Alleviation: An International Journal of Nutrition, Gender & Social Development, ISSN 2348-9340 Volume 5, Number 5 (2018):
© Arya PG College, Panipat & Business Press India Publication, Delhi
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Quality of Living and Incidences of Poverty of Women Workers in the Unorganized Sectors

Razia Parvez
Head, Department of Family Resource Management and Consumer Science
Ethleind College of Home Science
Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture Technology & Sciences (SHUATS) Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
Email: parvez.razia@gmail.com

Abstract

Unorganized sector means an enterprise owned by individuals or self employed workers and engaged in the production or sale of goods or providing service of any kind whatsoever and where the enterprise employs workers, the number of such workers is less than ten (ILO 2008). 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 particularly of those who are engaged in the informal sector of urban economy (Tripathy and Das 1991).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. Thirty–five per cent of Indian households below the poverty line are headed by women and in most cases, are thus, dependent exclusively on female income (Soni 2001). Women workers in the unorganized sector had much higher incidences of poverty than their counterparts in the organized sector. Low level of income and uncertain employment in the unorganized sector make the workers unable to meet their basic necessities and other social and cultural responsibilities. It is very important to change the mindset towards women. Their status needs to be improved for which it is important that they should be provided with education and gender equality.

Keywords: Quality of Living, Poverty, Women Workers, Unorganized Sectors