Swabhiman Kendra Community Support Center for Women DomesticWorkers and their Adolescent Children, supported by:

Struggles with discrimination, unfair treatment, low wages and sexual harassment in the world of work are harsh realities that dominate women domestic workers' professional and personal lives. At the same time, they are proud women workers, who work with dignity and self respect.

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, however, their dignity took a hard hit. With no warning, women domestic workers lost their jobs, were forced to subsist on dry ration, often without three square meals a day. Their daughters were pulled out of school and forced into doing domestic work. The heightened insecurity and increased violence in their lives impacted their confidence, and their ability to trust and lean on one another.

The most urgent, non-negotiable need they express during these trying times, is additional income to tide over future unprecedented crisis situations, and put an end to instances of violence and sexual harassment in their personal and professional lives. At this juncture, to alleviate these vulnerabilities, it is essential to rebuild confidence, hope and build awareness among women and girls in the community.

With ‘Meri Abhilasha’ (Community Support Centers for Women Domestic Workers and their Adolescent Children: Building Resilience in the Pandemic), DSP Investment Managers and Martha Farrell Foundation are supporting women domestic workers and their adolescent daughters to break out of the cycle of violence and oppression that generations of women in the communities have been forced into.