Increase of Urban Women’s Work Participation and Quality of Employment in Paid-Domestic Work: A Survey in Delhi-NCR and Kolkata-Asansol

A rise in female work participation in the urban sector creates a vacancy for care work at the household level and triggers a second round of job creation for females. In order to explore whether this process gives rise to decent employment for the female domestic workers (FDWs), a primary survey was conducted among domestic workers in the cities of Delhi, Noida, Kolkata and Asansol. The workers surveyed are, by and large, in low-wage, precarious employment, without social security and have an exhausting routine of work inside and outside the home. Apart from the lack of job security, sickness and disease also add to the uncertainty. Given the double burden of income-earning work and own domestic work, the FDW is crucially dependent on her health and strength, and often incurs health-related expenditure. But they contribute to their household income and have some autonomy in household decision-making. The informal working conditions for these workers, the need for social security and their low wage levels are all areas that need serious attention from policy-makers. Health insurance and pension plans would benefit the domestic workers, given that their work involves a requirement for robust health and the strength that youth brings with it.

Factors Contributing Towards Women Employability: An Impact Assessment of a Women Skill Development Training Program

It is an impact assessment study of a women skill development training program namely District Industrial Homes in Punjab. A quasi experimental (ex post facto) research design has been applied to develop a counterfactual relationship between the outcomes of this program and the demographic and personal characteristics of the women trainees that have get training from the program within time period of 2016 to 2019. The analysis has observed that computer application and stitching/ cutting are most popular trades among women. Further, it has been observed as the time period since the women has gotten training increased the visibility of trained women in market is decreased. The majority of the women were unmarried, of age 15 to 25 years and majority of them have education level intermediate or above. The female work participation was much higher among the women respondents, however, majority of them were unemployed and had no utilization of their skills in daily life business. The data shows that all the unemployed women were unmarried and all the entrepreneur women were either divorced or widow. Another interesting fact have been revealed from the bivariate analysis that all the women that were unemployed have education metric or below metric and all the women that have any employment status have intermediate or above education level. The women employment status has been found more in families with large family size comparatively and all the women that did not practice the veil were unemployed. The female work participation and women employment status have been observed relatively high in low income families. The multinomial regression analysis have established that education level, mother’s education level, family size and own family house contribute positively and age dependency ratio, female work participation, veil and family employment (total) has negative impact on women employment status.

The Gender Gap Index in an upcoming urbanized society: A case study of Sehore Municipal Council, Madhya Pradesh, India

Though urbanization promotes development, the gender gap is being perceived in many socio-economic aspects, in the Indian urban economic scenario. With a 31.16% urban population (in 2011), India has experienced a lopsided development of its urban hierarchy in favour of metropolitan growth which accommodates 42.31% of the total urban population. For various socioeconomic reasons it has a declining female economic participation rate. Sehore M.C. (Madhya Pradesh), an upcoming Class I city, located near the metropolitan cities of Bhopal and Indore, is showing perceptible changes in female work participation, indicating a potential for development in Sehore M.C. along with other smaller cities in Madhya Pradesh. Based on the methodology for the Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI, WEF 2018), the ward wise figures for Sehore M.C. for the partly adopted subindices of Survival, Social, and Economic Participation were calculated using local area indicators from standard international and national agencies to bring out the inter-ward variations in gender gap for Sehore M.C.. Spatial mapping of GGI showed that approximately 91% of wards belonged to the high category but 9% of wards were from the medium category. Suggestions for the promotion of gender parity in the city are made for the overall empowerment of females in Sehore M.C. within the constraints of an urban economic scenario.

FEMALE WORK PARTICIPATION IN AGRICULTRUE IN ANDHRA PRADESH: AN ANALYTICAL STUDY

Agriculture is one of the important and crucial occupations in Andhra Pradesh. More than 66 per cent of population is involved in agriculture and allied activities in the state. Women's participation in agricultural activities has been continuously growing compared to that of men which not only implies increased dependence of women on agricultural sector but also reiterates their crucial role in the sustainable growth and future of the farm sector. In other words changes in relation to economic and social changes have crept in the villages since the launch of the liberalization, privatization and globalization (LPG). Youth in the villages in Andhra Pradesh have been migrated to the towns and cities to eke out livelihood and joined the construction works and other menial works. As a result of it, the role of women in rural India has become multiple and their share in the agriculture workforce has increased since 1991.

Female Labour Supply in Tamil Nadu: Some Questions

In this article, an attempt is made to study the trends and patterns of female work participation in Tamil Nadu across districts and examine the effect of structural transformation in the economy on women’s employment in the decade 2001–2011. There is a wide variation in the female work participation rate in the state. It is higher in agro-based, poor and most backward districts and is low in urbanized and industrialized districts as well as in districts with higher levels of per capita income, female literacy and unemployment. The analysis here shows that structural changes in the economy have not resulted in any dramatic change in the quality and quantity of women’s employment. Further, the casual labour segment has been expanding in rural Tamil Nadu with reductions in self-employment.

Changing Patterns of Female Work Participation in Rural and Urban India

Female are an integral part of the overall development of any economy. Their contribution remained immense in different stages of economic development. The contribution which they make is measured only when they are actively participating in economic activities. In India, the greatest problem that the country is experiencing is that female is either exiting from the work or shifting to the newer areas of work. The basic reason is that they want to be engaged in paid jobs. After the period of economic reform inclination of female towards the paid job is faster than the earlier period. This preference is not only in urban areas but in rural areas as well. The main purpose is to improve the living standard of not only of self but enhance the overall family income to have the better living condition. Today’s women are busy exploring new areas of work. They are trying to improve their qualification and working hard towards skilling themselves. But in the midst of all these efforts from their side, there are many constraints which are proving as a hurdle in their work participation. These bottlenecks need to be removed to provide them with better opportunities so that they can enhance their abilities to adapt themselves with the changes in the internal as well as external environment. The status of women in India has been subject to many great changes over the past few decades. The objective of my paper is: to know the pattern of female work participation in rural and urban India; to examine the areas from where they are exiting; to know the areas where they are shifting; what needs to be done to stop their exit from the work and how to provide them with work preferences so that their potentialities can be utilized for the overall growth and development of the economy.

OCCUPATIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE SCHEDULED CASTE WOMEN IN KERALA

Kerala, which ranks first among the Indian States in terms of Human Development Index (HDI) and Gender Development Index (GDI), presents, however, a poor picture in terms of female work participation. This is paradoxical since the development experience of the State is universally acclaimed as a model for poor States to follow for transforming the living conditions of their people, through enlightened policies of promotion of health care and education. But, the most tragic failure of development in the State is the acute unemployment and low labour force participation rates of both men and women. Reckoned in terms of all the three measures of unemployment – usual status, current weekly status, and current daily status - used by NSS, Kerala has the highest incidence of unemployment both for males and females and in rural as well as urban areas. Educated unemployment in the State is even more severe. This paper analyse the occupational structure of the scheduled caste women in the State.