The 2022 BASAS Annual Lecture will be held in conjunction with the Kings India Institute as it celebrates its tenth anniversary. The lecture will be delivered by Prof Samita Sen, Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History at the University of Cambridge, on June 6th at the Kings India Institute, London. This will be an in-person lecture. Further details re specific times and venue to follow.
“Maids in Movement: Unionising Domestic Workers in India”
Following Convention 189 (2011) of the ILO, domestic workers have emerged as a significant category of workers and as subjects of both women’s and workers’ politics. They have posed challenging questions of class and gender, which the mainstream in both these movements have found difficult to answer. While there has been considerable associational activity in different parts of the world, there are also new and emerging challenges. In the Indian context, associations of domestic workers, few and small no doubt, are demanding the status of trade unions. This is a dynamic moment and both working conditions, as well as movements, are being continually redefined. It is in this context that the paper will seek to explore the workers relationship with and responses to attempts at collectivization.
Register to attend the BASAS Annual Lecture here.
