To understand the labour rights of women workers in the unorganized sector it is crucial to explore the notion of livelihood and unpaid work. Sometimes, the discussion on ‘work’ becomes too limiting considering the gamut of issues that impact women workers in the unorganized sector.
Of the unorganized: A way of life rather than work
The sharp differences in the philosophy of work between the village and the city were stark while traversing to a small artisan village in West Bengal. In contrast to the extremely difficult situation of migrant workers in New Delhi, and weavers in the city of Benaras, who have given up their looms, facing abominable conditions of work, the voices of the weavers at Taatipada, were encouraging. For them ‘weaving’ was a leisure activity and a skill which held a place of pride. There were only a few number of hours that they would sit on the loom. Many among them were engaged in allied activities such as agriculture, animal husbandry and poultry farming thereby supplementing their needs with other income activities besides weaving. Though women continued to perform the more meticulous work of spinning thread, for them too, this was part of their everyday life. In contrast, the Benaras weavers who have slowly turned into wage workers on a machine, spend their entire day on the loom owned by someone else, with limited allied activities, high levels of job insecurity and poor health and working conditions. While the deteriorating situation of weavers is well known, the differences seen in Taatipada and what its people tried to communicate in terms of a way of life and philosophy, needs some thought. The transitioning markets have managed to convert ‘livelihoods’ or ‘ways of living’ into ‘work’ and in this process limited our understanding of ‘work’? What does this thus mean for the ‘unorganised’ or ‘self employed’?
What emerges powerfully from the study of traditional crafts in precolonial South India is the symbiotic link that exists between crafted objects and craft persons. In the striking contrasts to the standardization associated with the industrial mode of production, traditional crafts were characterized by asymmetry. In the colonial period a recurrent phrase in the English Company records is the injunction to the Company Agents to ‘Please make them weave to “the perfection of the pattern” which went against the very ethos of the craftsmen who would not kill his individuality and creativity through monotonous repetition.’[1] It is crucial to revoke these elements of our civilisational memory as we head on into a new industrial phase where the agrarian-artisan ways of life continue to argue with post colonial industrial plans. The forms of work and technologies are changing so as to compete with the markets. Similarly informalisation of the formal work force has increased risks and costs of production for households of informal workers. However fewer support systems are made available for these activities and rather than looking at them as entrepreneurial sustainable options for the self employed, there is an unregulated exploitation of these occupations in a free market. More engagement with the ways of life and culture of these communities could point towards working on sustainable and secure livelihood options.
Women’s work: A way of life which is invisible
In fact the distinction between ‘work’ and ‘livelihood’ is crucial to understanding the issues of women workers in the market context. Women are largely engaged in care work, household activities and all allied activities within the household. These activities have traditionally been regarded as ‘non work’. All of this is ‘unorganized’ and has been so for many years. Like the weavers of Taatipada, women across the country, perform many activities which they consider to be a part of everyday life, crucial to survival. These productive activities include domestic duties, maintaining homesteads and kitchen gardens, preparation of cow dung cakes for fuelwood, collection of water, household poultry and dairy, collection of vegetables, fruits and herbs, paddy husking, grinding grains, preservation of pickles etc. Structural factors contribute towards exacerbating this ‘the double burden of work’ and hence women from poorer, rural households, or SC/ST or minority communities do more unpaid work than their urban counterparts. Women’s movements have continued to emphasise the need to recognize women’s unpaid work in the National System of Accounts as a crucial step towards better welfare policies for women, which includes supporting them with productive activities and opportunities within their households, improving their access, ownership and control over resources and assisting them to retain autonomy through low cost regenerative solutions.
The unorganized sector: the poorest and most vulnerable
The terms ‘unorganised’ and ‘informal sector’ work are used interchangeably in India to broadly mean those household level or other enterprises or labour activities which do not come under the purview of any legal framework. The report by the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector(NCEUS, 2007)[2] states that informal workers now constitute 92 percent of the total workforce and that there is a high congruence between this segment of the workforce and 77 percent of the population in the "Poor and Vulnerable" category.. The report also highlights the disparities in income and inequities in the Indian economic system. In the categorization of expenditure classes per day, only 23.3 percent of the total population belonged to the Middle and High income group while 76.7 per cent of the total population belonged to the Poor and Vulnerable group in 2004-05. 95 percent of women were engaged in unorganized sector work force, evincing that the unorganized sector, is the primary source of employment for women.
There is a dearth of research capturing women’s contribution to the economy. While feminization of sectors such as agriculture and unorganized non agricultural home based work has come to be broadly accepted, more macro level qualitative studies are needed to understand the gender dimensions of women engaged with the manufacturing sector and in construction work specifically in terms of their organization and movements. While there is a gender gap in wage differentials, it is also important to note here that women with higher mean years of schooling get the same job as men with lesser education levels. Education has not been a marked factor in improving entry level jobs for women workers indicating gender discrimination. There is a strong sexual division of labour whereby women are segmented into more labour intensive and less paying jobs and in domestic work or the care economy
Recent field case studies have shown that with displacement a large number of tribal women are migrating and forming the labour force in export processing zones and Social Economic Zones where no formal labour rights exist and information is heavily controlled. While this is a broader discrimination of labour rights on the whole, there are few studies on the ramifications of the absence of rights on vulnerable communities in these work conditions which need to be formally assessed and monitored by the State.
Organising and claiming rights
Though the right to freely organize and form Trade Unions is a recognized international human right, informal and unorganized sector workers have found it difficult to organize and collectively bargain for their rights. Many Trade Union leaders admit that it has become increasingly difficult to organize the ‘unorganised’ for several reasons, there being fear of job loss in the private sector, fear of losing the day’s wages in a situation of irregular flow of work, and lack of avenues for information dissemination. Most often unorganized sector workers are from migrant communities alien to the place of work and hence dealing with several layers of fear and insecurity. However workers have come together when they have felt a sense of identity, or there is a common binding cause for them. Mona Sur who has worked with unorganized sector workers for many years in Kanpur shares, ‘That when the textile mills shut down, the membership of the Kapda Mill Mazdoor Union also diminished since people did not see a purpose.’ A common framework or law, place of work or cause helps to bind workers together. In this context the domestic workers women’s movement has been particularly successful defying all pre existing notions.
Citing the case of Gharelu Mahila Kaamgar Union, Minu Sur, shares that the membership constitutes 6000 domestic workers in Kanpur today, where at least 1000 domestic workers meet every weekend to circulate information amongst themselves. The movement started due to the repeated cases of violence and sexual harassment faced by these women at the workplace or while going to work, who found strength in coming together and have negotiated with the State Government of Uttar Pradesh for the Mahamaya Garib Arthik Madat Yojna for one and a half lakh women. This Union along with this universal pension scheme for all rural poor women has made other demands such as health benefits, housing benefits, BPL and ration cards and social security demands. Other Unions have also preferred to negotiate for the right for a space to sell their skills and labour, accidental compensation and institution of representation of workers in the Board usually overpowered by the employers from the State.
Taking from our ethical universe: Ensuring Rights of Workers
The most crucial component and most powerful of the ethical universe governing the people of India is its Constitutional mandate which was set to build a Welfare State by its Directive Principles for State Policy. The Constitutional mandate relevant to the context of unorganized sector workers clearly commits to protecting and safeguarding the welfare of every citizen in the field of economic, social and political life. To achieve this the principles direct the state to minimise the economic inequalities, create opportunities, securing that the citizen, men and women equally, have the right to an adequate means of livelihood; ownership and control of the material resources of the community; that the operation of the economic system does not result in the concentration of wealth and means of production to the common detriment; and that there is equal pay for equal work for both men and women.[3]
However as shared earlier, the income differentials are heavily skewed in the country today, with a small minority in India controlling majority of its resources. 92 percent of the work force constitutes the unorganised sector of which more than two thirds earn less than Rs 20 a day and contribute more than 50% to GDP. (NCEUS 2007). Yet unorganized workers and self employed are penalized through a complex web of licensing and regulatory systems, in contrast to the heavy concessions and tax cuts given to big industrial houses. Rickshawpullers, hawkers, construction labour unions fight for a space to sell their skills and wares and face the wrath of state officials on a daily basis, even going into heavy debts because of the confiscation of their assets.
Unorganized sector workers today are more interested in negotiating with the State for proper health care, social security, education and housing benefits than clashes with employers. Most solutions to these problems tend to be sought from employers rather than workers. State guarantees to these entitlements must be there rather than resting on whims and fancies of owners and given to all workers, organized or unorganized. Unfortunately the Government’s response to the major part of this workforce remains a patchwork of poverty alleviation schemes and benefits rather than a comprehensive law recognizing a set of entitlements.
The article has been written for the forthcoming newsletter published by PAIRVI.www.pairvi.org
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