Relevance : GS Paper II
Theme of the Article
More than a ‘more jobs’ approach, addressing structural issues which keep women away from the workforce is a must.
Introduction
India’s recent election is noteworthy in many respects, one of them being the unprecedented focus on women’s employment.
What Data Show?
- Currently, the participation of women in the workforce in India is one of the lowest globally.
- The female labour force participation rate in India fell from 31.2% in 2011-2012 to 23.3% in 2017-2018. This decline has been sharper in rural areas.
Factors Responsible for low Workforce Participation
- The answers can be found in a complex set of factors including low social acceptability of women working outside the household, lack of access to safe and secure workspaces, widespread prevalence of poor and unequal wages, and a dearth of decent and suitable jobs.
- Most women in India are engaged in subsistence-level work in agriculture in rural areas, and in low-paying jobs such as domestic service and petty home-based manufacturing in urban areas.
- But with better education, women are refusing to do casual wage labour or work in family farms and enterprises.
Education and Work Relation
- A recent study observed a strong negative relationship between a woman’s education level and her participation in agricultural and non-agricultural wage work and in family farms.
- Essentially, women with moderately high levels of education do not want to do manual labour outside the household which would be perceived to be below their educational qualifications.
- The study also showed a preference among women for salaried jobs as their educational attainment increases; but such jobs remain extremely limited for women.
Involvement in Unpaid Work
- Women devote a substantial amount of their time to work which is not considered as work, but an extension of their duties, and is largely unpaid.
- The incidence and drudgery of this unpaid labour is growing. This includes unpaid care work such as childcare, elderly care, and household work such as collecting water.
- The burden of these activities falls disproportionately on women, especially in the absence of adequately available or accessible public services.
- It also encompasses significant chunks of women’s contribution to agriculture, animal husbandry, and non-timber forest produce on which most of the household production and consumption is based.
Way forward
- Any government which is serious about ensuring women’s economic empowerment and equal access to livelihoods must address the numerous challenges that exist along this highly gendered continuum of unpaid, underpaid and paid work.
- A two-pronged approach must entail facilitating women’s access to decent work by providing public services, eliminating discrimination in hiring, ensuring equal and decent wages, and improving women’s security in public spaces.
- It must also recognise, reduce, redistribute, and remunerate women’s unpaid work.
- On the question of work, women’s demands such as gender-responsive public services such as free and accessible public toilets, safe and secure public transport, and adequate lighting and CCTV cameras must be met.
- Fair and decent living wages and appropriate social security including maternity benefit, sickness benefit, provident fund, and pension should be provided.
- There is a need for policies which ensure safe and dignified working and living conditions for migrant workers. For example, in cities, governments must set up migration facilitation and crisis centres (temporary shelter facility, helpline, legal aid, and medical and counselling facilities).
- They must also allocate social housing spaces for women workers, which include rental housing and hostels. They must ensure spaces for women shopkeepers and hawkers in all markets and vending zones.
- There is a need to enumerate and remunerate the unpaid and underpaid work they undertake in sectors such as agriculture and fisheries.
Conclusion
Unless policymakers correctly assess and address the structural issues which keep women from entering and staying in the workforce, promising more jobs — while a welcome step — is unlikely to lead to the socio-economic transformation India needs.
