governmental authorities to reach out to people without official IDs and encourage them to come under the ambit of official documentation by offering jobs in this sector.
• Set and propagate examples of healthy habilitation for others to follow in their footsteps. With every person opting to work through proper channels, there will be one less in the pool of haphazard, unskilled, undocumented workforce.
• Define terms of engagement with the clients whereby securing rights and obligations of both sides.
• Encourage more people to hire through agencies by providing security, efficiency, and commitment that is lacking in the system otherwise.
• Offer multiple short-term and long-term engagement options to clients to cater to their diversified needs.
• Standardize the rates and tasks to avoid exploitation and divide the tasks into categories to ensure the right payment for the right task. Allocate adequate timeslots for the chores. For instance, someone called for a two-hour cleaning session is not obligated to wash a carpet which is a separately charged service.
• Establish a system of feedback and accountability. Reward the efficient employees and vice versa.
