Recognition of the Rights of Domestic Workers in India (eBook)

This book brings together a set of contributions that examine the complexities associated with domestic work by highlighting not only the legal issues but also exploring the social, psycho-social, economic, and cultural dimensions of domestic work. The book aims to ignite a collective effort towards ensuring decent work for domestic workers and facilitate a public debate on their rights. It includes discussions on the issue of social justice with special emphasis on invisibilization and undervaluation of domestic work, feminization of domestic work, and recognizes the rights of domestic workers as human rights. The issues covered in this book bridge the gap between legal and social dimensions of domestic work and address the discrimination faced by domestic workers in a holistic manner. Given its scope, the book would appeal to both academics (law as well as social science) and non-academics. It will be a useful tool for teachers, students, practitioners, policy-makers and civil society organizations working for the unorganized sector.

Dr. Upasana Mahanta is an Associate Professor and Executive Director in the Centre for Women, Law and Social Change, Jindal Global Law School, O.P. Jindal Global University. She is also the Director of Office of Student Life and Cultural Engagement  at O.P. Jindal Global University. Prior to joining Jindal Global University, she was working as an Assistant Professor in Centre for Women's Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Dr. Mahanta has completed her Ph.D. from Centre for Canadian, US and Latin American Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She was also a Shastri Doctoral Fellow in the Centre for Women's and Gender Studies, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Dr. Mahanta's research interests include role of women in emergent political institutions; gendered understanding of conflict; women organizing and resisting in insecure contexts; and examining development through a gendered lens.

Dr. Indranath Gupta is an Associate Research Professor and Assistant Director of the Centre for Postgraduate Legal Studies and the Centre for Intellectual Property and Technology Law. He is a co-director of JIRICO, Assistant Dean (Student Initiatives), and a Senior Fellow at the Jindal Institute of Behavioural Sciences (JIBS). Dr. Gupta received his LL.B. degree from the University of Calcutta, India; holds an LLM with distinction from the University of Aberdeen, UK; and a postgraduate research LLM in Computer Law from the University of East Anglia, UK. He obtained his Ph.D. from Brunel University, London, UK. Dr. Gupta has been involved in qualitative and quantitative research. He was appointed as the research collaborator by the Università Bocconi, Milan, Italy, for a project funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programm, and he is actively involved in a research project on copyright with researchers in  Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Dr. Gupta has also worked as an advocate in a solicitor's firm at the Calcutta High Court. He has published in European and Indian law journals and has spoken at international conferences and seminars. His research areas include database right, copyright, data protection, cyber law and the interface of IP and competition law.

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This book brings together a set of contributions that examine the complexities associated with domestic work by highlighting not only the legal issues but also exploring the social, psycho-social, economic, and cultural dimensions of domestic work. The book aims to ignite a collective effort towards ensuring decent work for domestic workers and facilitate a public debate on their rights. It includes discussions on the issue of social justice with special emphasis on invisibilization and undervaluation of domestic work, feminization of domestic work, and recognizes the rights of domestic workers as human rights. The issues covered in this book bridge the gap between legal and social dimensions of domestic work and address the discrimination faced by domestic workers in a holistic manner. Given its scope, the book would appeal to both academics (law as well as social science) and non-academics. It will be a useful tool for teachers, students, practitioners, policy-makers and civil society organizations working for the unorganized sector.