Studying the Lifestyle of Household Helps-PRINT REPORT

8/7/2019 Studying the Lifestyle of Household Helps-PRINT REPORT

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Studying the Life Style of

House Helps

BY :-

Anisha Agarwal (61), Saurabh

Agarwal (63)

Sanal Gupta (80), Tasneem Kapasi

(87)


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Anuja Misra (97), Rushabh Nisar

(104)

Nidhi Pande (105), Sonam Pawar

(106)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost, we must express our deep sense of gratitude towards WE School,

Mumbai for providing us the opportunity and the leeway to realize what we were afraid might

be untenable, to reach out for what we were unsure was untouchable and to fly when we were

afraid we might be bounded by invisible walls, both around ourselves and our mind.

We would like to express our gratitude to our guide Prof. Victor Manickam, for his

unflagging support throughout the tenure of our project.

We would like to acknowledge the contributions of the various bureaus and individuals

who aided in the development of our project.

We would also like to express our gratitude to each and every participant of our surveys,

who knowingly or unknowingly have contributed in their own ways in the successful

completion of this project.

Last but not the least the active and enthusiastic participation of each and every member

of the group is appreciated.


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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Zipping past the roads, Rohan Ahire is often seen showing off his Rs. 1 lakh worth bike to his friends

and anyone who would care to see Well, this is not in any plush area of South Mumbai but a modest chawl

area of Anand Nagar which lies in between North Mumbai and Thane. Rohan is the youngest of the three bornto Gita and Parshuram Ahire. While Parshuram is a daily wager at a private factory, while Gita works as a

housemaid in the nearby complexes.

A normal day in Gita Ahires life starts at 5 am with her household chores and then she goes to work in

the plush complexes near herbasti. Cooking, cleaning, chatting and catching up with her neighbourhood ladies

who are also housemaids, she leads a seemingly happy-go-lucky life. Living life as it comes and spending

money as she earns seems to be her way of life. But how does she afford a bike worth lakh rupees? There must

be something more to her story, there must be much more to her lifestyle. She is one of the 1 million nameless,

faceless plethora of househelps that inhibit the city of Mumbai today. But is she an exception to our

assumptions or are our assumptions misconceived? Such questions inspired us to delve more into the lifestyle of

the household helps in Mumbai.

We started off by defining what we wanted to look for under the broad definition of lifestyle. Having

set our objectives, we started fishing the internet and maid-employment bureau for some data as part of our

Secondary Research. The findings from our secondary research set the tone for our primary research. We had

numerous sessions of brainstorming that led us towards various aspects of the househelps life that further

attracted our attention. We came up with questions that reflected our curiosity. These questions cover various

aspects of the house helps lives:

Work related life

Family life Social life

Habits

Awareness levels

Preferences

Aspirations

With these objectives in mind, we set the tone for our primary questionnaire. We formulated and

reformulated the questionnaire until we were satisfied that it could not be perfected further. The task of

administering the questionnaire was divided among individual members. For the sake of convenience, we

conducted the survey on househelps living close to our residences. So the areas we have covered include

Dadar

Fort

Mazagaon

Malabar hill

Cuffe parade

Mulund


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Once the survey was conducted, we all had our individual experiences to share. Experiencing the way

they look at life astonished us, while the reasons for which they worked touched us and the way they treated us

inspired us. But measuring these in numbers was difficult but still we tried to collate their responses into

percentages and pie diagrams which facilitated the inferences. Some of the observations that the numbers cant

speak of have been presented separately.

As we have come to the end of our research, we realize that the time horizon over which the entire

research is spread is not sufficient to analyze long term trends. However, since the process has been initiated

we believe that with time, we will be able to follow trends and their implications as a consumer market. We

have only just begun!


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INDEX

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY................................................................................................................................3

INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................................................7

GROUP MEMBERS...........................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................................................8

PROJECT............................................................................................................................................................8

OUTLINE OF THE PROJECT...............................................................................................................................9

What we would like to know about the household helps?...................................................................................9

How do we look at them?....................................................................................................................................9

How can we reach them?...................................................................................................................................10Secondary Research.......................................................................................................................................10

Primary Research...........................................................................................................................................10

What we are looking from the Secondary Research?........................................................................................10

Which are the areas can we cover?....................................................................................................................10

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY..........................................................................................................................11

Type of Research...............................................................................................................................................11

Research Design................................................................................................................................................11

Descriptive Research.........................................................................................................................................11

Sampling Design................................................................................................................................................11

Primary Data......................................................................................................................................................11

Limitations of Primary Research.......................................................................................................................12

Secondary Data..................................................................................................................................................12

Method of Data Collection................................................................................................................................12

Screener Questionnaire......................................................................................................................................12

Main Questionnaire...........................................................................................................................................12SECONDARY RESEARCH AND INFERENCES..............................................................................................13

What we are looking from the Secondary Research?........................................................................................13

Total Maids in Mumbai.....................................................................................................................................13

Demand and Supply...........................................................................................................................................13

Migrant Household Helps..................................................................................................................................13

Gender And Age Group.....................................................................................................................................13

PRIMARY RESEARCH.......................................................................................................................................14


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TYPE OF PRIMARY RESEARCH AND SAMPLING...................................................................................14

OBSERVATIONS ,FINDINGS AND KEY INFERENCES................................................................................15

Spending Habits.................................................................................................................................................15

Individual Experiences..........................................................................................................................................27

RECOMMENDATIONS.......................................................................................................................................28

New Questions Added After Recommendations...................................................................................................29

ANNEXURE.........................................................................................................................................................31

QUESTIONNAIRE...........................................................................................................................................31

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY..........................................................................................................................31

Bibliography..................................................................................................................................................43

Web Sources..................................................................................................................................................43

Books.............................................................................................................................................................43

Books


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INTRODUCTION

GROUP MEMBERS

Anisha Agarwal

The tension queen who motivates everyone to work before time and acts as a good co-ordinator.

Anuja Misra

The introvert girl who takes every challenge as an opportunity to improve the groups performance and

acts as a good motivator.

Nidhi Pande

The energy booster of the group who is task oriented and helps in detail analysis.

Rushabh Nisar

The group equalizer who helps in dividing the work equally and at the same time pleases everyone with

his warm smile and food.

Sanal Gupta

The techie of our group who is a good team player .Whenever he takes up a responsibility he fulfills it.

Saurabh Agarwal

An easy going guy with warm nature and good team spirit.

Sonam Pawar

A very creative person who does not shy away from work and holds the group together and acts as a

team leader.

Tasneem Kapasi

A self motivated girl who knows what is to be done. She is an Idea Generator always full of energy.


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INTRODUCTION

PROJECT

Brainstorming about the topic for the project, we started discussing how our household helps become a

part of our family and are an integral aspect of any effective and happy family functioning. This was the

moment when the idea of this project was conceived. With this project we intend to extend a helping hand to the

unheard and unserved section of the society.

Our interest in this project is to understand and analyze:

Their spending habits.

Their saving habits.

Their childrens educational level.

Their preference in terms of:

Nature of work.

Nature of relationship with employer.

Community of the employer.

Their purpose/motive of working.

Their literacy level.

Distance between their workplace and home & how they travel.

And other problems faced by them.

Lastly Prof. Victor Manickam had given us the freedom to choose any topic that interested us, & unlike

other courses we wanted to do something that may have an impact on the society , something what we have

never attempted before, something challenging & this topic gave us all that & hence we went ahead with the

project.

We carried out the research over the last four months (October 2009 to January 2010). This included

secondary research followed by primary research, which was conducted in tune with the findings of the

secondary research.


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OUTLINE OF THE PROJECT

What we would like to know about the household helps?1. Their spending habits.

2. Their saving habits.

3. Their childrens educational level.

4. Their preference in terms of:

a. Nature of work.

b. Nature of relationship with employer.

c. Community of the employer.

5. Their purpose/motive of working.

6. Their literacy level.

7. Distance between their workplace and home & how they travel.

8. And other problems faced by them.

How do we look at them?1. Native town wise

a. Tier 1 cities (slums).

b. Tier 2 cities (chawls/LIG colonies).

c. Tier 3 cities (rural).

2. Family composition of the employer

a. Family.

b. No. of working members.

c. Bachelors/Spinsters.

3. Kind of work

a. Cleaning utensils.

b. Washing clothes.

c. Cleaning floor.

d. Cooking.

e. Babysitter.

f. As a nurse of aged person.

g. Toilet cleaners.

h. Part time/full time.

4. Marital Status & Family Type

a. Single.

b. Married.

c. Abandoned.

d. Widowed.

e. Subject to domestic violence.

5. No. of household he/she is working at.


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How can we reach them?

Secondary Research

1. Bureaus.

2. NGOs.

3. Internet.

4. Research papers of other researchers.

Primary Research

1. Maids at our places.

2. Maids working in the colony.

3. Maids working at our relatives place.

4. Help from our mother and aunts.

What we are looking from the Secondary Research?1. Statistics relating to total maids in Mumbai City.

2. Demand and Supply details.

3. Statistics of the migrants and native household helps.

4. Wage range the employers are ready to pay.

5. Community they come from.

6. Gender and Age group.

Which are the areas can we cover?1. Cuffe Parade & Colaba.

2. Haji Ali & Mahalaxmi.

3. Fort & VT.

4. Mazgaon.

5. Sion & Matunga.

6. Mulund & Thane.


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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Type of ResearchBoth descriptive and exploratory research was used in compiling this report. While the descriptive research was

used to study the form the micro-segments within the larger target audience and conduct a psychographic

analysis to establish their behaviour. This has been done with the household helps kept specifically in the view.

Research DesignConsidering the time constraints descriptive research is the most suitable design for this research since

descriptive studies seek to portray accurately the characteristics of the population. These studies attempt to

make generalizations about the attributes of that population by studying a small sample of the population.

Descriptive ResearchThis research is designed to describe characteristics of a population. This research is used when the researcher

has a general understanding of the situation, the conclusive evidence that answers questions of facts necessary

to determine a course of action has yet to be collected. For the purpose of our research project we have used a

Descriptive Research Methodology.

Sampling DesignTarget Population: Wetargeted a cross section of people, across sexes, across various age groups and across

different work areas.

Sampling Frame: We mainly conducted the surveys at the various places in Mumbai covering the vicinities of

Cuffe Parade, Colaba, Haji Ali, Mahalaxmi, Fort, VT, Mazgaon, Sion, Matunga, Mulund and Thane to gather

responses from diverse set of population sensitivities. In addition to this, we visited a few Bureaus as well as

self employed people.

Sample Size: A sample size of 114 people was chosen, as, the trends being highly variable and differential

amongst different age and work groups required a relatively considerable sample size, in order to facilitate the

analysis.

Primary DataFor collecting Primary Data, questionnaires were administered to the samples in order to segment the target

group based on their response to the questions pertaining to their psychographic profiles.


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Limitations of Primary ResearchThe respondents which were selected mainly comprised female respondents, this phenomenon has caused the

data to be gender biased with 70% of the respondents being women.

Secondary DataAfter the research problem in marketing has been identified and selected, the next step is to gather the requisite

data. Use of various publications, journals, articles and the Internet was made to garner various statistics and

insights into the life of Mumbais household helps.

Method of Data Collection

The primary method of data collection was through the medium of questionnaires. A single questionnaire wasdesigned to be administered and it was posed to the target audience The questionnaire was suitably designed to

filter out the non-applicable respondents. Therefore, screener question was incorporated in the beginning itself.

Screener QuestionnaireThis questionnaire was very short and simply was in order to qualify the respondent to the next level (Main

Questionnaire).

Main QuestionnaireThis questionnaire was designed to judge the perception of the household helps of Mumbai with regards to

their work preference, income group, investment pattern, psychological issues and lifestyle as a whole.

SECONDARY RESEARCH AND INFERENCES

What we are looking from the Secondary Research?1. Statistics relating to total maids in Mumbai City.

2. Demand and Supply details.


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3. Statistics of the migrants and native household helps.

4. Wage range the employers are ready to pay.

5. Community they come from.

6. Gender and Age group.

Total Maids in MumbaiAccording to the 1991 census, there were 5.76 lakh women (58% of the total workers in this sector) engaged in

the domestic services industry.

Source: Report : Migration In India Trade Union Perspective by Sudershan Rao Sarde.

Demand and Supply Assistant (9)

BabySitter & Nanny (457)

Care Giver (687)

Cleaner (1126)

Cook (10)

Housekeeping (572)

Source:www.oodle.com

Migrant Household HelpsThe number of inter state migration is 41,166,265 persons as per the census figures of 2001. There are 20

million domestic workers mostly migrants from rural India like the tribal belts of Bihar, Orissa, Chattisgarh,

Jharkhand, Assam, and Mizoram for Mumbai, Delhi and other Metros.

Source: Report : New Initiatives in Organizing Strategy in the Informal Economy Sujata Gothaskar.

Gender And Age Group92% of the domestic workers are women, girls and children and 20% of these females are under 14 years of

age, as per census 2001.

Source:www.financialexpress.com
http://www.oodle.com/http://www.oodle.com/http://www.financialexpress.com/http://www.financialexpress.com/http://www.oodle.com/http://www.financialexpress.com/


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PRIMARY RESEARCHAs we found out the inferences from the secondary data, our primary research is divided into two kinds,

confirmatory primary research and exploratory primary research.

The purpose or motive of working will form the part of our confirmatory research.

The following points will come under the exploratory primary research as we would like to know more in detail

regarding the house-help. Also this data is not available in our secondary research.

Their spending habits.

Their saving habits.

Their childrens education level.

Their preference in terms of

Nature of work

Relationship with the employer

Community of the employer Their literacy level.

Distance between their workplace and home and how they travel.

And any other problems faced by them.

TYPE OF PRIMARY RESEARCH AND SAMPLING The type of primary research used is Quantitative in nature.

Convenience sampling: No sampling technique was employed in arriving at a sample size. Therefore

we followed convenience sampling.

The respondents were not segregated as male/female and both their views were taken together Respondent sample size: 114

Precondition: Screener

Source of data:

The data is basically primary in nature

It is obtained from house-helps located in Mumbai

Methods:

The questionnaire we prepared for the project is a close ended- structured questionnaire. The

close ended nature of the questionnaire ensures that we get the appropriate/ relevant answer from

the respondent.

Our method of conducting primary research was single stage personal interview.


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OBSERVATIONS ,FINDINGS AND KEY

INFERENCES

Spending Habits

Cloth


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80


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N


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25

30


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HS

3

Grad

8


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Gadge

3%


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Employersatisfie

19%Em lo er


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32%

Domes


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Individual Experiences

Political parties issue ration cards and voter ids to the inter-country migrants so that during elections,

these migrants vote in favor of them.

It is noted that they do not prefer to work in houses when the lady of the house is not present.

Most of the women fear to mention whether they are a victim of domestic violence or not.

They live in constant fear of local goons and do not want to mention about them.

The cooks/Maharajas are aspiring to go back to their native and continue agriculture as although they

are highly paid but do not consider this job as dignified.

Widows, who do not have a male child, have to live alone or with a distant relative and work for their

sustenance.


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RECOMMENDATIONS

Develop a small scale or cottage industry in the rural areas for the migrants who come to Mumbai for

work. This way they will get the same pay in their hometown and may not shift to Mumbai.

Major issues faced by housemaids are housing and civic problems. So a housing complex can be build

or an accommodation can be provided at a reasonable rate where they can get their basic civic facilities

This way approaching house-helps will be easier. Also we should keep in mind that the expansion of

slums where maids reside should be controlled.

As a major chunk of maids save around Rs 500 to Rs 1000 a month, certain private sector bank or

nationalized bank or a micro-finance organization can tap this opportunity and even maids can hence

benefit financially.

More labour laws pertaining to house-helps should be enforced so that the rights of house-helps are

protected and exploitation can be minimized.

As many house-helps are addicted the harmful substances like drugs, tobacco etc, so an awareness

campaign should be organized.

Some political parties provided voting cards and ration cards for inter-country migrant workers so that in

turn they vote for them during elections. Such unhealthy practices should be abolished and an equal law

should be maintained for all.


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New Questions Added After Recommendations

d


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ANNEXURE

QUESTIONNAIREForm No: ___________

RESEARCH METHODOLOGYSTUDYING THE LIFESTYLE OF HOUSEHOLDSHELPS

Name of Interviewer:_______________________

Interview Date: __________________________

Interview Time:___________________________

Interview Location:________________________

Interviewers Signature:_____________________

Comments, if any:_________________________

_______________________________________


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SCREENER QUESTIONNAIRE:

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53) 11-12% to . ?

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Bibliography

Web Sources

1.www.consumertipsreports.org/hiring_household_help_an_agency_or_an_ad.html

2. www.censusindia.gov.in

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_India

5. http://urbanhealthupdates.wordpress.com/2010/01/12/india-census-estimates-of-slum-

populations/

6. www.informaworld.com/index/903827870.pdf

Books

Census 2001By Government Of India.
http://www.consumertipsreports.org/hiring_household_help_an_agency_or_an_ad.htmlhttp://www.consumertipsreports.org/hiring_household_help_an_agency_or_an_ad.htmlhttp://www.consumertipsreports.org/hiring_household_help_an_agency_or_an_ad.htmlhttp://www.consumertipsreports.org/hiring_household_help_an_agency_or_an_ad.htmlhttp://www.consumertipsreports.org/hiring_household_help_an_agency_or_an_ad.htmlhttp://www.consumertipsreports.org/hiring_household_help_an_agency_or_an_ad.htmlhttp://www.censusindia.gov.in/http://www.censusindia.gov.in/http://www.censusindia.gov.in/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Indiahttp://urbanhealthupdates.wordpress.com/2010/01/12/india-census-estimates-of-slum-populations/http://urbanhealthupdates.wordpress.com/2010/01/12/india-census-estimates-of-slum-populations/http://urbanhealthupdates.wordpress.com/2010/01/12/india-census-estimates-of-slum-populations/http://www.informaworld.com/index/903827870.pdfhttp://www.consumertipsreports.org/hiring_household_help_an_agency_or_an_ad.htmlhttp://www.censusindia.gov.in/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Indiahttp://urbanhealthupdates.wordpress.com/2010/01/12/india-census-estimates-of-slum-populations/http://urbanhealthupdates.wordpress.com/2010/01/12/india-census-estimates-of-slum-populations/http://www.informaworld.com/index/903827870.pdf

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Studying the Lifestyle of Household Helps-PRINT REPORT