CHANGING DYNAMICS
Bringing home the bread…..MALIA POLITZER & CORDELIA JENKINS
Multiple part-time jobs offer the chance of higher wages to migrant women, but they come with a lack of security
Bringing home the bread…..MALIA POLITZER & CORDELIA JENKINS
Multiple part-time jobs offer the chance of higher wages to migrant women, but they come with a lack of security
The Karkardooma slum is idden in plain sight. Tucked behind a billboard, makeshift houses of cinder blocks and corrugated steel crowd narrow lanes, just a short walk from the mani- cured gardens and three-sto- rey bungalows of Anand Vihar, in the eastern part of Delhi. Small children play marbles under the watchful eye of the neighbours. Shobha Kumari, a resident of the slum, wakes up every day at 5.30 in the morn- ing, cooks for her four children and husband and then leaves for work–she is a part-time help.
Her actual home is Madhya Pradesh. The family moved to Delhi many years ago, like oth- er families in similar circum- stances, to look for a better ex- istence. Unlike in the village, there are jobs aplenty for women like Kumari in the city, albeit poorly paid and with no security. By working at several homes in the neighbourhood and charging `200 per month for each of the services ren- dered–sweeping and washing dishes, for instance–these women have managed to sur- vive outside of the network of placement agencies. In many instances, they are slowly re- placing their husbands as pri- mary bread earners.