Household workers face abuse and exploitation in plain sight I was handed a glass of water while Salma* moved the extra clothes from the charpoy and adjusted herself right in front of me, fixing her shawl and making sure I was comfortable where I was sitting. After a few minutes of small talk about the weather, she asked me about my research and I explained it to her. Her next question left me a little confused and rather annoyed at myself for not being able to answer it coherently. Salma* asked if my research was helping my key subjects in any substantial way. The truth is, it wasn’t. This simply was a task that I was supposed to perform in order to get a degree that would validate my intellect of four years. However, I did see this task as a way of acknowledging and getting to know about female domestic workers who have been a major force behind the growing informal economy of Pakistan even as their labour remains hidden and invisible.