Gender, poverty and employment in India

Development theories recognise that employment is central to the alleviation of poverty and the enhancement of well-being. This means that at the practical level, it is understood that labour-intensive growth and greater labour-force participation by women are necessary elements for poverty reduction. At the level of discursive practice, the gender and poverty debates treat labour as an abstract category. In recognition of this lacuna, this paper attempts to address two principal questions: a) Does poverty have a woman’s face in India? and b) What are the linkages between women’s situation in the labour market, education levels and their poverty? The paper attempts to answer these issues by reviewing the changes that have occurred in the reported level of women’s economic activity, women’s status in the labour market, gender differentials in poverty and the impact that gender mainstreaming in employment and poverty have had on women’s lives. Drawing inferences from national level surveys, policy statements and legislative framework, the paper argues that poverty needs to be understood more holistically - in terms of lack of access to services, lack of personal security, low social status and lack of control over labour and employment. The paper concludes by advocating for policies that directly affect the quantum and quality of women’s participation in the labour market such as those concerned specifically with regulating gender relations in employment and those concerned with balancing work and familial responsibilities. Poverty also has outcomes with respect to sexual division of labour, which are affected by the regulation of the wider social environment in which men and women make decisions. For example, personal laws, regulated by cultural institutions, indirectly affect women’s access to land and other immovable assets, thereby excluding them from control over their labour and often even skills that can lead to better quality employment.