Women Workers

Underpaid and Unheard: The Struggle of Kerala's ASHA Workers

The ASHAs of Kerala receive a meagre honorarium though they play an indispensable role in the state’s healthcare. They are seen as 'volunteers' and the centre refuses to classify them as…
▶24-Mar-2025
Ayana Krishna D., Shraddha Jain, Srimanjori Guha
Book
Behind the Rise in Women’s Work-II

The Rise in Female Labour and Work Force Participation Rates

The increasing participation of women in work in recent years as revealed by official surveys, especially in 2023-24, appears to arise from definitional changes that now include groups of women as…
▶16-Jan-2025
Avanindra Nath Thakur, Priyanshi Chaudhary
Book
Behind the Rise in Women’s Work-I

What Does Self-Employment Mean for Women in India?

Contrary to official claims that we have “an equitable, vibrant labour market where women play a leading role”, there has been a decline in real incomes of self-employed women and falling real wages…
▶14-Jan-2025
Jayati Ghosh

Can Marriage Law Reforms Enhance Women’s Agency?

Indian women’s agency is primarily influenced by marital status and caste, rather than religion or education. This suggests that legal reforms alone, like the Uniform Civil Code, might not be enough…
▶05-Nov-2024
Sreeparna Chattopadhyay, Joyita Roy Chowdhury

How Marriage and Motherhood Skew the Labour Market

Life events like marriage and motherhood, which are near-universal among Indian women, have been found to play a significant role in women’s decision to join or leave the workforce. So too sexual…
▶23-Sep-2024
Hema Swaminathan

Towards a Policy for Menstrual Hygiene Infrastructure in Workplaces

Improving menstrual hygiene facilities at workplaces is crucial as a goal in itself and for encouraging female workforce participation. The government must set clear goals and objectives, create a…
▶18-Jul-2024
Kaushiki Sanyal

The Productivity Debate and Women’s Work: Careers or Family Care?

Educated women leaving the workforce hurts India’s growth. But child & family care options are lacking in the work structures we now have. We need “bridge” jobs, like part-time work, to help…
▶23-Apr-2024
Mala Khullar, Ratna M Sudarshan
Book
Book Review

Why There are Fewer and Fewer Women at Work in Bengal

Fewer women are entering the labour market in West Bengal, a decline steeper than in the rest of India. A new book examines structural factors that entrench women and girl children in underpaid,…
▶25-Sep-2023
Padmini Swaminathan

Reconceptualising Women’s Work in the the National Sample Survey

A good approach to build a new framework for measuring women’s work better is for the National Statistical Office to accept the definitions and categories recommended in 2013 by the 19th…
▶04-Aug-2022
Santosh Mehrotra
Essay

The Continuing Relevance of MGNREGA

For more than five years the Government has been lukewarm towards the MGNREGA. Yet, in the midst of the ongoing slowdown this very programme is a potentially effective instrument that it can and…
▶17-Mar-2020
Sudha Narayanan