Studies suggest that trade liberalization has led to higher employment opportunities for women, however, with respect to certain specific sectors and there are analyses of how trade openness has adversely affected women’s economic and social status. It is usually in this context, a need arise to identify gender sensitive sectors/processes to authenticate the impact of trade integration. It is extremely important to understand that “globalization and trade liberalization do not eliminate existing inequalities in access to resources, power and decision-making between men and women in society.[2]Hence, its effects would vary based on the level of development of a country, the sector of the economy whether agriculture, manufacture or services (is affected) and the existing nature of social and economic inequality. In case these inequalities remain unaddressed it reduces productivity of those engaged and this act as an impediment for promoting further trade.
Therefore, the objective of the current study is not only to identify a sector/process where women are engaged in large numbers and suggest a policy measure that accrues to that particular sector alone but also it is an initiative to have an overall understanding of the nature of existing inequalities in the so called “export driven sectors” of the Indian economy. This would have meaning while our efforts to measure development shifts from the market determined factors to human development indicators. The current study acknowledging the existing links between gender, trade and development while each affect the other also records the fact that as more women enter the realm of ‘economically productive’ jobs – they are exploited at the same time since a lot of informal sectors feed the formal tradable sector and women are engaged in large numbers in the informal sector activity. To assess the benefits and costs of open trade the prerequisite is to have a clear understanding of the profile of the workforce in the tradable sectors.
In an attempt to draw a profile of the workers engaged in the export oriented sectors, this study gives an initial overview of the available data. Trade data in India provides information on the export and import of final products and profiling of the workforce requires data on the production process involving various layers of occupation. Further, there are firms catering exclusively for the domestic market in a sector that has tremendous export potential. It is important to distinguish the production process and factor income between an export oriented and a domestic market catering firm. However, this is not possible with the existing secondary data. Thus, this study is limited in the sense that it captures the whole sector without comparing the firms within.
For this study, export oriented industries including those having huge potentiality for exports (evidenced by research) have also been considered. Comparing the results of the latest two rounds of NSS (55th and 61st) the results clearly tells us whether female employment has increased vis-à-vis male counterpart in the selected export oriented sectors and whether their work status has improved over time.
Analyzing detailed employment data on 20 industries/services, 6 agricultural sub-sectors and fishing we find that employment in the tea sector is declining and this is true for both male and female workforce. The other sectors which have seen negative employment growth are manufacture of food products and beverages, rubber and plastic products and air transport. It is important to note that in case of rubber and plastic manufacturing it was a huge decline in male employment which offset the growth of female employment thus recording an overall negative employment growth. On the other hand, in case of air transport there was a significant fall in female employment which resulted in negative growth.
Within the selected sectors highest concentration of women workers in 1999-2000 is seen in manufacture of tobacco products (76%) followed by air transport (51%), growing of cotton and vegetable textile (48%), growing of tea (45%) and oil seeds (40%). In 2004-05 air transport saw a decline, whereas growing of tea, oilseeds and hospital activities reporting a rise. State-wise distribution of women workers indicate that in wearing apparel women from southern states constitute a large chunk whereas higher concentration (more women than men in this activity)is seen in the states like Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur and Goa. Again, in case of hospital activities about 10.7% of the all-India total female employment comes from Kerala which constitutes almost 67% of the total employment in this sector in the state. Maharashtra too depicts another case where it records highest percentage of women workers all-India in hospital activities but is nowhere close to the other states in terms of concentration. From this, one can argue that any policy intervention that deals with this sector should focus at the regional level as well for desired outcomes.
Age wise classification of the workers in the sectors identified reveals that very high percentage of girl child labouers are found in mini ng of metal ores, textiles, publishing and printing. A new trend involving very young female workers is seen in other mini ng and quarrying sector as well as in tobacco production. Child workers are also recorded in substantial numbers in fishing and agriculture. These factors may invite other countries to impose social clause restrictions while the sector may have great export potential, hence require specific intervention at the domestic level. Again, very high rate of illiteracy (90%) is recorded especially among women workers in mini ng (NIC 13 and 14).
Another important finding is with respect to work status in the selected list of sectors/activities as we find that there are very few employers both in case of males and females. But the situation is relatively worse for the females as entrepreneurial skill enhancement for women is yet to be considered seriously. Incase of male work status we find that in the NSS 55th round highest percent (4.09%) of male as employers is from publishing and printing sector but there are no females under such category.
Based on NIC 5 digit classification of the sectors/activities selected for the current study very high concentration of female workers are found in inland fishing (50%). Incase of mini ng and quarrying women are involved in operation of sand or gravel pits, basalt / porphyry, clay (ordinary), crushing and breaking of stone for use as a flux or raw material in lime or cement manufacture or as building material, road metal or ballast and other materials for construction. In the textile sector women are in weaving, manufacture of cotton and cotton mixture and silk fabrics, spinning and fiber blending, embroidery and zari work and manufacturing of coir products. During the study period, women workers are seen to spread in other sub-sectors of the textile industry and these are mainly custom tailoring, manufacture of fur products, etc. In case of leather products more than 65% female are engaged in footwear sector. Other important sub-sectors where females are mostly engaged are flaying of raw hides and skins, tanning, manufacturing travel goods (bags, ladies purses, handbags, etc).
There is significant change in trading activities perceived in the selected sectors during the study period. In 1999-00 sub-sectors where women were mainly involved are trading of grains and cereals, textile, scrap products, etc. In 2004-05, trading of scraps and waste products seems to have become the most important sub-sector where women are involved. Apart from this, women are involved in trading of vegetables, fruits, agricultural raw materials, etc.
With regard to nature of employment in the selected sectors for the study it is seen that that nearly half of the women engaged in sectors like computer and related activities, wholesale trade, manufacturing of furniture, rubber and plastic and other mini ng and quarrying sectors are engaged as temporary workers. In the NSS 61st round highest percentage of male employers belong to wearing apparel (3.79%) and the percentage of female employers in this sector is 3.55%. It is also important to note that large number of women work as ‘own account workers’ (OAW) and ‘unpaid family worker’ (UFW). In the selected industries for the study relatively high percentage of OAW are seen among males and UFW among females. Large increase of female casual workers is observed in wearing apparels and hospital activities but in case of the former sector the percentage of male casual workers also has come down. Thus, one can argue that more regular employment for males in wearing apparels has come with more casual employment for females. The fall in the percentage of female casual workers in the 61st round has been supplemented by a rise in the percentage of own account workers and unpaid family workers. This indicates that the vulnerability of the workers remains and a fall in the percentage of casual employment is of little importance. Similar is the trend in the mini ng (metal ores) sector also as we find that female casual employment fell from 93% to around 3% from the 55th to 61st round however, during the same period OAW and UFW rose from 0% to 96%. It is therefore essential to look into the quality of employment to assess its role towards poverty reduction and development.
Wage rate differential (for the same job in the same sector) depict the level of gender based inequality. Average daily wage for the salaried workers in the selected sectors for the study (computed from the NSS data) indicate that in the rural areas (NSS 61st round) males earn more than double the wage of females in specific sectors like mini ng, food and beverage, paper and paper products, publishing and printing, chemical and chemical products. In most of the remaining sectors women earn only half of what is earned by their male counterpart. In the urban areas situation is more or less similar. However, it is important to note that in the case of casual workers the wage gap seems to have narrowed. So on one hand we have the case of wide wage gap for regular salaried workers (presumed to work on a permanent nature) and on the other casual workers with reducing wage inequality.
Social protection and social security is an important aspect of decent work and in the sectors we are concentrating for this study we find that more than 80% of the male regular wage employees in sectors like fishing, manufacture of tobacco, wearing apparel, leather products, fabricated metal, wholesale trade and hotel and restaurants are not covered by any safety net. However, in case of air transport we find that about 86% males receiving regular salary are fully covered while only 54% of the females in this sector receive full coverage. In the rest of the cases, more than 50% of females in each sector go without any coverage in terms of social security. Absence of any health care and maternity benefits disproportionately affect the poor and vulnerable especially women as their health expenditures are generally higher than males. Further, social security schemes do not always cover the specific needs of women with respect to health issues and hence the role of primary health care becomes indispensable. It is essential that health care systems should cater to the special needs of women and girls apart from the health services for all.
Finally, it is recognized that the extent of unionisation is low in these sectors and it is in this context that we need to respect and promote collective negotiations between workers and employers/management. Workers organizations play a dominant role in reflecting the real problems associated with the specific sectors and in achieving a fair working relation. To promote this remains a real challenge.
In the light of the foregoing analysis it is clear that the gender profile drawn across the specific export-oriented sectors is not uniform. International trade has opened opportunities for employment in some sectors but it is observed that there are huge costs involved in terms of vulnerable employment and rising inequality. Women’s employment is temporary and underpaid. To address this, we need a twofold policy – one to address trade development and the other social development and both are complementary to meet the challenges of fair trade.
Based on employment patterns sectors/activities could be identified which are labour intensive at the same time tradable and steps should be taken towards imparting adequate skills for the workers involved. Provision for on-job training is important for women since they usually undertake low-skill jobs which have little to do with skill enhancement. This is more challenging for women as given their access to education and market intervention along with social conditioning that allot specific jobs for them – programs should have inbuilt mechanism to address such realities. Government should take a leadership role in counseling and skill diversification programs so that the workers especially women adapt themselves to the new scenario.
Given the fact that high concentration of women worker is also seen in sectors with possibilities of home-based work signals the unequal burden of women workers with responsibilities of child care, cooking and household chores as well as care for the elder and sick members of the family. While there is a problem in measuring women’s paid and unpaid work the important factor remains that unless household work is shared by men, women continue suffering due to “time poverty”.
With very few women as entrepreneurs/employers in the export oriented sectors we have studied, it again signals their unequal access to resources and credit and information. This is vital for women’s empowerment and special effort needs to be taken to remove such constraint. It is equally important to draw women’s participation in non-traditional and productive sectors as well. Training opportunities in entrepreneurial skills such as management and financing will go a long way. Here the role of the local government is crucial to make room for such developments.
A huge gender gap in terms of wages is seen in the sectors selected. The Equal Remuneration Act 1976 was enacted in India to prevent discrimination on grounds of gender. The Act is applicable to a wide range of employment including informal sector and is supported by penal provisions. Such enactment necessitates implementation. In order to bridge the gap it is also important to spread education especially among women. To start with, the Government of India has an enactment for making primary education a fundamental right and efforts need to be taken by the state and civil society to translate the same into reality.
Following from the above, in order to make women’s participation in the labour market effective it is essential to address the special needs in terms of maternity leave, safe working conditions, affordable child care services and regular work status. Unless the environment is conducive for the workers it is difficult to ensure efficiency. Adequate policy intervention by the state is crucial in this case.
It is also well argued in literature that gender inequality reduces the potential for women to access quality health care. Health expenditures are generally more in case of women and lack of quality heath care disproportionately affect the poor and vulnerable especially women. While government is cutting expenditures on social services the situation seems to get worse and it is absolutely essential to demand universal health coverage through primary health centres for mitigating the adverse effects. As far as social security issues are concerned, it is a pity that in India majority of the workers are uncovered and we are awaiting the legislation in this line for the coverage of the informal sector workers. Here again, it remains to be seen how the gender equity issues has been addressed.
It is also suggested by experts that the argument in favour of gender equality should now focus on the inclusive aspect wherein the gains will be shared by men and the society will benefit at large – rather than a ‘rights based’ approach. Evidence-based research is necessary which will enable informed decisions at the policy level. It is in this line that gender implications of international trade should be discussed not only within Ministry of Commerce and Industry but also in other mini stries like Ministry of Labour and Employment, Agriculture, Statistics and Program Implementation etc. For example, Minsitry of Labour, GOI has announced the National Policy on Skill Development, March 2009, which has a lot of relevance in the context of existing gender inequality. Ministry of Statistics can come up with sex-aggregated data as desired by the Commerce Ministry in specific sectors and so on. Hence inter- mini sterial efforts become crucial towards policy formulation and implementation.