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

Introduction

The term ‘unorganized’ is often used in the Indian context to refer to the vast number of women and men engaged in different forms of employment. These forms include home-based work (rolling papads and beedis), self-employment (selling vegetables), employment in household enterprises, agricultural work, construction sites, domestic work and many other forms of casual or temporary employment. The unorganized sector is physically more visible in India. It is found in almost all the industrial segments of the Indian economy, that is, in agriculture, industry, household and the service sectors. But though, it has been in existence in India for a long time in one form or the other, it is only in the 1970s that it drew the attention of the policy-makers and researchers notably from the point of view of opportunities for participation in and reaping the benefits of development. In India, the formal sector which received significantly large resources has failed to provide employment to the growing labor force, resulting in the problem of labor force explosion. Under these circumstances, the surplus labor force has been forced to generate its own means of income and employment. This new class of petty- bourgeois is engaged in a variety of economic activities. In all major aspects of employment including the terms and conditions of employment, job security, earnings, perquisites, social security and retirement benefits; the unorganized labor is found to be in a disadvantageous position (Sundaram 2000). As a result of efforts and follow up of labor movements, the Government of India in the past years has woken up to the concerns of unorganized sector. Yielding to the sustained campaign by these movements, the government has enacted social security act. Workers India Federation (WIF) is also proposing to assist the government by opening facilitation centers for dissemination of important information to the working class with social security schemes and programmes. Early steps in this direction have already been taken by WIF to build up a strong nation with secured workers. WIF is now a registered body. The Labor Department of the Union government has approved WIF as an organization for unorganized workers, which may be able to achieve national trade union status for unorganized workers of India in near future (Vattakuzhy 2010).
The non-institutionalized unorganized sector comprises workers doing casual work like domestic workers, sweepers, scavengers etc. A key factor in the growth of informal activity in most developing regions has been the plummeting value of wage. The informal sector has not only offered the possibility of work to the unemployed, but has permitted survival of many households with wage earners. Some division of labor exists between formal and informal sectors on the basis of gender. It has been suggested that women tend to stay within the informal sector because of the flexibility of working arrangements and diversity of opportunities. The position of women in the unorganized sector has been poor. The Shram Shakti Report (IIa Bhatt Commision1988) has brought out comprehensively the nature of self-employment taken up by women in this sector and has offered several suggestions for both men and women workers in this sector.
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).
Unorganized Women Workers: The Indian Scenario
Women in our society have so far 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. 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, 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, struggle everyday 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 the home. 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.
Women’s contribution to the economy by and large remains unrecognized. Yet, their services are valuable. 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 face the additional inequalities of gender in this sector. These translate into many tangibles--unequal wages, no maternity benefits, sexual harassment and poor nutrition and ill- health. Women in the unorganized sector as well as countless other women invariably also do a wide variety of "invisible" work, and often shoulder the dual burden of paid and unpaid labor. The unpaid contribution of many of the activities (associated with household maintenance, provisioning and reproduction) which are typically performed by women or female children tends to be ignored in calculations of labor (Joshi 2007).
Breman (1985) reports that women workers often have to work till the last stage of pregnancy and have to resume work soon after child birth exposing themselves and the child to considerable danger. Saradamoni (1995) reports that female laborers mostly from Kerala in the fish processing industries in Gujarat are subject to various forms of hardships and exploitation at the hands of their superiors. Rao and Suryanarayana (2013) consider that with the entry of younger women in the export processing zones, market segmentation is being accentuated, female-dominated jobs are being devalued, degraded and least paid. Though this does not augur well for women development, it has not deterred women from contributing to family survival, and these are the women who settle down in the labor market as flower/ fruit vendors, domestic servants and allow the men to find suitable job leisurely or improve their skills.
The stigma attached to domestic work has long been ingrained in the mindset of the Indian society. Domestic work is seen as menial and impure occupation traditionally performed by people, mostly women and children. Domestic work has a long history in India with both men and women working in others’ homes as servants. Both in the urban and rural contexts, the nature of work and workers have been rapidly changing. The sector now primarily comprises women domestic workers who are not recognized as workers while their work is undervalued. This is primarily due to the gendered notion of housework; value is not ascribed to women’s work in homes, and by extension, even paid work in others’ homes is not given any value or regarded as work. It is also undervalued because it is often performed by poor and migrant women. All these contribute to the inferior status of their work, both in their own minds and in society. Domestic work, however, is still undervalued. It is looked upon as unskilled because most women have traditionally been considered capable of doing the work and the skills they are taught by other women in the home are perceived to be innate. When paid, therefore, the work remains undervalued and poorly regulated. By contrast, studies that provide space for domestic workers to speak often reveal their belief in the dignity of their hard work and, as such, it warrants recognition and respect and calls for regulation (Roberts 1997). Domestic work includes mental, manual and emotional aspects, including care work that is necessary to maintain people and communities (Anderson 2000).
Anderson further draws attention to domestic work being rooted in the community. The employer-employee relationship is a complex one and is viewed as one of domination, dependence and inequality. Also, this is an area of work where the employer and the employee are mostly females. As home is the site of work, relations between employer and employee are often not limited to work but spill over as larger support systems. Domestic workers in India took access to sufficient and effective statutory measures and institutional mechanisms for their protection. Steps have been taken by the government both at the national and state levels to protect their rights. Nevertheless, the few labor laws enacted by the national and state governments addressing domestic workers face the challenge of implementation. This is aggravated by the discriminating attitude of many employers against the domestic workers. As a result, those who carry out domestic work are largely ignored in working sectors often socially excluded and economically exploited. On the other hand, the government recognizes the prominent role of migrant domestic workers as a source of foreign exchange in the Indian economy and a solution to the country’s unemployment issues. Compared to their local counterparts, a higher degree of regulation is exerted by the government in the process of their deployment. But despite efforts by the government, Indian domestic workers within and outside the country remain vulnerable to all forms of exploitation from the moment, they enter the recruitment process till they enter the workplace. Care work in the household whether performed by paid employees or by unpaid household members as part of their family responsibilities and as a “labor of love” is quite simply indispensable for the economy outside the household function (Roberts 1997). The growing participation of women in the labor force, changes in the organization of work and the intensification of work, as well as the lack of policies reconciling work and family life, the decline in state provision of care services, the feminization of international migration and the ageing of societies have all increased the demand for care work in recent years. The unorganized sector is the biggest source of female employment. The threat posed by foreign capital as well as trade liberalization will seriously affect availability of employment opportunities for women in this sector. Women entered the market for wage labor after the industrial revolutions, creating employment opportunities. Their significance was considered marginal and they constituted the reserved labor force. They entered the labor market only when the economic necessities forced them to supplement the meager family earnings.
The life of unorganized sector workers is very tough. Social workers and educationists have been for a long time concerned more with women empowerment and have contributed a great deal in focusing attention of the people to the importance of several factors which should be taken care of in helping women to develop fully.
Despite the existence of various constitutional and legal provisions safeguarding women’s employment, a large number of women workers, particularly in the unorganized sector suffer from various disadvantages relating to their working lives as well as home lives. The coverage of labor laws has not benefited these women workers in many crucial area, especially health, maternal and social security. A striking feature of most unorganized sector employment is that workers are employed largely through unorganized contractors or subcontractors (Kamala and Madhav 2011).
The urgency of extending social security to the unorganized sector brings up the issues involved in providing social security to the unorganized workers. The role of women in rural development covers such aspects like labor migration, decision- making role and socio-economic characteristics of women in male-dominated households. The activities covered are agriculture, fisheries, beedi-rolling. Nature of women’s workforce participation influence women’s decisions to work, the type of work they do, the constraints they face, and the perceived benefits and costs of engaging in paid work outside home. Most working women do not have access to paid leave or provident fund. This reflects the informal structures within which women work.
There are many obstacles to organize women in the informal sector. Women with the dual burden of working for long hours in poor working conditions, on the one hand, and raising children and the domestic chores, on the other hand, find it hard to come to meetings. The Korean Women Workers Associations United and Korean Women’s Trade Union organized an international workshop in 2000 entitled “Perspectives and Solidarity of Women’s Trade Union Movement”. There were extensive discussions on strategies to organize informal and part time workers. One of the strategies was to encourage union activists to visit the women at their workplaces and start active campaigns to inform women about their rights (Padma 2002).
Categorization of Unorganized Labor Force
The ministry of labor, government of India, has categorized the unorganized labor force under four groups as follows:
In Terms of Occupation
Small and marginal farmers, landless agricultural laborers, share croppers, fishermen, those engaged in animal husbandry, beedi rolling, labeling and packing, building and construction, leather work, brick kilns, quarries, saw mills and oil mills work come under this category.
In Terms of Nature of Employment
Attached agricultural laborers, bonded laborers, migrant workers, contract and casual laborers come under this.
In Terms of Specially Distressed Categories
Scavengers, carriers of head loads, drivers of animal driven vehicles, loaders and un-loaders come under this category.
In Terms of Service Categories
Midwives, domestic workers, fishermen and women barbers, vegetables and fruit vendors, newspaper vendors etc. belong to this category.
In addition to these four categories, there exists a large section of unorganized labor force such as cobblers, hamals, handicraft artisans, handloom weavers, lady tailors, physically handicapped self employed persons, rickshaw pullers, auto drivers, sericulture workers, carpenters, tannery workers and power loom workers.
Characteristics of Unorganized Labor
The unorganized workers suffer from excessive seasonality of employment, lack of formal employer-employee relationship and inadequate social security protection. Unorganized sector or informal economy is replete with diverse concepts and lack uniformity of definitions. Based on some of the specific characteristics, the unorganized enterprises could be distinguished from formal sector like no paid leave, no written job contract and no social security to the workers. The high level of growth of Indian economy during the past two decades is accompanied by increasing informalisation. There has been new dynamism of the informal economy in terms of output, employment and earnings. Faster and inclusive growth needs special attention to informal economy. The unorganized labor is characterized as follows:
• It is in general a low wage and low earning sector.
• Women constitute an important section of the workers in this sector.
• Family labor is engaged in some occupations such as home-based ones.
• Piece-rate payment, home-based work and contractual work are increasing trends in this sector.
• Direct recruitment is on the decline. Some employees are engaged through contractors. An increasing trend to recruit workers through contractors is visible in areas of home-based work. There is a sort of convergence of home-based work and engagement in work through contractors.
• Some kinds of employment are seasonal, others are intermittent. As such, under-employment is a serious problem.
• Most jobs are, for the greater part, on a casual basis.
• Both employed and self-employed workers can be found in a number of occupations.
• Workers are not often organized into trade unions. The self-employed are seldom organized into associations. There is not much recourse to collective bargaining.
• There are many co-operatives of self-employed workers.
• Very often, others supply raw materials, production by self-employed workers, therefore, becomes dependent on, or linked with enterprises or individuals active in other sectors.
Quality of Life of Unorganized Workers
Quality of life is the general well-being of the individuals and societies, outlining negative and positive features of life. It observes life satisfaction, including everything from the physical health, family, education, employment, wealth, religious beliefs, finance and the environment. Quality of living of unorganized workers is low as follows:
Non-Availability of Clean Drinking Water
Water is the basic necessity for life but workers in the unorganized sector do not get clean drinking water which leads to several water borne diseases and other health hazards.
Absence of Medical Assistance
The women workers of unorganized sector have a very low level of wages because of which they cannot afford certain medical facilities.
Absence of Sanitation Facilities
This sanitation crisis is detrimental not only to women’s health but also to their education, dignity, community status and overall well-being.
Absence of Social Security
With longer life expectancies than men, it is likely that women over live their savings. No social security is provided to women workers for their old age.
Poor Housing
Good quality housing is a key element for ensuring a healthy village. Most women workers live in poor housing which can lead to many health problems, and is associated with infectious diseases, stress and depression.
Lack of Basic Education
Women in developing world are often denied opportunities for education. Lack of education limits prospects, decreases family income, reduces health, puts women and girls at a risk of trafficking and exploitation, and limits the economic advancement of the entire country.
Absence of Child Crèches
Women workers often have to carry their children to their work places where they get into risk of becoming victim of any accident to health problems.
Incidences of Poverty
 Women workers in the unorganized sector had much higher incidence 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.
 In agricultural sector, it is fact that increased indebtedness is noted as a major reason for suicide in various states.
 Since the wages are very low, they are worst in terms of poverty level and economic status which leads to low quality of living.
Conclusions
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. Government, at some level, should monitor the unorganized sectors to raise workers’ status. More incentives and facilities should be provided at the work sites for the well-being of women workers.
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