Why is abuse of domestic workers so prevalent?

Recently, police rescued a 13-year-old domestic worker named Kalpana from a house in the capital's Bashundhara residential area during a raid. The child, who had been severely tortured, was found with four of her teeth pulled out and her body covered in burns and bruises. 

In connection with this case, 24-year-old Dinat Jahan Ador, a resident of the household, was arrested and subsequently placed on a one-day remand by the court. 

The harrowing image of Kalpana, bruised and battered, starkly contrasted with the seemingly "innocent" appearance of the accused and drew national attention. 

This incident is far from isolated. 

Reports of abuse against domestic workers are common, often involving prominent individuals who are seen as national icons or considered the moral compass of society. 

Preeti Urang, a domestic worker employed at the home of Ashfaqul Islam, then-Executive Editor of The Daily Star, died after allegedly falling from a balcony at their Bashundhara flat earlier this year. Six months earlier, another maid, Ferdausi, was also severely injured after falling from the same location. 

In 2015, national cricketer Shahadat Hossain and his wife were also accused of brutally torturing their 11-year-old domestic worker, an incident that led to Shahadat's suspension from cricket after the girl escaped and recounted the abuse.

Not just numbers

According to Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), 36 domestic workers have died across Bangladesh in the past three years, with 90% of these deaths resulting from torture. Despite 103 documented torture cases, only 69 resulted in formal legal cases. 

Over 10 years from 2013 to 2023, 450 domestic workers were tortured, and 200 cases of torture or unnatural deaths were filed. 

"If a criminal goes unpunished after committing a crime, their negative traits gradually strengthen. They may escalate from minor abuse to heinous acts, including murder. Domestic workers are often perceived as soft targets. They lack the physical, mental, or legal means to counteract their abusers, a fact well-known to the perpetrators, allowing the cycle of exploitation to persist."

Dr Md Azharul Islam, counselling psychologist and Associate Professor of Educational and Counselling Psychology at Dhaka University.

Data from the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS) in 2021 revealed that 50% of 287 domestic workers surveyed reported physical or mental abuse, with 95% of them being women. Half of these workers were children. Between 2001 and 2020, 1,560 domestic workers faced various forms of abuse, and 578 of them died at their workplaces.

A 2023 BILS study revealed that 67% of domestic workers experienced emotional abuse, 61% verbal abuse, and 21% physical abuse.

Additionally, 96% of domestic workers did not report the abuse, viewing it as a common occurrence and opting not to take legal action – telling of the systems in place for domestic workers and how the numbers we have of reported cases are underreported.  

A most recent research by Action for Social Development (ASD) also revealed that nearly 50% of children employed as domestic workers in Dhaka face various forms of abuse, including physical injuries (18.47%), beatings (8.23%), verbal abuse (20.74%), and sexual assault (1.7%). 

Despite such alarming statistics, justice is rarely served. 

"In the last 10 years, proper justice was served in probably one or two instances only," said prominent lawyer and human rights activist Nur Khan Liton to The Business Standard. 

He, along with other experts, asserts that the continued abuse of domestic workers is primarily driven by the lack of adequate legal protections and their enforcement, cases being settled through financial agreements, and a deep-rooted power imbalance that leaves workers economically vulnerable and easily exploited.

"There are inadequacies of existing laws for tortured domestic workers, which results in most cases being left unresolved. In most instances, perpetrators manage to evade justice by reaching informal agreements with victims through illegal financial transactions," Nur Khan said.

What are the laws of the land?

Notably, Bangladesh is recognised for implementing the first policy in South Asia focused on the rights of domestic workers, established in 2015, which includes provisions for 16 weeks of paid maternity leave, a prohibition on physical and mental punishment, regulation of working hours, and a requirement for third-party involvement in salary negotiations. 

Also, employers are prohibited from physically or mentally punishing them. Teenagers aged 14 to 18 can work as domestic workers, while children as young as 12 can engage in light work with parental consent.

In spite of these progressive measures, the policy has not been effectively implemented, with critical components such as a monitoring cell and a helpline for workers remaining unfulfilled. 

Domestic workers are not formally recognised under the 2023 Labour Act, preventing them from accessing the benefits and protections afforded to other labour sectors.

After the torture incident of Kalpana came to light, Dr Kamal Uddin Ahmed, the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, emphasised the urgent need for legislation to prevent the abuse of domestic workers.

"The commission has already sent a draft of the anti-domestic worker abuse law to the Ministry of Social Welfare with the aim of ensuring the protection of domestic workers' rights and their overall welfare. It is hoped that the legal process will be completed soon and the law will be enacted," Dr Ahmed told reporters on Sunday. 

Nur Khan also pointed out the necessity of a proper registration of domestic workers. There is a Domestic Servants' Registration Ordinance from 1961 that mandates the registration of domestic workers, but enforcement is weak, and many workers remain unregistered.

According to him, it is the responsibility of the police and the Ministry of Social Welfare to monitor registered domestic workers and conduct regular check-ins on them.

Also, "without proper registration, it becomes challenging to verify whether an individual has worked in a household, which complicates the legal process of holding offenders accountable," said Shahana Huda Ranjana, author and human rights activist. 

Beyond the statistics

Ranjana emphasised that the tendency to view domestic workers merely as "slaves" who can be easily bought leads to a deprivation of their fundamental human rights.

"Some believe that having ample money allows them to escape consequences for their actions. The fact that victims, too, may succumb to financial temptation rather than standing firm for justice reflects the severe levels of poverty in our society," she said. 

Ranjana also highlighted the entrenched misogyny and power dynamics within our families and society that contribute to this issue, noting that women too can become aggressors in these situations. 

"Women often face repression and various forms of abuse, whether from society at large, their fathers, husbands, or their sons. As a result, they may vent their frustrations on domestic workers, using them as an outlet for their anger," she explained.

Dr Md Azharul Islam, a counselling psychologist and Associate Professor of Educational and Counselling Psychology at Dhaka University elaborated on these points. 

According to him, if a criminal goes unpunished after committing a crime, their negative traits gradually strengthen. They may escalate from minor abuse to heinous acts, including murder. 

Abuse against domestic workers is such a crime for which instances of justice are exceedingly rare. Society tends to overlook the abuse of domestic workers as inconsequential.

"Domestic workers are often perceived as soft targets. They lack the physical, mental, or legal means to counteract their abusers, a fact well-known to the perpetrators, allowing the cycle of exploitation to persist," he said. 

An individual's current mental state is also crucial in how their behaviour manifests. Factors such as depression, frustration, stress, anxiety, phobias, social skill deficits, addiction and physical illnesses can lead someone to abuse a domestic worker over trivial matters.

Dr Islam further said that some misconceptions contribute to the perpetuation of abuse. Beliefs such as "to get work done properly, one must resort to violence," "a few slaps don't matter," "one has the right to be harsh with domestic help," and "domestic workers should be viewed differently" provide individuals with a "licence" to abuse.

"Therefore, setting positive examples by ensuring that perpetrators are brought to justice through legal channels is essential. Without this, the cycle of violence against domestic workers will never cease to exist," Ranjana concluded.