Women’s Work in the Post Reform Period: An Exploration of Macro Data

An important aspect that is often highlighted in the context of economic reforms, is the translation of labour market changes into defining or redefining gender relations and empowerment of women. In India, the aura created by liberalization, reflected that new opportunities for women are opening up. The paper analyses women’s employment through a disaggregate analysis of the last three rounds of quinqueinial NSSO Employment and Unemployment surveys, 1993-94, 1999-00 and 2004-05. The analysis provided in the paper suggests that the growing social and economic crisis is sending vast sections of women workers into a downward spiral resulting in a gender based inequality in employment. The sectoral distribution shows women mainly concentrating in primary sector as against other liberalized economies