Page 80 - DECO303_INDIAN_ECONOMY_ENGLISH

Unit 5: Unemployment in India

Notes

Case Study Women Workers in India in the 21st Century –
Unemployment and Underemployment

he global economy has created a flexible labour market and the myth of ‘feminization
of work’, in reality, it has led to unemployment and underemployment of women
Tin India. One study puts female unemployment at six to seven times that of men. In
the rural areas, 30 lakh women have lost jobs in agriculture and livestock. Women have
lost 1,45,000 jobs in the textiles sector during 1994-2000. Female underemployment is also
increasing at a faster rate than men. This article will concentrate on some aspects of
women workers outside of the agriculture sector. India has 397 million workers out of
which 123.9 million are women. 106 million of these workers are in the rural areas and the
remaining 18 million work in urban areas. Only 7% of India’s huge labour force is in the
organized sector, which includes workers on regular salaries, in registered companies
and firms. The rest of the workers – 93% work in the unorganized or informal sector. The
figures for women workers in India are even more dismal – almost 96% of the women
workers are in the unorganized sector. The female work participation rate (WPR) has
increased overall from 19.7% in 1981 to 25.7% in 2001. In the rural areas it has increased
from 23.1 to 31% and in the urban areas it has risen from 8.3 to 11.6%. ‘Participation’,
however, has been largely distress induced and has compelled women to take up jobs
which offer very poor wages and no social security. There has been a significant increase
in women employed in petty retail trade, hotels and restaurants in the last decade as part
of survival strategy of poor urban households. Hotels and restaurants have shown an
increase of 2,78,000 women workers from 1994 to 2000. These are typically low paying
jobs where women work for long hours without any benefits and face sexual harassment.
The 9 sectors where 90% where Indian women work are agriculture, livestock, textiles and
textile products, beverage and tobacco, food products, construction, petty retail trade,
education and research and domestic services. The number of women working in
agriculture in the years 1999-2000 was 7,91,30,000 which accounted for 64.3% of the
workforce. Next came livestock which accounted for 9% of the workforce. The domestic
services sector employed 3.2%, retail trade 3.4%, textiles and textile products 2.8% and
beverage and tobacco industry 3.0% of the workforce in the same period.
In the urban areas a majority of women work in the informal sector, which include
household industries, building construction, petty trade or in domestic services. There has
been a significant increase in the casualisation or informalisation of the workforce both
male and female since the late 1970s. In 1983, casual workers accounted for 31.5% of the
workers, in comparison, 7.5% were salaried and 61% were self-employed. The latest round
of the national sample survey records an increase of casual workers to 37.3% in 1999-2000.
While salaried workers have fallen to 6.7% of the total, the self-employed category has
fallen from 61% to 56%. The National Sample Survey shows that during 1999-2000 the self-
employed accounted for 55% of male employment and 57% of female employment. About
36% of employed males and 40% of employed women were casual labourers. Only 9% of
employed men and 3% of employed women were regular employees.
The handloom industry which has been the largest employer of women after agriculture
and livestock suffered serious setbacks in the 1990s and is slowly being replaced by the
beedi industry as the largest employer. The power loom sector’s growth has been at the
expense of the organized mill sector. It is estimated that there are a total of about 17 lakh
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