India has one of the lowest female participation in labour force :: LFPR fell from 31.2% (2011) to 23.3% (2017) | this fall is sharp in rural areas (>11%).
Why such low participation?
Patriarchal mindset
Low social acceptability of women working outside the household.
Lack of access to safe and secure workplaces
Widespread prevalence of poor and unequal wages | even in US, for every $ earned by a male, women earn only 80 cents.
Discrimination in the hiring process — structural flaws
Lack of decent sanitary facilities for women
Lack of infrastructural requirement for the women workers.
Education and work — a strong negative correlation between education and participation in agriculture | educated women prefer salaried jobs over agricultural labour.
It is estimated that among people (25-59 yrs) working as farmers — 33% are women | women as managers and clerical workers is just 15%.
Unpaid and unrecognised work
Women are often subjected to work which is grossly unrecognised, under or unpaid.
We must do 4Rs — Recognise – Reduce – Redistribute – Remunerate — women’s unpaid work
Marginalised section — muslims, tribals, rural are the worst sufferers
Women as Migration workers
Rural to Urban and even Urban to Rural migration is on the rise among women also.
This calls for the demand of safe and dignified working and living condition for migrant workers
Set up migration facilitation and crisis
Helpline number
Medical and counselling facilities
Legal aid facilities
Social housing spaces — rental housing and hostels
Women shopkeepers and hawkers in all market and vending zones.
Women @Agriculture — way forward
Enumerate and remunerate the unpaid and underpaid work they undertake
Recognise women as farmers in accordance with the National Policy for Farmers
Government must collect data in a more directed manner with suitable parameters to first identify the structural issues which keep women away from entering and staying in the workforce, and subsequently take steps to resolve them in a comprehensive and holistic manner.
