India has of one of the lowest female labour force participation rates in the world | Photo courtesy: Pratham

By Annette Francis and Dheeraj Dubey
MUMBAI, India, Mar 12 2019 (IPS)

Social barriers have historically been blamed for the lack of gender parity in the workplace. But there are other dimensions to this age-old discourse.

India has of one of the lowest female labour force participation rates in the world. Between 2005-06 and 2015-2016 this figure has reduced by almost 12 percent. Economists use the feminisation U-hypothesis to explain this trend; it predicts that the women workforce participation of a developing economy declines and rises again later due to the changing nature of socio-economic factors within the national ecosystem.

The decline in the curve is a result of factors such as the incompatibility of work and family duties, the stigmas surrounding women working outside the home, and the high incomes of their spouses rendering their contribution to family income negligible.

In India, female labour force participation rates are 22 points below their expected level on the curve.  While there are several factors which contribute to these numbers, internal migration must be recognised as one of the key factors which deters the entry of women into the higher education, skilling and employment ecosystems.

Women and migration

Census 2011 revealed that women form almost 70 percent of the internal migrant community.

For migrants in the 20-34 age group 38.5 percent of men have cited cause for migration as ‘work/employment’, while only 2.7 percent of women say the same. The numbers are reversed when we observe ‘marriage’ as a cause for migration, with an average of 3.1 percent men, and 71.2 percent women.

The contrast between the numbers reflects a pattern: men migrating for work/employment, and their wives migrating with them. While it is probable that these women may have found employment later, work wasn’t the trigger for their migration.

One could speculate based on these numbers, that while the Indian community hasn’t resisted the idea of women moving out of their native homes to other regions, the resistance for mobility of women arises when the reason is non-marriage related.

Challenges surrounding migration and the subsequent hesitation to migrate, are often cited as the main bottlenecks that affects the impact of educational and employment initiatives like Skill India, for women.

When it comes to migration, women face both social and structural barriers

1. Agency: A women often must seek the approval of her father, brother, husband, in-laws, and sometimes the village panchayat, in order to work or learn skills which might make her employable, while still bearing the almost sole responsibility of caring for her children.

2. Technology: A smart phone can be the tool for acquiring a variety of skills, the medium for financial flexibility, a source for exploring opportunities and finding jobs, and much more. However, several recent studies by LIRNE Asia, Pew Research and GSMA have all consistently affirmed that in India, a significant percentage of Indian women are restricted from using smart-phones and accessing the internet, making it all the more challenging for them to leverage the benefits of technology.

3. Women and the workplace: Informal workers from low income backgrounds, especially migrants, do not have basic entitlements such as identity documentation, housing, and financial services. Migrant women are additionally subject to gender-centric challenges, which includes lower pay compared to their male counterparts.

Women have limited opportunities as they are restricted to ‘traditional’ jobs which are closely linked to typical ideas of what women can and cannot do. According to a 2018 McKinsey Global Institute report, India could add up to USD 770 billion to its GDP—more than 18 percent, if it simply advances gender parity in work and society.

Discrimination of women in the workplace takes numerous forms ranging from the absence of maternity benefits to sexual harassment at the workplace. In a sample of Skill India participants, 62 percent of unemployed women reported that they were willing to migrate for work, but 70 percent said they would feel unsafe working away from home (IHDS, 2012). The acute lack of female leadership has made the informal labour sector a non-aspirational one for women, resulting in the sector becoming a male-dominated game.

4. Urban planning and policy: Below is an excerpt from the Census 2011 document, which lists the criteria for recognising an area as a Census Town.

“A minimum population of 5,000; At least 75 percent of the male main working population engaged in non-agricultural pursuits; and a density of population of at least 400 persons per sq. km.”

By definition therefore, the system is choosing to not focus on the number of unemployed or employed women, essentially rendering their contribution to the economy invisible.

This definition has been in place since 1971, was active in 2011 when the last Census was undertaken, and continues to remain unchanged. There were 3,894 areas defined as census towns in Census 2011. If we were to modify the definition to include women as a part of the ‘main working population’, chances are those numbers would be considerably different.

If such exclusion exists in policy documents, how can one expect reforms to trickle down into action?

What are the implications of these barriers?

Women have limited opportunities as they are restricted to ‘traditional’ jobs which are closely linked to typical ideas of what women can and cannot do. According to a 2018 McKinsey Global Institute report, India could add up to USD 770 billion to its GDP—more than 18 percent, if it simply advances gender parity in work and society.

The above narratives tell us that when it comes to women migrating for work, social norms become excuses to delay structural reform, and in turn, these institutional barriers prevent community mindset change. This results in a perpetual cycle, thus, reinforcing the existing status quo.

What are the solutions to correcting these wrongs?

The multi-faceted nature of this challenge makes it a tough one to tackle. But the good news is that there are organisations that have been working to drive change. Based on their work, below are some strategies that need to be adopted and scaled by corporates, nonprofits and other stakeholders.

1. Childcare support

“The starting point of increasing women’s workforce participation is recognising that they are primary caregivers”, says Namya Mahajan, Managing Director of SEWA Federation.

SEWA runs 13 childcare centres in Ahmedabad with about 30 children per center, allowing women to take up better paying jobs and spend longer hours working. “We have seen women’s income increase by more than 50 percent on an average”, adds Mahajan.

2. Technology-based interventions

“Bringing digital devices into a village, helps not just women get access to content for learning new skills, it also changes the nature of learning within the community”, says Medha Uniyal, Program Director of Pratham Institute.

Since 2016, Pratham has been able to connect over 35,000 women to access to smart devices and digital content, through various skilling interventions in rural areas. These women have gone on to start their own beauty parlours, run tailoring classes, and even work as mechanics in cities, dispelling misconceptions surrounding women and technology.

3. Women as entrepreneurial leaders 

“We have noticed high rates of attrition when it comes to women in informal labour, especially given that the informal sector is marred with several issues like low pay and exploitation. And so, we believe, there is a growing need to foster self-employment,” says Poulomi Pal, Deputy General Manager at Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL).

By partnering with several non-profits, the GCPL Salon-i programme has reached out to 1300 salon micro-entrepreneurs who are in turn reaching out to 90,000 women, building their capacity in technical skills and financial literacy. The spillover benefits which are triggered by empowering women to run their own enterprises, contributes to bringing about changes in the workplace ecosystem.

4. Advocacy 

“It is important to recognise the economic contribution of women migrants – both within the country and abroad. This is the key prerequisite for removing the barriers to female migration while safeguarding their rights and welfare”, says Varun Agarwal, CEO of Indian Migration Now.

At this juncture, we need policies to tackle the structural barriers which prevent women from being recognised as key component of the budding Indian workforce. India Migration Now works towards this end through, a comprehensive set of migration research, policy and media projects.

While it may not be possible to change norms overnight, now more than ever there is a need for collective ownership and constructive solutions.

Stakeholders working on women and economic development need to focus their attention on resolving structural problems around migration, which is key to allowing women to pursue education, skilling and employment pathways.

Annette Francis works with Pratham’s vocational training and entrepreneurship arm known as Pratham Institute. She currently focuses on research and innovation projects being pioneered by the organisation. Her primary area of interest is researching technology-based solutions for mitigating challenges in the development sector, specifically within the livelihood and education space. She has previously worked in a teaching capacity with nonprofit and for-profit organisations based in India and Scotland.

Dheeraj Dubey is a documentary filmmaker currently working with the vocational skilling arm of Pratham, on media and research projects. His key area of interest lies in the study of visual mediums such as film and imagery. He has previously worked on various documentary films under the ambit of education, art and livelihoods.

This story was originally published by India Development Review (IDR)

Photo courtesy: Pratham Institute

By Annette Francis
MUMBAI, India, Nov 12 2018 (IPS)

The image of the ‘struggling’ daily wage labourer in India is one that stakeholders from across the development sector aspire to transform. Financial security, quality living conditions, and opportunity to thrive are the buzzwords in a conversation about the needs of this bracket. These workers—usually associated with the informal or unorganised sector—are assumed to represent the outliers of the national economy.

By definition, the informal sector includes those roles which aren’t taxed or monitored by any form of government. Recent findings however, indicate that 81 percent of India’s employed individuals work in the informal sector, of which 64 percent are engaged in non-agricultural forms of employment. Thus, while the informal sector may only contribute a sliver to national income charts, it clearly takes up a sizeable slice in the national employment pie.

These individuals aren’t guaranteed job security or minimum wage employment, and often lack essentials such as identification documents, bank accounts, insurance coverage, access to quality education, and more. If 81 percent of the nation is working in the informal sector, it implies that the work done by 81 percent of the nation isn’t formally recognised as ‘work’.

Challenges around formalising the informal sector

81 percent of India’s employed individuals work in the informal sector, of which 64 percent are engaged in non-agricultural forms of employment. Thus, while the informal sector may only contribute a sliver to national income charts, it clearly takes up a sizeable slice in the national employment pie.
If the problem is so apparent, then why has it been allowed to persist? To understand the wider challenges surrounding this situation, let us explore the case of the construction sector, one which contributes heavily to the migrating population and is widely recognised as a part of the informal economy.

1. Tracking and monitoring

For starters, monitoring this extensive cohort is a difficult task, owing to the widespread migration of the labour workforce. It is estimated that there are 5 to 6 million interstate migrants a year in India, growing at a rate of 4.5 percent annually. This includes undocumented workers who migrate seasonally across multiple locations, working for various employers, potentially across numerous sectors. These dynamic parameters make it challenging for government bodies to effectively track informal workers over a long duration. As a result, they are often excluded from state policies at both the source and destination.

2. Turning policy into action

For workers in the construction sector there are legal provisions, set within policies such as the Building and Other Construction Workers Act (BOCW, 1996), which aim to protect them from exploitation at the workplace.

However, converting these plans to action continues to be a challenging task. For instance, the act stipulates a cess collection, which is to be directed towards worker welfare. However while INR 70,000 crore had to be collected by the various Welfare State Boards, the actual collection amounted to only INR 26,962.18 crore rupees. Utilisation of the funds collected is even lower still.

The hierarchy of power set within this sector places contractors and sub-contractors at the top, while pushing labourers to the bottom of the barrel. The work hours are long and, the working conditions strenuous. Additionally, frequency of circulation of workers is high owing to the changing nature of skills required in a construction site. Since awareness about BOCW is limited among the workforce, there is hardly any demand for welfare measures.

3. Lack of capital

But the problem doesn’t end with worker’s rights. A closer look at the lives of contractors reveals that despite being higher in the hierarchy, they are handicapped by lack of capital and the irregularity of their revenue cycles. As a result, the job security of those employed under them is also at risk.

It is apparent that for these blue-collar entrepreneurs, there are several financial obstacles which prevent them from running their enterprises efficiently and ethically. For example, lack of collateral and poor credit scores prevent them from availing bank loans. Even if they manage to procure loans, the stringent frameworks set within financial institutions reduces the amount of working capital available for utilisation.

Entrepreneurship offers a solution

There are organisations working with entrepreneurs to help them overcome the challenges they face.

1. In 2016 Pratham (the organisation I am a part of), deployed the ‘Good Contractor‘ programme, which provides financial assistance, mentorship, and training for upcoming contractors. The USP of the project is that it has defined an ethics matrix with guidelines for labour welfare, and a candidate’s eligibility to continue in the programme is dependent on how they fulfil the requirements in the matrix.

By recognising upcoming contractors as entrepreneurs, the programme has managed to impact the lives of nearly 400 labourers through 35 contractors over two years in Mumbai. The financial autonomy and mentorship that this programme provides, should be recognised as the key drivers for participation from the workforce.

2. At the start of 2018, the Udhyam Learning Foundation launched the Udhyam Vyapaar model, working on a one-one basis with 30 entrepreneurs. The programme empowers youth at a grassroots level by providing one-one mentorship, to help overcome the challenges which they may be experiencing in running their enterprises.

The objective in this case is to foster entrepreneurs from low income backgrounds, irrespective of the sector or scale of the proposed business plans. The organisation plans to partner with NBFCs to provide funding for entrepreneurs in the nearby future.

3. Having worked on a voluntary basis for 5 years within Aurangabad and Nagpur,  Vruksh Ecosystem has been increasing awareness about the same within local communities, reaching out to over 5000 youth from both rural and urban backgrounds. It has managed to support 30 to 40 entrepreneurs working on enterprises within the sectors of agriculture, healthcare, clean mobility, and sustainable cities, and will officially be launched in, November 2018.

The common denominator for each of these organisations is the message of social impact at a grassroots level, while ensuring profitability for entrepreneurs. The numerous spill-over benefits which are generated through entrepreneurship, scales these models beyond the direct beneficiaries.

The chain reaction which can be generated by starting with a small cohort is what makes them truly click. The rise of these initiatives by nonprofit organisations, strengthens the idea that the solution for improving worker welfare lies in the overall systemic change that may be accelerated through entrepreneurship.

Role of civil society and CSR

With the push towards entrepreneurship created by the Start-Up India movement, workers in the informal economy cannot be excluded from the picture. While they may be at a disadvantage when compared to their counterparts in the white-collar end of the spectrum, it mustn’t be forgotten that these blue-collar entrepreneurs could open the doors required to organise 81 percent of the working Indian population. This is a mammoth task, which cannot be accomplished by simply creating amendments in policy. So, what do we need to do?

1. Inclusive entrepreneurship

We need to recognise that fostering entrepreneurship in an inclusive manner, is steadily becoming the need of the hour. In both rural and urban communities, programmes which focus on employability and foundation skills could begin to spread the idea that entrepreneurship is an accessible career path for people from all walks of life.

2. Training and mentorship

Once the message is out there, the next step is building programmes which can help these aspiring entrepreneurs navigate the challenges they will face. These individuals will require mentorship, training in communication, digital literacy, financial literacy, programme management, and so much more. The goal of their training and mentorship would be to enable them to build a sustainable future for themselves, while creating new job opportunities for others.

3. Financial support

Financial limitations are one of the primary bottlenecks which prevents interested parties from entering starting their own enterprises, and so corporates play a significant role in the success of entrepreneurship models. When the matter of CSR funds arise there needs to be greater willingness to experiment and invest in these models.

Microfinance institutions and NBFCs should be willing to grant business loans to entrepreneurs who are vetted and vouched for by partner nonprofits. With innovation comes risk, and funding entrepreneurs with limited collateral and personal finances is a gamble, but it is one that is necessary to ensure the success of their ventures.

On a final note, dignity of labour is a message that is yet to be accepted by the Indian community, and while we need skilled workers, the need for job creators is greater still. The cause of bringing the informal worker cohort to the forefront of our economy is one that needs to resonate in all corners of the nation. With a working age population of more than 850 million, we cannot afford to ignore the potential that 81 percent of our national workforce represents.

Annette Francis works with Pratham’s vocational training and entrepreneurship arm known as Pratham Institute. She currently focuses on research and innovation projects being pioneered by the organisation. Her primary area of interest is researching technology-based solutions for mitigating challenges in the development sector, specifically within the livelihood and education space. She has previously worked in a teaching capacity with nonprofit and for-profit organisations based in India and Scotland.

This story was originally published by India Development Review (IDR)

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