There’s a person I know, a lady in her mid-60s, living in Dhaka, who cannot get anyone willing to work at her home as a domestic maid.
The woman in question is well off, her husband held some lucrative posts at top organizations but while from a surface, they seem very personable, their affable exterior hides an obsession with dieting.
This has gone so far that they also kept the people who worked for them on a strict diet. This, of course, puzzled many because Bangladesh has come a long way from the time in the 70s and 80s when food shortage was a major concern.
In this age of prosperity, when there’s plenty to eat at almost every home, such behaviour of rationing food drove most of the domestic maids away from the lady’s home. There is, of course, a psychological basis for such treatment: Since I am always on a diet and cannot eat to my heart’s content, you won’t get to eat as you want either.
Yes, there is a sadistic undertone to this sort of behaviour, but in Dhaka city, there are countless homes where domestic help still faces a wide variety of unspeakable behaviour. Just recently, a young girl called Jannati was found dead at a home in Mohammadpur and the mistress of the house has admitted to beating up the girl.
Reportedly, police found marks on the body of the young girl from which it has been established that she may have been hit repeatedly with a heavy blunt object.
What is more disquieting is that the police also found old marks, which is proof enough that the girl had been used to beatings. From time to time, such tragic deaths are printed on paper, though for one reported incident there are countless others which are stifled or simply silenced with money.
The role of austerity
To find the roots of the culture of abusing domestic help, we need to go back to the post-famine, austerity-driven period of the late 70s and early 80s, when droves of young women came from the villages to work in Dhaka, not for a monthly wage, but for three meals a day.
But at that time, with the economy still trying to recover after the Liberation War, most middle-class families ran on a tight budget.
In such a scenario, food rationing was very common in most urban houses, with meat eaten twice a week at the most. In such a scenario, a clear distinction was drawn between members of a family and the domestic maids, with coarse rice offered to the latter while the better one reserved only for family members.
Such a prejudiced situation spawned abuse, ranging from sexual exploitation to physical torture.
Usage of a red hot spatula to scald and punish domestic help for a mistake was common -- though many elderly women who meted out such punishment would find it difficult to admit to such behaviour now.
Silencing with money
Sometimes, beatings went too far and in many cases, maids ended up losing their lives. The common approach was and still is to give a lump sum amount to the relatives to keep quiet and refrain from lodging a case.
Sadly, many women who beat up maids now grew up in an environment where they saw the abominable treatment of domestic maids. While in the decades after independence, all maids young or old faced torment, in the current scenario, the victims are mainly young girls below 15.
With the RMG sector opening up with better payment, offering women to live freely with others in rented homes, the trend of ending up at city houses to work has seen a marked decline.
In the modern context, most of the workers who face physical abuse are young and have been left at the care of a city family by parents who live in the villages. With the guardians out of the city, the young girl is always vulnerable -- a state which is viciously exploited.
A few months ago, there was news of a maid who was beaten by the wife of a university teacher. The girl came out of the house and with the help of the locals went to the police. Not surprisingly, we do not know what happened next.
Chances are high that the girl plus her family were silenced with cash. Perhaps, for a family facing hardship, the money is important but settling the humiliation of an individual with money is not the long term solution.
Jannati’s case may end in the same manner. Reportedly, the police feels that the girl may have been violated too. If that is proved, then the case will take a diabolical twist indicating deviant practices.
A domestic helpline
Since many of the operations of the police have become digital, there can be a digital site to prevent and respond to domestic abuse complaints. This can be set up with a domestic help team at all thanas of the city. Also, the police can have a campaign to put up a set of work ethics written on billboards at all the wards. If someone employs a young person as domestic help, then the matter has to be recorded with the local police along with the complete details of the worker.
Of course, rules can deter but never change ingrained beliefs. If we continue to think that a person working for us can be beaten and mistreated just because they are forced to earn a living, then efforts to change the culture will have a superficial impact.
The tendency to look down upon or trivialize people who are economically less fortunate is a social malady which has become the norm. Pay attention to see how many of us address the rickshaw-puller with respect. Most use the term “tumi” instead of “apni.” Though “tumi” is used for people who are close, when it’s used for people who belong to lower social strata, the chief aim is to make that person feel inferior.
I am eager to see a follow up report on Jannati; unless some perpetrators are given exemplary punishment, the “settle with dough” tactic will keep on providing impunity.
Towheed Feroze is News Editor at Bangla Tribune and teaches at the University of Dhaka.
