Closer Look: GenChange Intern, Neha Singhal

Generation Change intern Neha Singhal has been spending her summer days fighting for basic human rights for domestic workers from around the world.  Neha is one of the 42 interns in this year’s Generation Change internship program. She is interning at Casa de Maryland where she works alongside organizers assisting a group of women, all of whom are domestic workers, fight for fair treatment and fair wages on their jobs. Recently their hard work paid off with the successful passage of a bill that provides unprecedented protections to domestic workers in Montgomery County.  For more information on the new bill visit Casa’s website.  Neha has been working closely with these women, many of whom have endured slavery-like conditions at the hands of their employers. 

Neha attends the University of Maryland and is studying international business and international development & conflict management. She heard about the Generation Change internship from the Center’s immigration organizer Nicola Wells. She was moved to apply for the program after reading through the GenChange website, and realized the internship had everything she was looking for: work on progressive issues, the opportunity to learn skills in community organizing, and the opportunity to connect with others who are interested in a career in social justice. She was particularly interested in the prospect of working with an immigrant rights organization. 

Below is an interview with Neha that was conducted by fellow GenChange intern Kali Rubaii:

What is your personal motivation for doing the work you're doing? 

I’m an immigrant - I was born in India and was lucky enough to get quick citizenship through my father before the harsh anti-immigrant laws came into practice. I have a deep understanding of how hard it is for undocumented immigrants in this country and I have a strong belief in labor rights and social justice for the working class (partly because my mother worked really hard, especially as a single mom of 3, to make ends meet as I was growing up). I’m also really disturbed that the government is treating immigrants in this way and denying people basic human rights! That’s my main motivation for wanting to hold the government and corporations accountable for exploiting immigrants.

What are you doing day to day? Are you working exclusively with domestic workers?

My work definitely varies day to day but mainly I’m focused on the following: working at a grassroots level with organizing the domestic workers, and then also helping at a legislative level in getting an important Bill passed to protect domestic workers. It’s been awesome working to organize support for Bill 2-08 and helping shore up votes within the Montgomery County Council, ultimately to see it pass unanimously and signed into law!

In terms of working with the domestic workers, I help out with Committee of Women Seeking Justice, where we discuss legal rights, news of Bill 2-08, personal experiences and what change we want to see. I also help Alexis do outreach at local parks, metro stops and bus stations to reach out to women who might not know about their rights as a domestic worker. I’ve also been helping finding jobs and English classes for the ladies as well as looking into more resources overall for them. I am especially working with two women from India because I am able to help with communication in Hindi.

Definitely the most meaningful experience I have had so far is meeting a domestic worker at her home with my supervisor and informing her of the Committee and her rights as a domestic worker. We found out that she was not being paid properly and not allowed to leave the house (even to attend her place of worship). Luckily since her employers were gone for a week, a Committee member was able to take her to Church for the first time in a year! It’s amazing to me that she will be able to join the very well organized Committee of Women Seeking Justice to advocate for her rights and help women in her situation in the future.

While I am working largely with domestic workers, my supervisor, Alexis, understands that this internship is a chance for me to learn about different types of organizing and different aspects of immigration issues. Because of her encouragement, I’ve been able to shadow a day labor organizer in Takoma Park, attend various rallies for worker’s rights, help CASA meet with families at a church in Annapolis to discuss the ICE raids and much more.

Any personal connection to domestic workers?

No personal connections necessarily – I guess you could say that I feel a connection to some of South Asian women who rely on me to translate Hindi into English and vice-versa when needed.

What do you hope to gain from this experience? 

I want to get a better understanding of what it means to be an organizer and work with people who are affected by the issue at a grassroots level so that they can advocate for their rights to create progressive policies. I also hope to better understand immigration issues through the people I meet at CASA de Maryland and become a better advocate of immigrant rights because I definitely want to work in this field in the future.

Give me a brief public version of your personal story... 

I was born in India, came to America as a baby but went back to India to live with my grandparents for a few years while my parents sorted out their divorce. I came back to America at the age of 7 to live with my mother and 2 other sisters and have been here since then. As a single mother of 3, my mom did everything she could to make ends meet, but we definitely struggled quite a bit when growing up. But I think it was that hardship that helped me recognize the systematic struggles of low-income folks (esp women of color) and it ultimately made me realize my career path in social justice. 

I also need more specifics about your ladies:  what ARE their wages?  What hours were one or two of the ladies working?  Describe the circumstance of the one woman who as in slave like conditions. 

Many of the ladies come here thinking they’ll be making at least 700-1,000 dollars or so month…but in fact they tend to be given an average of around $300 a month, more or less. It’s really awful because many of them still send more than 50% of whatever they make back home to support their families so really in the end they are making barely any money.

Many of the ladies who work in slave-like conditions worked for 12 hours or so everyday – one woman told me about how she woke up every day at 5am to make breakfast for the kids, the breakfast for the parents, then clean all 3 floors of the house, then make lunch, dinner, etc. until 8pm. usually she would even work after that time if they asked her for anything else. She also ended up working on the weekends for the diplomats, because part of their job description was to hold frequent parties with lots of guests (that she had to clean up after). Additionally, she was not allowed out of the house – she told us that she had been asking to attend church for a year and they wouldn’t take her because she wasn’t allowed outside of the house.

Did you meet any of the ladies who were beaten? 

yes, quite a few were abused by their employers verbally, sexually and physically. It wasn’t just the male employers, but I was told in some cases the female employers were worse than the male employers when it came to physical/verbal abuse and exploitation. Also, many women have had exposure to bad chemicals and have burns on their hands because of dangerous cleaning products or lack of protective gloves. 

Which one's weren't allowed to go outside? 

I don’t want to give out names, but the women from India I remember specifically were not allowed to go outside (the church ex is above) and several other ladies from Latin American and African countries have mentioned restrictions of where they could go.

What is your personal reaction to witnessing their circumstance? 

I personally feel disgusted and outraged after hearing what is going on regarding domestic workers. Not only do they work in the shadows of society and work extremely hard, they are being exploited due to a failed system of law. It’s frustrating especially when you hear each woman’s story because it can definitely be seen as modern day slavery – the awful working conditions, the low wage rates – we should be really ashamed that this happening in our society, especially since we’re so quick to point out other country’s human rights abuses!  Although, despite everything, it’s extremely uplifting to meet the women themselves and see how extremely optimistic they are for the future. That’s probably my favorite part about organizing – empowering the women who were once in a bad situation to become changemakers themselves so they can advocate for their rights & progressive policy; all the while helping other women overcome their situation.

What do you think are the changes that our society needs to make to fix this kind of stuff? 

Awesome question! There are so many changes that our society needs in order to remedy the situation. It’s exciting because one of these changes came in the form of Bill 2-08 that passed in Montgomery County Council, which protects domestic workers by requiring that employers give them a contract. Additionally, there are many groups in New York State that are also trying to get a DW Bill of Rights passed to recognize them in the law and allow for these women to assert their rights and hold employers accountable.

Also, we seriously need to do something about ending or amending diplomatic immunity – many of the domestic workers we have worked with were working for diplomats from all over the world and more often than not, the diplomats tended to be the most abusive employers in terms of not giving a proper salary, not letting them leave the house, engaging in verbal/physical and even sexual harassment, etc. Often times, these employers will steal the DW’s passport and take them from country to country in a modern day slave trade. It’s really tough for organizers to combat diplomats legally when it comes to demanding justice for domestic workers. Also, DW that come here through diplomats come on a special Visa that is tied to their employment. Thus, when they leave the abusive situation, they become out of status (because they’re not employed by the diplomat) and it’s hard for them to get a job, a driver’s license, etc. in the country.

Of course, we also need to fix the broken immigration system drastically. We need to be proactive in our approach regarding labor trafficking so that it is not as easy for embassies, companies, etc. to get away with trafficking women for their labor. Also, it’s really hard to protect victims of labor trafficking right now, especially the ones that come with diplomats, because once they are out of status it’s hard for us to help them find jobs, etc like I mentioned before. If we fix the way our country looks at immigration status, we can dramatically better these women’s lives.

Lastly, we need more resources! One thing I’ve realized is the lack of resources for immigrant women – whether it be language services, emergency shelter, or people to help them find jobs and English classes. We need more support for victims of labor trafficking and labor abuse! 

How are you feeling about the realities of life as an organizer?

I’m really learning a lot about life as an organizer, especially that it’s not as easy as one might think! It’s definitely been challenging working with the women who have left their abusive situations and are looking to us for support and resources. I’ve learned the difference between the work of an organizer and social worker, but have realized (through experience!) that often times the organizer has to take on the role of a social worker especially in emergency situations. I think there needs to be more support on the resources end for victims of trafficking so that organizers can concentrate more on organizing the domestic workers to affect change and conduct more outreach so that more women can be aware of their rights. 

Although, despite the crisis situations and odd hours the job sometimes requires, I have found the life of an organizer to be extremely fulfilling in that it allows for the empowerment of those who are most overlooked in society and uses that power to create positive change.

Do you have any direct quotes form your ladies?

Hmm there are a lot but I cant remember them right now. Here’s a short one after our victory with Bill 2-08: “We did it!” 

You could find some quotes in an article here.