Breaking from recent trends, the landmark Convention 177 was adopted in Geneva on June 20, 1996, recognising home-based workers at par with traditional wage earners. New Delhi, India – On a searing hot afternoon in a dense working class neighbourhood of the Indian capital, Shehnaz Bano sits on the dilapidated floor of her one-room home, deftly stitching pieces for a new leather jacket. The news has sparked debate among key stakeholders.

Background and Context

What is happening now can be traced back to a series of decisions and events that preceded it.

Such a form of employment is characterised by low wages, denial of workers ’ rights, lack of social security or established hours of work, or paid leave.

The HBWs are also a highly-feminised workforce, with nearly 57 percent being women, according to a 2024 estimate by Women in Informal Employment: Globalising and Organising ( WIEGO), a United Kingdom-based international research organisation focused on improving conditions for the working poor, especially women, in the informal economy.

Significantly, the International Labour Organisation ( ILO), a United Nations ’ body, during a conference at its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, adopted the landmark “ Convention 177 ”, or the Home Work Convention on June 20, 1996, recognising HBWs at the same level as traditional wage earners.

Political Implications

Reactions from key figures have helped frame what this development could mean.

Renana Jhabvala was in the room in Geneva – along with hundreds of government and non-government delegates – when the home-based worker Convention was adopted.

What has become increasingly clear is that as a member of the Self Employed Women ’ s Association ( SEWA), a prominent Indian trade union of women workers, the 73-year-old activist was at the ILO ’ s International Labour Conference ( ILC), and still remembers the exhilaration and optimism in the room.

Alongside the primary story, but labour rights activists, experts and labour economists say a lack of recognition of the HBWs regardless of three decades of adopting the ILO convention has deepened structural inequalities among the workers, especially in a developing country like India.

What This Means for Americans

The implications are multifaceted, touching on issues of policy, people, and public interest.

According to them, the HBWs, especially women, remain largely “ invisible ” to the policymakers, while they are forced to work for inadequate wages under unsafe and exploitative working conditions.

Reports further indicate that “ Convention 177 has been instrumental in recognising home work as ‘ real work ’ and home workers as workers entitled to labour rights, ” Deepa Bharathi, a senior specialist of gender and non-discrimination at ILO ’ s Bangkok-based Decent Work Team, emailed Al Jazeera.

Adding to the complexity of the situation, challenges in labour inspection, gaps in data and the invisibility of home workers in policy frameworks have furthermore slowed progress, ” Bharathi said in response to a question on the low ratification of the Convention, particularly in South Asia.

Compounding the significance of these events, with most home-based workers in the region being women, their work is often seen as an extension of household responsibility, Bharathi declared.

Of particular significance is the fact that when urged about the ILO ’ s priorities for strengthening the Convention ’ s implementation, Bharathi said: “ For women home-based workers in particular, the focus must remain on visibility, fair pay, social protection, safe working conditions, access to training and childcare and a stronger collective voice. ” Bano lives in New Delhi ’ s Kapashera area, a settlement of mainly migrant workers on the city ’ s southwestern edge whose name literally translates to a “ cotton settlement ” in English.

What Comes Next

What this development ultimately means remains to be seen. But its significance — both in the immediate term and over the longer horizon — is already being felt by those involved and those watching from the outside.