Several of India’s current laws ostensibly help women succeed in the workplace, but actually have the opposite effect of impeding growth and equality.
With the voting phases almost over and election fever at its peak, the election manifestos released by both parties are an important way to decipher which are the primary issues each party considers most important for the nation. While both manifestos have attached different weight to topics such as security and economic development, they are similar in their call for inclusive development, and touch upon one of the crucial issues affecting the country today – women’s safety and workforce participation.
The BJP’s “Sankalp Patra” has a section devoted to “ensuring a dignified life for women.” This section specifies that “women’s security will be given more priority” through acts such as constituting a Women’s Security Division in the Home Ministry, and better investigation of crimes against women such as time-bound investigation and trials, better forensic facilities and fast track courts. The Congress manifesto has a “Cities, Urbanisation and Urban Policy” section which specifies that “public spaces, public transport, public premises and other facilities will be made safe for women, children…and marginalised sections of society,” that “special economic zones shall have working women’s hostels and safe transport facilities to increase work participation” and a promise to “repeal provisions of law that prohibit nightshifts for women.” The congress manifesto, like the BJP agenda, also promises legislation for separate investigative agencies for crimes against women.
On the representation in workplace and parliament front, the BJP manifesto suggests that “10% of the material to be sourced for government procurement will be done from MSMEs having at least 50% women employees in their workforce.” The Congress Manifesto also suggests female employee friendly policies such as “night shelters for migrant women” and “safe and hygienic toilets”. Both parties promise to implement 33% reservations in parliament and state assemblies.
While these promises and corrections are necessary, their role in the actual empowerment of women needs to be examined critically. Providing special provisions do not engender social respect nor do they lead to better access for women’s workforce participation and safety in cities.
Several of India’s current laws ostensibly help women succeed in the workplace, but actually have the opposite effect of impeding growth and equality. For example, in order to ensure women’s safety, Section 66(1)(b) of the Factories Act, states that “no woman shall be required or allowed to work in any factory except between the hours of 6 a.m. and 7 p.m.” An amendment to the factory act in Maharashtra states that the night shift for women shall be allowed only if the employer ensures adequate safeguards in the factory with regards to a woman’s “protection of dignity and honour, protection from sexual harassment, and remain fully responsible for safety within the factory premises and during transit from workplace to their home.”
The amended law can be beneficial for Business Process Outsourcing companies that require employees to work night shifts, and are willing to hire female employees despite the added costs. However, the language of the legislation, which states that night-shift for women will only be allowed if adequate safety measures are in place, can have a negative effect of filtering employees based on hiring cost. The rise in female self-employment in the manufacturing sector, shows employer trends of wanting workers for extended hours, but not willing to bear the costs of alleviating risk for female workers. Self-employment in this case refers to a woman partaking in home-based work (HBW). These workers are problematically called self-employed when in reality HBW does not get recorded in employment statistics. Home based workers are disguised wage workers as their employers seek to avoid risk-reducing arrangements such as job security and social insurance benefits by employing women working from the home.
The possibility of the proliferation of this trend was noticed in the reaction to the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act 2017 which disincentivised employers from hiring women due to increased and cumbersome compliances. Therefore, arrangements for basic safety precautions should be an enforced statutory condition for companies meeting a specific and adequate turnover, regardless of whether a woman is employed in it or not. The promises made in the election manifestos for increasing female workforce participation should also keep this trend and condition in mind.
Mumbai city, which is known as a relatively safer city for women to work in, actually has only 28% of women visible amongst all the people in public spaces. The “safeness” of Mumbai can be coincidental and circumstantial because the opportunity for a woman to be present in unsafe circumstances is greatly reduced due to the lack of industrial zones in Mumbai. Mumbai’s major zones of industrial activity can be found in Powai, Santacruz Electronic Export Processing Zone, Navi Mumbai Special Economic Zone, Airoli, and Malad. The rest of the industrial activity is either in satellite cities of Pune or other smaller cities of Maharashtra. These suburban areas in Mumbai have become increasingly dense due to the overflowing population in the expanding city, and density gives the illusion of visibility and safety. Thus, a false sense of safety is propagated by eliminating potential risk, similar to the laws on night shifts.
Instead of pushing laws to increase the safety of women by decreasing access to work-space (like the night-shift law) and increase costs for employers, policies should focus on making infrastructure safe for women, regardless of whether women will work in the space or not. Physical factors such as density and lighting, and social factors such as awareness and capacity building are major determinants of how safe and included women feel. These factors should determine policy-making as opposed to propagating laws that create a victim syndrome as well as an unhealthy perception of women as natural preys of men, who therefore need to be protected.
The new government will have the next five years to create a safe and equal environment for men and women. Representation in legislatures, education, participation in the workforce, along with changes in the language of law (as opposed to merely an addition of laws), can be achieved by creating the right physical and social infrastructure.
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Aditi Ratho was an Associate Fellow at ORFs Mumbai centre. She worked on the broad themes like inclusive development gender issues and urbanisation.
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