Didi to didi: A message from domestic worker to domestic worker
The film explores the relational and material processes shaping domestic work through the experiences of six domestic workers in a city of Nepal. It highlights the separation of domestic workers from one another, and the information gaps which can marginalize women from understanding and bargaining for better conditions in their work. The film gives a window into the experience of domestic work by sharing a hypothetical conversation between domestic workers, and the questions or advice they have for one another. Questions which women have foregrounded in the film include how other domestic workers relate to time pressure (and a lack of control over their own time), the relationship between employers and employees (including by what names employers call domestic workers), the coping mechanisms women turn to due to their low salaries, as well as how families navigate child workers. The advice section is a call, from one domestic worker to another, to claim more overt labor agency despite the challenges and unfreedoms which often characterize the workplace for workers. Women’s advice alludes to the many constraints and exploitative conditions they find themselves in, but shows the ways they cope with or challenge the current status quo. The final film brings together walking, photography, digital traces, and reflection in a five minute format that introduces the project’s ideas without overwhelming the viewer, allowing the visual work to speak while offering enough context to anchor its meaning.