“Write short note on Feminisation of Labour in Informal Sector.” (2010)
Feminisation of labour refers both to the growing presence of women in paid work and to the spread of the insecure, low-paid, unprotected conditions long associated with “women’s work”. Guy Standing (“Global Feminization through Flexible Labor”, 1989) linked the process to flexible, deregulated capitalism. In India it is concentrated in the informal sector, which the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS, 2007) found employs over 90% of the workforce.
Drivers
- Liberalisation and subcontracting after 1991: firms outsource production to workshops and homes to cut costs and escape labour law.
- Preference for “docile” and “nimble” labour: Diane Elson and Ruth Pearson (1981) showed that employers treat socially produced female traits as natural qualifications that justify low pay.
- Distress and male out-migration: when men migrate to cities, women take over farm and household enterprises. This produces a feminisation of agriculture.
- Patriarchal constraints: purdah, care duties and restrictions on mobility steer women into home-based work compatible with domestic duties.
Forms in India
| Form | Illustration |
|---|---|
| Home-based piece-rate work | Beedi rolling, agarbatti making, zari embroidery, garment finishing |
| Domestic work | Part-time and live-in maids in metros, many of them migrants |
| Construction and brick kilns | Women as head-loaders, often in family labour units |
| Agriculture | Transplanting, weeding and harvesting; cultivators without land titles |
| Vending and waste-picking | Vegetable sellers, waste-pickers in Pune and Ahmedabad |
| Platform services | App-based beauty and cleaning work |
Women form 54.28% of registrants on the e-Shram portal (August 2026), and 64.2% of women workers are self-employed (PLFS 2025).
Characteristics
- Piece rates with no written contract, paid leave or maternity benefit.
- Invisibility: Maria Mies (The Lace Makers of Narsapur, 1982) showed how home-based women producing for world markets were defined as “housewives”, not workers.
- Double burden: unpaid domestic work of 289 minutes a day for women against 88 for men (Time Use Survey 2024).
- Harassment and insecurity, which dispersed workers find almost impossible to report.
- Segmentation by caste and class: Dalit and Adivasi women are over-represented in the harshest occupations.
Responses
- Shramshakti (1988), the report of the National Commission on Self-Employed Women chaired by Ela Bhatt, first documented this invisible workforce.
- SEWA (1972) organised women informal workers as a trade union and through cooperatives.
- The Code on Social Security (in force from 21 November 2025) extends coverage to unorganised, gig and platform workers, alongside e-Shram registration.
Significance
Feminisation shows that capitalism does not simply dissolve patriarchy but uses it: gender hierarchy lowers the cost of labour. In Standing’s second sense, men’s jobs are also being “feminised” as contract and casual labour spreads inside formal factories. Some women gain income and autonomy, but for most it means inclusion on unequal terms.
Conclusion
Feminisation of informal labour is therefore central to India’s growth model and to its gender inequality alike. Treating it as a policy priority means recognising women as workers, not helpers, through universal social security, enforceable minimum wages and support for their collective organisation.