THE SOCIOLOGY OF GENDER - A LOOK AT THE
GENDERED WORK AND THE ELUSIVE EQUALITY OF
TREATMENT TO WOMEN WORKERS IN THE RURAL
SECTOR OF INDIA.
1Abstract
It cannot be denied that throughout history and the world, division of labour has always managed to develop along the lines of sex and therefore even though both men and women may perform the same work, yet, equality and equal treatment has remained elusive to women. By sexual division of labour, the author here is referring to the tasks and the type of work assigned to women on the basis of gender stereotyping.This sexual division of labour or the gendered stereotyping continues to be in vogue even in the 21st century where men and women continue to do different
kind of work and women continue to hold dual roles of homework and that of the work place. There was always a belief that women and men had separate and non-overlapping responsibilities and roles. Accordingly as far as women stepping into the workforce were concerned, work and family necessarily intersected and they were not considered to be separate. Women in rural India have continued to work in the house and in the fields and have remained underpaid and overworked homeworkers.
Introduction
Gender refers to the socio-cultural definition of man and woman; the way societies distinguish men and women and assign them social roles2. Gender essentially thus
pertains to the social construction of differences between men and women in different societies, opportunities and constraints3.
Gender and work are closely intertwined and gender relations in a society, especially among the working population in the rural areas of India continue to be gendered institutions the same way they are within the families. The structure of the family influences the structure of the workforce and goes so far as to affect the kind of work performed by women as well as the pay received by them for that work. It cannot be
1Dr.Mrs.Hema.V.Menon,BA(ELT);MA(Pub Admn);MA(Sociology);LLM,Ph.D(Law);Assistant Professor,Dr.AmbedkarCollege,Deekshabhoomi,Nagpur,Maharashtra
2 Bhasin, Kamla, Understanding Gender, Women Unlimited, 2002
denied that throughout history and the world, division of labour has always developed along the lines of sex and therefore even though both men and women may perform the same work, yet, the equality and equal treatment has remained elusive to women. By sexual division of labour, the author here is referring to the tasks and the type of work assigned to women on the basis of gender stereotyping. One reason for this stereotyping is based on the family and childcare responsibilities of women and the other is the greater physical strength of the male. In some places the gender stereotyping is also influenced by the cultural and traditional roles assigned to both the genders in that society or community and the same treatment percolates down to the work place as well as at home. This sexual division of labour or the gendered stereotyping continues to be in vogue even in the 21stcentury where men and women
continue to do different kind of work and women continue to hold dual roles of homework and that of the work place. The word “house work/homework” was not taken cognizance of in the English language till 1841 suggesting that the distinction between work performed at home and work performed elsewhere did not exist earlier to this.4Work-family relations have been intertwined historically with conceptions of
gender. There was always a belief that women and men had separate and non-overlapping responsibilities and roles. Accordinglyas far as women stepping into the workforce were concerned, work and family necessarily intersected and they were not considered to be separate. Women in rural India have continued to work in the house and in the fields and have remained underpaid and overworked homeworkers.
The Concept of Gender Equality5:
Gender: “Gender” refers to the social differences and relations between men and women, which are learned, vary widely among societies and cultures, and change over time. The term “gender” does not replace the term “sex”, which refers exclusively to biological differences between men and women. For example, statistical data are broken down by sex. The term “gender” is used to analyze the roles, responsibilities, constraints, opportunities and needs of women and men in all areas and in any given social context.
4The sociology of gender-An introduction to theory and research; Amy.S.Wharton, Blackwell Publishing, 2003 Part II.
Gender roles are learned behaviours in a given society, community or other social group. They condition which activities, tasks and responsibilities are perceived as male and female. Gender roles are affected by age, class, race, ethnicity and religion, and by the geographical, economic and political environment. Changes in gender roles often occur in response to changing economic, natural or political circumstances, including development efforts or structural adjustment, or other nationally or internationally based forces. The gender roles within a given social context may be flexible or rigid, similar or different, and complementary or conflicting. Both women and men are involved in reproductive, productive and community management activities and play roles within social and political groups. Their involvement in each activity reflects the gender division of labour in a particular place at a particular time. The gender division of labour must be reflected in gender analysis.
Gender Equality: Gender equality, or equality between men and women, entails the concept that all human beings, both men and women, are free to develop their personal abilities and make choices without the limitations set by stereotypes, rigid gender roles and prejudices. Gender equality means that the different behaviour, aspirations and needs of women and men are considered, valued and favoured equally. It does not mean that women and men have to become the same, but that their rights, responsibilities and opportunities will not depend on whether they are born male or female.
Gender Equity: Gender equity means fairness of treatment for women and men, according to their respective needs. This may include equal treatment or treatment that is different but which is considered equivalent in terms of rights, benefits, obligations and opportunities.
Gender equality in the ILO’s mandate6
Universal and lasting peace can develop only on the basis of social justice. This is declared in the preamble to the ILO’s Constitution of 1919. Even at that time, immediately after the First World War, the protection of women and the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value were highlighted as areas calling for immediate action. At Philadelphia, in 1944, the International Labour Conference adopted a Declaration, now an annex to the Constitution, which proclaims that “all human beings, irrespective of race, creed or sex, have the right to pursue both their material well-being and their spiritual development in conditions of freedom and dignity, of economic security and equal opportunity”. The Declaration further states that “poverty anywhere constitutes a danger to prosperity everywhere”.
Women workers’ rights constitute an integral part of the values, principles and objectives that are at the core of the ILO’s mandate to promote social justice. While constantly adhering to this goal, the approach has changed considerably, in response to the evolving roles of women and men in society. Perceptions of the “traditional” share of paid labour and unpaid family or care work have been, and are still, undergoing profound changes. The ILO has not only reacted to those societal changes but has also taken a leading role in shaping a more equal future in the world of work.
Gender equality — A fundamental human right7
Eight Conventions have been designated by the ILO as embodying fundamental principles and rights. Two of them have the specific aim of promoting gender equality: Convention No. 100, of 1951, concerning equal remuneration between men and women for work of equal value, and Convention No. 111, of 1958, concerning non-discrimination in employment and occupation.
The Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up, adopted by the International Labour Conference in 1998, sets out the following areas in which fundamental rights and principles are to be promoted and realized: (a) freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining; (b) the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour; (c) the abolition of child labour; and (d) the elimination of discrimination in respect of 6ABC of women workers’ rights and gender equality; First Edition, International Labour Organization, Geneva, 2000, pg. 2
employment and occupation. This means that all ILO member States have an obligation, arising from the very fact of their membership, to respect, promote and realize the principles concerning those fundamental rights which are the subject of those Conventions.
The protection and promotion of equality between women and men are likewise basic concepts underlying international human rights, as acknowledged by United Nations instruments such as the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, the 1990 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families and the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Such provisions are also binding on States that have not ratified specific ILO instruments but have ratified these more general international standards.
Women Workers in the rural areas and the gendered work structure
which then also denies her the right to exercise her status as a ‘worker’. Consequently this portion of work is not considered an overhead for running of the agricultural farm and also remains forgotten in the calculation for social protection or security by the regulatory authorities.
This situation is detrimental to women on atleast two counts. The exercise of such an activity, which is rarely the result of a completely free choice, makes it impossible for them to take up “real” paid employment, which would entitle them to their own social security coverage. Whatis more, the undeniable contribution made by women engaged in such activities receives no recognition from society, the only status accorded to these ‘second class’ workers being that of a ‘dependent person’. The social protection of large numbers of women depends on recognition of this type of activity; in many countries such protection would require extension of the coverage provided by already existing schemes.8
Position of Indian women workers in the rural sector9
A large majority of women in India, owing to the sexist bias and discrimination in all sectors of employment in addition to lack or constraints on women in the access to education, resources, knowledge and skill owing to poverty, unemployment and under employment have been pushed to the lower end of the employment population. According to an estimate by the National commission on self employed women, 94% of the total female workforce is concentrated in the vast rural and urban unorganized sector such as the agricultural sector and at construction sites in cities and towns. This highly exploitative sector is characterized by long hours of work, low wages, low productivity, lack of job security, inadequate legislative protection and lack of enforcement of minimum wages and other safeguards regulating their working conditions10. Besides these categories of unorganized labour, there are the domestic
servants in the urban areas whose conditions of employment are dominated by the sexual division of labour that fetch them the lowest income with high risk and incidence of exploitation and place them at an income group which is a condemned and neglected group in the society. The women labourers at construction sites and agricultural sector present a sorrier picture since their work is the most uncertain kind
8 Women and Social Security-Progress towards Equality of Treatment, Marie Brocas, Anne-Marie Cailloux, Virginie Oget;ILO1990.
9 Unorganised women workers and social security by Dr.Hema.V.Menon;Satyam Law International,2012.
where regularity of income is a daily prayer and the income if at all received fetches them only the minimal sustenance. With hardly any roof over their heads and few crumbs of food in their stomach these women are given work mostly with a sexist bias and discrimination. One other traumatized and sidelined category of woman worker is the ‘Home Maker’ who is statistically referred to as a housewife and ignored from the census list. She is the one who lives in the rural areas and does all the household work with family and child care and alongside acts as the helper in the farm to her husband, takes care of cattle, milks the cows, processes the farm produce, prepare cow-dung cakes/manure and a long list of their work like bringing fuel from forests, fetching water from wells etc. These functions have been labeled as ‘women’s job’ and remain unquantified and unpaid. In short, woman labour is characterized by higher incidence of casual labour, wage discrimination and sexual division of labour aggravating gender inequality11.
A woman’s place in India is mostly considered to be within the four walls of a home which is treated as private and thus outside the purview of the state. Within these walls resides the non-working, workingwoman “the housewife”. She has the least freedom even over her own personal life. This fate worse than death is meted out to her in spite of the fact that she puts in long hours of endless tasks and chores in the house which if this unpaid labour were to be counted in terms of money and also her right to leisure, health and remuneration, would entitle her to receive the highest remuneration not to speak of the productive income she brings into the house when she adds to the income of the family also as one of the bread earner. The work performed by the housewife is not considered labour because there is no actual exchange in terms of countable income.
the process, the workers are not only paid wages that are lower than the minimum wages prescribed, but no welfare, health, sanitation, injury, sickness, leave or maternity benefit is provided to the women workers. Gender bias is overtly visible and experienced in both the kind of employment and the amount of wages paid to women workers at all levels even if they are doing the same work as their male counterpart.12
There are a number of housewives in rural areas who are ignored, marginalized and simply overlooked from the census figures of the rural workers. It is of late, i.e. over the past few years that there have been deliberations to quantify the economic
contribution of these housewives and they have hence been classified as ‘home workers’. The author has attempted to study the type of work performed by these home workers, the nature of that work, its quantification in economic terms and the possible contribution made by them to the family income. This category of workforce is as yet a fully unrecognized one and therefore the state is yet to even plan for policy making or legislations that would be beneficial to them though International norms of the ILO for standard setting for home workers has already been laid down and the national commission for women has started work on the need and mode of securing protection to the home workers.13
A majority of rural women are found to be belonging to very low-income groups. Some of them own very small areas of land while most of them are landless and very poor women but engaged in the multitasking of household combined with other additional work. These women are classified as home workers as their economic contribution to the family income is a silent one but unheeded and uncounted in spite of forming a major portion of it. Various studies reveal that most of the home workers are also illiterate or semi-literate and hail from poor families.14
Nature of work Performed by Home Workers in the Rural Areas.
A large portion of nearly 45% of the population performs the combined tasks of household work and also farm work. Similarly, about 12% of the respondents perform household work and casual work on daily wages while another 8% combine cattle care with household work. A chunk of about 36% alone are found to be doing household work which again is observed to include fetching fuel wood, farming of 12 Unorganised women workers and social security by Dr.Hema.V.Menon;Satyam Law
International,2012 at pg.218. 13ibid at pg.237.
vegetables etc. The inference to be drawn from the above is very evident that every category of work depicted above in fact is combined with some form of work that is a little more and above the purely household work and child care of a housewife in rural areas. The further inference of the above is that all the types of work done by the homemakers in rural areas are of the type that are easily marginalized but the figures make it necessary to count them in economic terms and to this end the above
conclusions corroborate the premise that the type of work that housewives perform in rural areas if quantified would definitely demarcate another category of woman worker participating in the economy of agriculture in the country.
Nature of work done by Home Workers, which contributes to the family income
A maximum of all the housewives in rural areas are performing one or the other work which is a silent contribution to the family income. There is strong conclusive
evidence that the agricultural housewives in the rural areas are not just performing purely household work and childcare but they are all in different ways contributing to the family income by performing additional tasks of labour and trial under all
conditions of season and health without being recompensed or even considered for such a major economic contribution.
Quantification of the Work done by Home Workers
There is a simple quantification in economic terms of the work done by homemakers in addition to their regular household chores and childcare. There is a clear
postulation that almost three fourth of the respondents are clearly performing the work which can be monetarily quantified and the rest are doing work which in economic terms can also be quantified in figures because they are labour cost saving tasks which again lessen the overhead costs of the agricultural production. It is significant to note that almost none of them are mere helpers but are actually bringing in money to add to the family income. The inference of this is that rural home workers have a major role to play in the economic activity of their family as well as agricultural work and that the nature of work performed by these women workers is clearly quantifiable in economic and monetary terms.15
Conclusion
employed in the better paying work. Gender stereotyping is the norm and there is a clear distinction between ‘men’s work’ and ‘women’s work’. Even where both are performing the same tasks there is clearly a difference in the payment of wages with women being paid far lesser than their male counterparts. Gender marginalization continues to be the unwritten code and ignoring the contribution of the women at home by way of the so called home work continues to be the way of life accepted by both the women workers themselves and their male family members as well as the regulatory bodies. The women worker performing the supporting ‘homework’ continues to be left out of the economic census and thereby quantification of her contribution is but a distant dream. Equality remains elusive for these women workers in the rural sector with constitutional guarantees of equality and legislative protection of equality being flouted blatantly by the employers and ignored by the society where they live. There is a disparity in wages and ‘Equal pay for equal work’ is a mere slogan that is an attractive political propaganda. Women workers in the rural sector continue to be treated as second-class citizens and have accepted it as their lot since they are rarely employed in skilled jobs leaving them with no prospect for self-development or career self-development. They make a major contribution to the earnings of the male members of the family but remain relegated to the position of helpers, cleaners or unpaid labour in their own farms. There is an evident gender gap in the rural sector with respect to their levels pf participation, access to resources,
remuneration mostly because of the blatant discrimination and traditional stereotyping.
In tracing the situation of the efficacy and availability of social security protection to women workers over the contemporary period in India the picture that emerges is that, on the one hand women have made tangible progress as regards the scope and level of legal protection of social security provided to them but at the same time a diametric state of affairs shows that in actual practice there is a patent absence of “equal social rights in equal situations.” Gender discrimination is omnipotent and any level of progress has failed to remove it either socially or legally and hence women workers have miles to travel before they even sight the milestone of a social security system that is gender favourable.16
For the emancipation for women in every field, economic independence is of paramount importance. Along with economic independence, equal emphasis must
also be laid on the total development of women creating awareness among them about their rights and responsibilities the recognition of their vital role and the work they do at home. It is necessary, that a new social system must evolve. The society must respond and change its attitude. Major surgery is required and not merely cosmetic charges17.
