A welcome piece of legislation

Employers should provide or pay for education of worker or their children, in case the decided pay isn’t substantial.

Gone are the days when people employed for household chores were referred to as ‘servants’. Now they will be referred to as ‘domestic help’ or ‘employees’.

We finally have a legislative bill that sets in stone the rights our ‘help’ deserves and more importantly, their need to be treated as humans. A bill has been presented in the Senate which will be titled the ‘The Domestic Workers Act 2013’. This bill will help provide our domestic help and their employers with a contract which will include the justice and rights that the 8.5 million domestic workers in Pakistan deserve.

The bill constitutes of a number of rights and clauses related to freedom of speech, safe environment, minimum wages and many more that are to be implemented as soon as the bill is passed. As per the bill, employers cannot hire domestic workers younger than the age of 14 and older than the age of 60. All the terms and conditions will be included in an official employment contract which will have to be signed by both parties. The workers will be referred to as ‘domestic workers’ and not as ‘servants’.

However, the problematic part is where it states that it will be the duty of the appropriate government to ensure that these clauses are followed through to the dot. One doesn’t need to be psychic to see it coming – government ‘officials’ will start cutting corners of this legislation, like every other legislation, for a quick buck. The elite class will end up bending the rules according to their convenience as always.

Pakistan faces a worrying lack of education. Since most of the workers can’t read or write, who is to say that the educated will not end up taking advantage of the uneducated by throwing in a couple of clauses of their own? This is where the bill isn’t exactly foolproof. An education-related clause should’ve been included alongside providing food and accommodation. The employers should provide or pay for the education of the worker or their children, in case the decided pay isn’t substantial.

In my opinion, we need to break out of our superior ‘elite’ class bubble and realise that they’re humans too and deserve to be treated likewise. So the next time you think that this bill isn’t such a good idea, think from the mind of a ‘domestic worker’.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 17^th, 2014.