Technology Vs Human Labour : Exploring the Domestic Workspace of Kerala

Abstract

Ever since the discussions of technology and manual labour came to place, it is believed that technology replaces labour significantly. Studies have shown that domestic technology has revolutionized the kitchen space of families all over the world. Domestic technology is intended to make household chores easier, even though unskilled and uneducated common domestic workers may struggle to use such technology. It is observed that the Covid season has witnessed a tremendous increase in the buying of these domestic technologies as employers were forced to keep their domestic workers out of their space due to the fear of coronavirus spread. But after coming back to the new normal, it was noticed that the need for domestic workers has not decreased rather it shows an increase. The use of home appliances is increasing in Kerala society, especially in families of all strata. This paper aims to look at the effect of domestic technology on the domestic worker and also how far the power relation and the hierarchy are maintained in the most private workspace, ‘family’, through the access given to the worker to these technologies by the employer. The data was gathered through a qualitative approach based on extensive interviews with women domestic workers in the Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala.