GENDER BASED RECENT TRENDS IN EMPLOYMENT IN INDIA

The Supreme Court in a recent judgment reprimand the Indian government on Census
parameters, which place housewives and women, engaged in domestic work in the
same economic bracket as “prostitutes, beggars and prisoners”. While giving the
judgment Justice A.K Ganguly commented, “One has to admit that in the long run, the
services rendered by women in households sustain a supply of labour to the economy
and keep human societies going by weaving the social fabric and keeping it in good
repair. If we take these services for granted and do not attach any value to them, this
may escalate the unforeseen cost in terms of deterioration of both human capabilities
and the social fabric.”

For several centuries, women have been subordinated, not only socially but also
economically especially in terms of employment. While some sectors are deemed unfit
for women, often it is seen that women are at the receiving end when it comes to
payment of wages. As per the World Bank indicators, Women participation in labour
force in 2005 was 40%, while in south Asia it was merely 29% in 2007. As per Census
of India 2001, the work participation rate for females is 25.7 %( 22.3% in1991) whereas
that of males is 51.9 %( 51.6%).

Table 1.Work Participation Rates (WPR) by sex 1991 - 2001 (Census) (in percentage)
Census Male Female Percent
year
1991 22.3 51.6 37.6
2001 25.7 51.7 39.3
Work participation rate (WPR) is proportion of workers to total population

The above statistics make us believe that there has been a substantial rise in women
employment over the last few decades. Looking at the Worker Participation Rate, we
are bound to say that women's share of World in the labour force is on the increase with
some women having been integrated in the formal economy, improving their financial
status and increasing their numbers in certain professions and management positions.
However, increased employment has not resulted in better access to higher paid jobs,
nor has it mitigated discrimination. In fact, some studies reflect a decline in labour

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standards and occupations for women. Furthermore, women are often the last to benefit
from job expansion and usually the first to suffer the consequences of job contraction.
This is particularly evident in countries of Asia and Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa

India in Era of Globalization

In the last two decades, India has seen vital shifts in its perusal of economic policy.
From being an interventionist, almost closed economy, India is now following the
policies of Globalization, Liberalization and Privatization. With the removal of licensing
system, there has been a spate of deregulation. In addition, it has affected the labour
market. This is reflected in the increase in unemployment rates all across the world,
especially in the formal sector of developing countries where workers are forced to take
up low paying jobs due to lack of social security and unemployment benefits. Economic
opportunities created by the liberalization are highly unequal. Those better endowed,
with more access to skills, to markets, and with more resources or better links
internationally have been able to benefit. It has accentuated the poverty-unemployment
generation-poverty cycle with governments being unwilling or unable to intervene in
employment generation.
With more and more emphasis being paid on technological skills, a small number of
highly skilled professionals is in demand and has had an impact on mobility of labour.
While skilled labour especially those involved in IT, banking and finance related have
benefited, the semi-skilled or unskilled worker has been adversely affected. They are
finding it increasingly difficult to move to better paying jobs and hence they have to
move into low-wage low-productivity jobs.
. With the removal of licensing system, there has been a spate of deregulation. In
addition, it has affected the labour market. This is reflected in the increase in
unemployment rates all across the world, especially in the formal sector of developing
countries where workers are forced to take up low paying jobs due to lack of social
security and unemployment benefits. Economic opportunities created by the
liberalization are highly unequal. Those better endowed, with more access to skills, to
markets, and with more resources or better links internationally have been able to

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benefit. It has accentuated the poverty-unemployment generation-poverty cycle with
governments being unwilling or unable to intervene in employment generation.
With more and more emphasis being paid on technological skills, a small number of
highly skilled professionals is in demand and has had an impact on mobility of labour.
While skilled labour especially those involved in IT, banking and finance related have
benefited, the semi-skilled or unskilled worker has been adversely affected. They are
finding it increasingly difficult to move to better paying jobs and hence they have to
move into low-wage low-productivity jobs.

Feminization of Labour

Globalization and liberalization has brought massive changes in the last few years. the
Indian economy has witnessed a series of reforms, encompassing all major sectors of
the economy (agriculture, industry, trade, foreign investment and technology, public
sector, financial institutions, and so on);.There are rapid shifts in employment pattern as
seen in Asia, especially for women who are first drawn into exports sector and then
ejected from it, especially around 1980-1990. The boom associated with exports and
manufacturing industry created huge employment opportunity, especially for women
(also known as feminization of labour). They were being increasingly employed as they
formed a bulk of cheap labour in industries where the working conditions were inferior.
Women worker were ready to work part time and accept a lower wage than their male
counterparts. In addition, they did not actively engage in collective bargaining to
improve working conditions. It was easy to hire and fire them.
This created a ‘labour market flexibility, which was necessary keeping in mind the
international competition. Hence, the government also did not actively pursue policy of
protection of labour through effective legislation.
As per a study on liberalization and women worker, by SEWA, an NGO for Self
employed women, the impact of globalization on the employment and income of women
workers has created four distinct trends, which are
1. Loss of existing employment without creation of new employment,
2. Changes due to new technologies and skills,

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 3. Informalisation of work
4. Creation of new employment opportunities

Women Worker in India: Trends

A cross-sectional study of employment in different sectors has been done in order to
assess the gender based employment situation in India in the last few decades. In
addition, differences in wages in terms of gender are studied in order to assess the
situation further.
The Government of India adopted the STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMME
(SAP) in 1990 in response to negative balance of payments and a slow growth rate of
3.5%. It included reduction in public investment, devaluation, slashing of subsidies on
food and fertilizers, reduction of budgetary provision of developmental planning, capital
intensive and 'high-tech' productive activities, economy in government expenditure,
increase in the bank rate, insurance charges and rail tariffs. Although 1990s saw revival
of growth rate in India, it did not translate into creation of more job opportunities. The
NSSO studies on employment revealed a sharp decline in rate of employment
generation across both rural and urban areas

Table 2 WPR for men and women (1981-2001)

Census year Male Female
Rural Urban Rural Urban
1981 53.8 49.1 23.2 8.3
1991 52.5 48.9 26.7 9.2
2001 52.4 50.9 31.0 11.6
Source: Census Reports

According, to the various census reports, there are gender differences among rural and
urban workers. Based on Work Participation Rate, over the years. While the growth rate
has increased from 3.5% to around 8% in the last four decades, it has not translated
into a substantial growth rate across gender over the same period. There are glaring
differences in male/female WPR across rural/urban divide as well. The change in WPR
for urban female from 1991 is 4.3% while for rural females it is merely 1.8% indicating

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that globalization has not benefitted rural women. The male WPR in both the rural and
urban areas were considerably higher than female WPR. In the 2001 census
These differences are indicative of the fact that men still dominate the employment
sector in the country, with their female counterparts lagging far behind.

Table 3 Total employment by type (percentage)

1987-88 1993-94 1999-2000 2004-05
Regular
employment
Rural males 10.0 8.5 8.8 9.0
Rural females 3.7 2.7 3.1 3.7
Urban Males 43.7 42 41.7 40.6
Urban Females 27.5 28.4 33.3 35.6
Casual Labour
Rural males 31.4 33.8 36.2 32.9
Rural females 35.5 38.7 39.6 32.6
Urban Males 14.6 16.3 16.8 14.6
Urban Females 25.4 25.8 21.4 16.7
Self
employment
Rural males 58.6 57.7 55 58.1
Rural females 60.8 58.6 57.3 63.7
Urban Males 41.7 41.7 41.5 44.8
Urban Females 47.1 45.8 45.3 47.7
Source: NSS rounds

A cross sectional study of employment trends reveal sectoral differences across regular,
casual and self-employed workers. Not only is the census indicating towards the trend
of continued male dominance over the years, the reports of various NSS(National
Sample Survey ) rounds also verify the fact as is evident from Table 3..Almost 1/3 rd
women in rural areas are still self employed. This rate has been steadily increasing over
the years. On the other hand regular employment for rural women has been constant
over the same time period, while, female casual labour for rural areas has seen a
decline of about 3% over the years,. However, in case of both regular female workers
and casual female workers there are contradictory trends, with respect to urban areas.
While women regular workers have increased over the years, female casual worker in
urban areas have seen a sharp decline Again there are huge gender differences in

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some cases. This could be also because of the fact that women form bulk of cheap and
readily available labour. In addition, they are physically and mentally better suited to
perform tedious repetitive tasks as well as more docile then men

Table 4 Average Daily Wage Rate (2007-08)

Category Urban/Rural Male/Female Wages

/Person
Regular Rural Male 175.30
Female 108.14
Person 162.94
Urban Male 276.04
Female 212.86
Person 265.18
Casual Rural Male 66.59
(non –public)
Female 48.41
Person 60.33
Urban Male 86.58
Female 51.34
Person 72.24

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Source: Employment and Unemployment situation in India, March 2007-08

Study of average daily wage rate is an important indicator. The above table throws light
on average daily wages among casual and regular workers among rural and urban male
and female. While there are differences in daily wages for casual and regular workers,
this divide is most prominent across the gender divide. The huge disparities with respect
to wages reflect the unequal status of women as workers. It is also an indication of
weak bargaining power of women workers vis-a-vis their male counterparts.

Conclusion

Employment statistics in India reflect a trend of gender based inequality in India. This
inequality has not mitigated with the ushering of Globalization and Economic reforms in
India. The so-called ‘flat world’ has created an illusion of equality, which has however
been questioned by loss of employment and declining trends in important sector s like
agriculture.

Although migration is an indicator of growth, the picture presented by the recent trends
tells a different story. While growth in regular work indicates a growing organization of
work, the steady decline in casual work for women indicate that recession has made
women more vulnerable than ever, as there are very few formal organizations catering
to the needs of women workers.

Lastly, the patriarchic set up the society is perhaps the most reflected in case of
differences between men and women across all sectors and areas. This difference is
very high and unacceptable given the fact that equal work demand equal work. Again,
apart from doing productive labour, women are also involved in domestic, unpaid and
unrecognized labor

With the coming of New Economic Reform, the entire economy has undergone a sea
change in terms of production, trade services. The policy of protectionism of post
independence era is now replaced by that of non-intervention and deregulation.

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The labour statistics provided here and elsewhere have sparked a debate on labour
laws in the developing world. While the organized sector has been able to have some
form of security for its employees, the situation in unorganized sector is worse than
ever. Those working in unorganized sector are unable to receive any benefits due to
either absence of labour laws or loopholes in the existing mechanism

Human resource is the biggest asset of a country. To protect and properly and
efficiently utilize them is an important and huge task for it. With the new era of
Globalization, many challenges are being faced. To address these challenges and
channelize our efforts, we need to ensure that there is a proper distribution of labour

BIBLIOGRAPHY
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of Women and Child Development, Government of India
2. Banerjee, N. Globalization and Women’s Work in Globalization. (2004) by Malini
Bhattacharya(Ed) . Tulika Books
3. Ghosh. J (2009). Never done and poorly paid :women’s work in globalizing India
4. Jhabvala, R., Sinha, S. Liberalization and women worker SEWA Academy, Self
Employed Women's Association (SEWA), Ahmedabad, India
5. Himanshu. (2007) “Employment Trends in India: A Fresh Look at Past Trends and
Recent Evidence”, at Conference on ‘Sustainable Developments and Livelihood’,
organised by Delhi School of Economics and Centre for Development Economics,
Delhi. retrieved from
http://www.csh-delhi.com/team/downloads/publiperso/himanshuDSE.pdf
6. O., Liesl.(2001) Women's Work and Globalisation Trends: The South African
Picture, Globalisation: Challenging Dominant Discourses
7. The little data book on gender 2009 (World Bank. 2009). published by
Development Data Group of the Development Economics Vice Presidency and
the Gender and Development Group of the World Bank
8. Women’s Role Ignored: Court. (2010, July 24). The Asian Age

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9. Worker Participation Rate (2001 Census) Substantial increase in Female Work
Participation Rate retrieved from
http://censusindia.gov.in/Data_Products/Library/Post_Enumeration_link/eci6_pag
e3.html