Page 43 - MWG-011

40 Women in the Economy (MWG-011)
Accounts Service, Indian Information Service and Indian Revenue Service. Representation in the
Indian Foreign Service has also increased from over 10% to about 14% and the Indian Administrative
Service Iron 9% to 10%. In the rest of the Services, women’s representation is less than 7%. Indian
women have the lowest representation in the Indian Police Force and the Indian Forest Service (2%
and 3% respectively) (Govt. of India 2005).
Of the total employment of women, the organized sector employment forms only 6 percent. Though
less in percentage they represent the most powerful section of the female labor force as beneficiaries
of the statutory provisions made by the State in order to protect and safeguard their interests.
Protective labor laws are applicable in this sector with regard to women’s work, wages and conditions
of work. They are also entitled to improve their skills, self-development and promotional
opportunities. The women in this sector have better conditions of work and wages compared to the
women in the un-organized sector.
As per Census 2011, manufacturing sector occupies the first place for women employment in the
organized sector with 9.7 lakh employees. The second and third place are held by ‘community, social
and private services’ (8.5 lakh women employees) and ‘agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting’ (4.3
lakh women employees). In the case of illiterate women, organized sector can offer only low paid jobs
with long hours of work, bad working conditions, occupational hazards and job insecurity. However,
educated, talented and skilled women have promising careers and high paid jobs with growing private
sector organizations employing a large number of women employees.
In public sector domain, expansion of the network of the Indian railways, telecommunication, energy
sector, banking, tourism etc., have absorbed a high percentage of women employees. Women find
themselves comfortable in the work-environment these organizations.
Women in unorganized sector: A high proportion of working women in India are employed in
the unorganized sector mainly in agriculture, livestock, forestry, etc. Working women are seen in
agricultural activities like land preparation, seed grading, sowing, dibbling, planting, irrigating,
threshing, winnowing, storing crops, feeding cattle, looking after milch animal and poultry etc. The
nature of work in agriculture which the women laborers perform exposes them to particular health
hazards. In various states, rice transplanting is done primarily by women laborers. This increases their
susceptibility to a number of ailments such as intestinal and parasitic infections, arthritis, rheumatic
joints, leech bites etc.
It is further observed that work participation in the unorganized sector has been increasing.
Immobility is the greatest impediment of women labor that keeps them confined to low paying,
irregular and local avenues of employment in unorganized sector. Ignorance, tradition bound
attitudes, lack of skill, seasonal nature of employment, heavy physical work of difficult types, lack of
job security, long hours of work, lack of minimum facilities at the work place, ill-treatment and
bondage are some of the features of the employment of women in unorganized sector. In the tribal
districts of Orissa, because of deforestation, increased pressure on land, lack of irrigation and
recurring drought conditions, tribal women have been migrating outside their villages, district and
state for periods ranging from two to six months for working in construction projects, brick-kilns and
tea-estates.
Women in our society have so far had only a secondary status and the economic dependence of
women upon men is one of the primary reasons which has pushed them into the background and
resulted into their secondary status both within and outside the family (Wadhera 1976). In spite of the
fact that the women have proved their mettle in every walk of life, their contribution is not given due
credit in most cases. In India women constitute nearly half of the total population and they play a vital
role in domestic sphere, in the rural field and also in urban economy. Yet, their economic status is still
low as it reflects from the census data, particularly of those who are engaged in the informal sector of
urban economy (Tripathy and Das 1991). It is found that among all categories in the informal sector,
domestic servants’ income is the lowest and the problems are many (Sundaram 1996). They are
engaged in household tasks, which include washing utensils, floor cleaning, washing of clothes,
cooking as well as some outdoor tasks such as purchase of vegetables etc. Most of them live in slums;
lead a monotonous life without any color, struggle every day for their survival and face numerous
problems in day to- day life like long hours of work, insecurity of job, low status at home and outside
(Gathia 1983). Women workers contribute significantly to national development by performing
remunerated/paid and unremunerated/unpaid work. They also struggle to combine their roles to look
after their families. In many- a –case, they are at disadvantage as their workplace is in people’s private
homes, outside the arena of labor inspectors. Women household workers have a double burden as
there is greater demand for their skills as care-givers and service workers outside home but they also
work inside home doing the same work which is unpaid.
Unorganized sector always plays a vital role in terms of providing employment opportunities to a large
segment of the workforce in India. Near about 92% of the total employment in the Indian economy