An Australian woman living in India has triggered a debate online after sharing her thoughts on house help culture in the country.<\/p>\n
In a video on Instagram, Bree Steele opened up about how different daily life looks in India as compared to the West, especially when it comes to household chores.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t cook or clean in India. Chores, I don\u2019t know them,\u201d she said, adding: \u201cMost middle-class to wealthy households in India have house help. Someone does the cleaning, maybe cooking – whatever you need, you can get help with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Compared to Australia, where people manage full-time jobs along with household chores without assistance, Steele said that she found the idea of domestic help surprising. Having said that, she added that her friends in India do not have a work-life balance because of which it is difficult for them to manage household chores.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first, I thought, that\u2019s what we do in the West. We do everything ourselves. But over time, I observed friends here getting work calls at 9:30pm. There\u2019s no real work-life balance. The expectations are so high,\u201d she said, adding, \u201cFor better or worse, labour is cheap in India, and I have to say, I\u2019m ashamed at how much I\u2019m enjoying it. And how easy it is to fall out of the habit of doing your own cleaning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her post captioned \u201cChores? Hardly know \u2019em! This is one of the least talked about cultural differences between India and the West,\u201d triggered a debate in the comments section, with opinions split across cultural, economic, and ethical lines.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t forget you all have machines. Dishwasher, vacuum cleaner, etc. It\u2019s very dusty here, so we clean our floors daily,\u201d a user said.<\/p>\n
Another added, \u201cOur kind of cooking requires washing utensils by hand. Dishwashers wouldn’t work well. The energy bill would be higher than hiring help.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the users said that her perspective is an important observation: \u201cSometimes I feel we have it so easy in India, and yet we keep chasing Western standards. Thanks for putting it out here.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the users who moved abroad said, \u201cAs someone who grew up in India with house help and moved to the West, I\u2019ll pick the West every single time. Despite the chores, I have more time for hobbies and health.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, labour is cheap in India, but also the cost of living is more affordable. House helps may not have luxuries, but they have access to affordable housing, healthcare, and community support,\u201d another user said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s stop glorifying the misuse of cheap labour in India as something to be excited about,\u201d a comment read.<\/p>\n
Bree Steele\u2019s video has garnered over 4 lakh views so far.<\/p>\n
Published On: <\/p>\n
Apr 29, 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Australian woman living in India has triggered a debate online after sharing her thoughts on house help…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3161],"tags":[31201,31203,31206,31202,31207,31209,3082,53,31208,16,15,31204,31205],"class_list":{"0":"post-60108","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-internet","8":"tag-australian-woman","9":"tag-australian-woman-house-help-india","10":"tag-australian-woman-india","11":"tag-house-help-culture-in-india","12":"tag-house-help-culture-india-debate","13":"tag-indian-culture","14":"tag-internet","15":"tag-technology","16":"tag-trending-news","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-viral-videos","20":"tag-work-life-balance-india"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114421078824091443","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}