Reset Rural Job Policies, Recognise Women’s Work

Context: Labour market policy has to reverse the gender-differentiated approach by providing women-specific employment opportunities to address the challenges caused by the pandemic.

Issues in employment opportunities for women:

• Crisis of regular employment: Due to lack of employment opportunities for women in rural areas. 
• Unequal wages: In rural India, women’s wages are rarely equal to men’s wages. 

• The gap between female and male wages is higher for non-agricultural tasks.

• Work burden: Economic activity and care work are exceedingly long and full of drudgery for women. 
• Lockdown effect on jobs of women:

• Despite the continued agricultural activity, employment availability was limited.
• Low income in allied activities: where women are part of the labour process, adversely affected. 

• The demand for milk fell by at least 25%.
• Incomes from the sale of milk to dairy cooperatives shrank.

• Lack of non-agricultural jobs: Construction sites, brick kilns, local factories and other enterprises were shut down.

• Lack of recognition: Accredited Social Health Activists are not recognised as workers or paid a regular wage, who played a crucial role during the lockdown .
• Effect on health and nutrition: The burden of care work in a situation of reduced incomes and tightening budgets will have long-term effects on women’s physical and mental health. 

Way Forward:

• Expansion of the MGNREGA: As an immediate or short-run provision of employment of women.
• Women-specific employment: A medium and a longer term plan to generate employment in skilled occupations.
• Recognition of women's work: in health care at the grass-root level and pay a fair wage.
• Safe and easy transport: Specific attention must be paid to safe and easy transport for women from their homes to workplaces.
• Reducing the burden of care work: For instance, healthy meals for school children as well as the elderly and the sick can reduce the tasks of home cooking.
• Redrawing the picture of the rural labour market by including the contribution of women.