Empowering Women Informal Workers

For women like me, what is #MeToo? Poverty and stigma mean we can never speak out. There is no place safe for women like us.

- A domestic worker affiliated with the Martha Farrell Foundation quoted by Human Rights Watch

Women informal workers experience sexual and gender-based violence in every sphere - private, professional, and public. Economic instability, patriarchal systems, and fear of backlash from family and community prevent them from speaking about it, seeking justice, or taking action.

In 2021, we conducted a study in partnership with women domestic workers, funded by UN Trust Fund To End Violence Against Women. It is the largest-ever participatory action study on the issue of sexual harassment at workplace for women domestic workers in the country. The study found:

100%

of 1939 women domestic workers experienced sexual harassment in their world of work

77.2%

women domestic workers experienced sexual harassment in their direct workplace

ZERO

women domestic workers were able to file a formal complaint under the SHW Act, 2013

Martha Farrell Foundation's Making Workplaces Safe Program is one of the few programs in the country focused on countering sexual and gender-based violence in the world of work of women informal workers - including domestic workers, sanitation workers, home-based workers, and construction workers, among others. Given their contextual challenges, the Empowering Informal Workers program was co-designed with informal worker partners and is being implemented with them.

Ongoing Programs

#MainBhi (MeToo)

Making Institutions Accountable towards Women Domestic Workers: Effective Implementation of the Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act, 2013

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Sapne Mere Bhavishya Mera

Empowering Women Domestic Workers to Reclaim Space, Voice and Agency

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Meri Abhilasha

Community Support Center for Women Domestic Workers and their Adolescent Children

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