Sr. Jeanne Devos honoured for her work for India’s domestic workers

(September 21, 2012) A Belgian missionary nun who has spent the past 48 years in India has received a prestigious award for outstanding contribution to protecting the rights of domestic workers. the Immaculate Heart of Mary nun, Sr. Jeanne Devos, the coordinator of India’s National Domestic Workers Movement was awarded the Ramakrishna Bajaj Memorial Global Award at the 28th Priyadarshni Global Awards in Mumbai on Tuesday. The award was presented to the nun by federal health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. The Priyadarshni Academy was established to recognize and honour Indian talent. The biennial awards are also presented to achievers from around the world in different disciplines. Sr. Devos founded India’s National Domestic Workers Movement in 1985 as what was then known as Bombay Houseworkers Solidarity at the request of tribal bishops in Bihar and neighbouring Madhya Pradesh states.
In her acceptance speech, the highlighted some of the problems associated with domestic work, such as the trafficking of women and children, low wages, absence of strong legislation to protect them and physical and sexual abuse by employers. Despite a serious back problem arising from an injury suffered more than 20 years ago, the nun travels across the country establishing domestic worker groups that are coordinated nationally by the National Domestic Workers Movement.
Sister Devos began her work in the early 1970's, when bishops in the Chotanagpur region of Bihar state expressed concern at the number of tribal girls leaving their homeland to work as domestic hands in big cities. The bishops then commissioned a survey which resulted in the birth of the Domestic Workers' Movement. The sister was at that time working in Dindigul in Tamil Nadu but moved to Mumbai where she came in to closer contact with the world of domestic workers. Her work put her in touch with hundreds of girls in Mumbai, Delhi, Bihar, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.