International Journal of Development Issues Vol. 5, No.

2 (2006) 119-132

Women workers in unorganized sector: A study on construction industry in Haryana*

Santosh Nandal Department of Economics [Link], Rohtak, India denniseha@[Link] Abstract A vast majority of India's labour force is in unorganized sector. In the absence of economic opportunities in their own states, many workers migrate across the other states of India to seek employment. Construction industry depends almost entirely on migrant workers, majority of which are women. The main object of this paper is to shed light on the socio-economic problems being faced by a section of the women workers in construction industry. These women workers have a very tough life. In spite of being actively involved in economic activities for survival, bearing and rearing of children remain their prime responsibility, and thus they end up with playing roles in both production and reproduction.

1.

Introduction

In India, the informal sector or unorganized sector1 (as it is usually referred to) plays a vital role in both the employment and production fronts. According to an estimate by the National Commission on Self-employed Women (Government of India, 1988a), of the total number of women 'The early version of this paper was presented in the 15th Annual International Association of Feminist Economics held on July 7-9,2006 in Sydney, Australia. 1 The unorganized sector usually consists of small scale industries and other industries in which electric power as such is not utilized in production process; factory act is not applicable in this sector, neither is it covered under labour legislation; ignorance and illiteracy among workers, casual nature of employment, dominance of employers, and lack of workers' sufficient training or education are all prevalent in this sector.

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workers in India, about 94 per cent workforce are in the unorganized sector, whereas just 6 per cent are in the organized or formal sector. According to the National Sample Survey Organization (1994), of the total number of women workers in India, around 92 per cent workforce are in the unorganized sector, whereas merely 8 per cent are in the organized sector. Census of India (2001) estimates show that 80 per cent of economically active women are engaged in the unorganized sector. Thus, there is no exaggeration in saying that the unorganized sector in India is the women's sector. This sector, however, while extracting the maximum contribution from them, has given them very little in return. The plight of women workers in this sector is miserable as they work for extremely low wages and for long hours, under unsatisfactory working conditions with a total lack of job security and social security benefits. There is hardly any union in this sector to act as watchdog. The implementation of existing labour legislation is inadequate and inefficient in the unorganized sector. Construction industry in India is a significant part of its unorganized sector; it covers a variety of works and operations. Its activities range from construction of dam and bridges, roads and tracks of factories and offices, schools, hospitals and ordinary residential buildings forming a major sector of employment in India. Construction work being such a widespread and unorganized market, it absorbs a large number of women migrants from the rural areas of different states. Nearly half of the workers in this industry are women with low education and no education at all. The employment pattern in this industry is seasonal and fluctuated largely due to climatic conditions. Building activities in general are at their peak during winter months, but are at a standstill in the rainy season. The socio-economic problems faced by the construction workers in this industry are numerous and their working conditions are tough and exploitative. They usually suffer from low wage rates, job discriminations, under-employment, and the women workers are particularly over-burdened with their family duties.

2.

Literature review

Early 1970s marked the beginning of the consciousness about the women's right in India that challenged our so-called gender neutrality process of development. Only a few economists like Gadgil (1965) and Boserup (1970) noted women's role in economic development. And a plethora of studies

Nandal, S. /International Journal of Development Issues 5(2) (2006) 119-132 121 have appeared especially in the 1980s2. But the poor and unorganized segments of the wage-earners in India did not receive much attention (see Towards Equality, 1974 and SEWA, 1988). While studying the economic bondage of construction workers of Sonipat district in Haryana, Nandal (1995) found that the majority of workers were from the Scheduled Castes3, of which over 76 per cent were illiterate. Out of the sample of 410, only 56 workers reported having rebelled against their bondage. These workers were then forced by the contractor to remain on the site to perform household duties in the owner's home. The study showed that 49 per cent of the workers were women. Working hours were long, none of the respondent reporting less than 14 hours a day. Reddy (2003) found that construction workers in Hyderabad district in Andhra Pradesh were under-paid, faced job discrimination and with no hope of better future. Only 66 out of total sample of 212 women workers expressed any satisfaction about their work and wages. 106 persons stated that they were forced to continue in the present work as construction labourers needed to earn their daily bread. The rest, 40 women said that they were neither happy nor unhappy but doing their duty as destined by God. Almost all of them agreed that they would stop this work if their male counterparts could get a permanent job. Government of India's (1988b) survey in the north Indian states of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh found that workers employed in construction were mostly migrant labourers from areas within as well as outside these states. Women constituted 49 per cent of the total workforce in the construction, nearly 92 per cent of them working as brick layers and mixture carriers. Women were not found doing work like masons, earth fillers, because these tasks were carried out only by men. Construction workers have no fixed working hours and usually the work is spread over 10 to 12 hours a day. It was noticed that 99 per cent of women workers in this industry were illiterate. Most of the women were residing in incomplete construction sites. Not a single male or female reported to be a member of a trade union and no woman worker was aware of the beneficial provision of various labour legislations.

2 3

For a list of studies, see Anant et al. (1987). Scheduled Castes belong to lower caste such as Chamar and Dhanak.

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3.

Micro-level study of 528 construction workers in six districts

The aim of the present study is to throw light on the socio-economic problems being faced by a section of the women construction workers4. My intention in this study is to explore various aspects relating to migration, women's working conditions and socio-economic levels of the workers and their families. The study was carried out between 2002 and 2004 to explore various aspects of the lives of women working in construction industry5. About 528 women construction workers were chosen from the urban agglomeration of six districts of Haryana (Rohtak, Sonipat, Bhiwani, Hissar, Panipat and Karnal) where the total number of employed workers was estimated to be 21,000. The six districts were chosen for this study since the influx of the construction workers especially women into these districts had increased significantly in recent times. Table 1 Male and female construction workers in each of the sample districts of Haryana Districts Number Rohtak Sonipat Bhiwani Panipat Karnal Hissar Total Total % 3425 2531 2711 3721 4423 3212 20023 Male Number % 1925 1592 1520 2509 2901 2022 12469 56.21 62.90 56.07 67.43 65.59 62.95 62.27 Female Number % 1500 939 1191 1212 1522 1190 7554 43.79 37.10 43.93 32.57 34.41 37.05 37.73

The women construction workers face many problems in the family as well as society but the present survey stresses on only those issues and problems faced by women construction workers by virtue of their being wage workers. 5 1 am thankful to all the respondents both men and women construction workers who provided me with data and information about themselves.

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Since 1991, the proportions of migrants to residential construction workers increased progressively. However, I rely on the data collected in my surveys, because the data required for the present study are not available in secondary sources. The highest proportion of women workers was found in Karnal district while low proportion was recorded in Sonipat district (Table 1). While selecting the sample, about 10 per cent of the household workers from each of the sample district were ultimately selected for intensive study (Table 2). From all the districts 5279 households were taken. Therefore, the total size of the present sample came to 528 with one woman worker from each household. To collect the information from construction workers, a structured interview schedule was used. Field discussions with other informants were also held to verity the information collected from the women respondents. Table 2 Number of women workers, their families and the sample households (10%) in each of the sample district Districts Rohtak Sonipat Bhiwani Panipat Karnal Hissar Total Workers 1500 939 1119 1212 1522 1190 7554 Families 1189 725 928 1002 1192 943 5279 Sample 119 73 93 100 119 94 528

4.

Findings of the study

Age, education, caste and marital status For the present study, the working ages of women were between 15 and 64 years. Large proportion of the women workers (45 per cent) were in the age group of 25 to 35; 35 per cent were in the age group of 15 to 25; and 20 per

124 Nandal, S. /International Journal of Development Issues 5(2) (2006) 119-132 cent were more than 45 years of age. Lack of skill and illiteracy is the main cause to enter in the construction industry. Most of the women workers (97.66 per cent) were illiterate; a small number (i.e. 2.34 per cent) had some schooling i.e. up to fifth class. Almost all of the respondents (86.21 per cent) were from the Scheduled Castes, 12.11 per cent was from the backward castes6 and just 0.68 per cent was from the higher castes7. Most (97.50 per cent) were married, 1.22 per cent was unmarried and 1.28 per cent was widowed. Rates of wages and hours of work A large number of women workers are in the function of brick layer and brick carriers. Mixture is prepared by mixing the cement with sand and water by using spades. This work is to be done by male workers. The mason is the highest paid and the most skilled of all the work done in construction activity. In the present sample, not a single woman was found working as the mason (Table 3). Women in most cases were hired for low but engaged in a high wage function as most of the functions of women workers are interchangeable. If the wage rates are equal in both the work, they do not object. The common view is that females are being discriminated in the labour market leading to discrimination and marginalisation (Varghese, 1991). It can be either job discrimination or wage discrimination. My information is useful for analyzing the second aspect, that is, paying lower wage to women for the same work as men. For instance, every activity, which is mentioned in (Table 3), woman is paid lower wages than man in the same operation. Therefore, existing equal pay for equal work legislation does not work in construction industry. Leave and leisure are not statutory in the case of construction workers. Women workers are not compensated by retention allowance for involuntary holidays. Work timings are not fixed and they work from morning to till evening (sunset). Entire family work together and live in the unfinished building or shed prepared by them by polythene paper and sticks. It is apparent from (Table 4) that only 4.16 per cent women work daily up to four hours, about 5.87 per cent work up to six hours, 24.43 per cent work up to

Backward caste is higher than Schedule Castes but lower than higher caster like- barber, dhobi, kumhar, cobbler etc. 7 No high caste and Muslim women were found as construction workers.

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nine hours, 39.21 per cent work up to 12 hours and 26.33 per cent work up to 14 hours. It was noticed that women in the old age i.e. into 60 to 64 years Table 3 Distribution of women respondents by type of work and wage rates Type of Work Brick layers Brick carriers Mixture preparation Watering Women Masons Earth fillers Sand cleaners Brick cleaners Total Daily Number 185 172 -30 --18 123 528 Wages in Rupees Woman Man 50 to 55 50 to 55 -45 to 50 --50 to 52 42 to 49 42 to 55 55 to 65 55 to 65 60 to 70 130 to 200 75 to 85 55 to 64 52 to 60 52 to 200

Table 4 Distribution of respondents and working hours Work burden (Hours) 1-4 4-6 6-9 9-12 12-14 Total Respondents 22 31 129 207 139 528 As percentage of total sample 4.16 5.87 24.43 39.21 26.33 100.00

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of age, work up to four hours. Besides this work burden, women worker look after children, prepare food, washing clothes and do other domestic chores at home. The women in the construction industry bear double burden of working at home as well as at the work site. The women workers work for all 30 days in a month. Illness or any festival is the reason of absence. Work is not casual but regular To check this, I collected information about years to work in this sector. It emerged that half of the women workers had been working in this sector for one to three years, nearly one-fifth had been there for between five to six years and the remaining nearly one-third had been there for more than six years. Reasons for migration and entering the construction industry The large size of family, poverty, indebtedness, irregular availability of work and low wages for both men and women in the women's places of origin were the main causes of migration (Table 5). Majority of the women Table 5 Distribution of respondent and reasons for migration Reasons Large family Poverty Lower wage in place of origin Indebtedness Irregular availability of work at place of
origin

Respondents 29 171 131 82 63 52 528

Percentage of Sample 5.49 32.38 24.82 15.53 11.93 9.85 100.00

Forced by husband Total

Nandal, S. /International Journal of Development Issues 5(2) {2006) 119-132 127 workers (32.38 per cent) had migrated because of poverty, 24.82 per cent had migrated that the wages for the same work at their native place were very much less, 15.53 per cent had done because of indebtedness. For entering the construction industry, 9.85 per cent women said, it was the husband's decision to work in the construction industry and 11.93 per cent had done because of irregular supply of work at their place of origin. Many women worker said that since they did not possess skills for other type of jobs, their best option was unskilled work in the construction sector, where their husband needed them as partners. Most of the women workers (97.25 per cent) were from the neighbouring states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and only 2.75 per cent were from Punjab and Haryana8. Relationship with employers Female workers in the construction industry are at the bottom of hierarchy. The guthadars9(intermediaries) take the contract of construction sites and employ the construction workers. The guthadars supervise the work and maintain the record about the working days of women worker. Women workers rarely deal with employer/owner and even the payment of wages is made by the guthadars. Other issues Most of the women workers that deal with cement and cement-mixture are not always provided with the necessary gloves and consequently, their hands and feet blooded after being exposed to the wet mixture continuously till evening. A number of skin rashes and disorders are reported leading to the impression that the skin disorders are more in the case of women workers. Lack of medical facilities in their reach is a major problem faced by a number of women workers; especially the pregnant women and injured person. A common problem expressed by almost all the women workers is the lack of any privacy especially while they are on the work spot; some of them described their residence in unfinished buildings are not much better than a pavement.

Most of the migrants from neighbouring states were initially baffled by the problem of language for thefirstfew years because of language difference. 9 Guthadars are local labour contractors.

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Family income, expenditure, debt and decision-making Family varied from two to five members (52.57 per cent), six to eight (42.15 per cent) and nine to ten (5.28 per cent). The respondents are grossly underpaid is quit evident. A woman earns between Rupees 42 to 55 daily and for a month it will be between Rupees 1260 to 1650. As is evident, income of the respondents from construction work is quite low. To place in perspective, I asked the respondents about their family income. Table 6 gives this information. Most of the respondents had family Income in the range of Rupees 1000 to Rupees 2500, 9.85 per cent earned between Rupees 2500 and Rupees 3000, 9.09 per cent earned between Rupees 3000 and Rupees 3500 while 7.39 per cent earned between Rupees 3500 and Rupees 4000. The proportion of families who earned more than Rupees 4000 was 7.20 per cent. Table 6 Respondents' total family income Income distribution per month (Rupees) 0-1000 1000-1500 1500-2000 2000-2500 2500-3000 3000-3500 3500-4000 above 4000 Total Weekly expenditure In the construction work, guthadars give some money to the workers for their day-to-day expenses on the 7th day of the month or Saturday. It is very surprisingly that this money is paid to the male workers, women do not receive money for expenses directly. I found that although women are very Number of workers 82 61 109 99 52 48 39 38 528 Percentage 15.53 11.55 20.64 18.75 9.85 9.09 7.39 7.20 100.00

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129

keen to take the money directly from the guthadars and they do not refuse to accept the payment. It is generally the male partner who takes the payment at home. These expenses are settled down at the time of final payment after completion of construction work. Before winding up this discussion, let us see how earned money was used by women workers. Most of the women workers (99.25 per cent) said their families were unable to save. If any, the savings were low and not sufficient for improving their quality of life. Most of it used for day-to-day expenses during the off season. The data (Table 7) revealed that among 528 families 81.68 per cent had reported indebtedness. In contrast only 19.32 per cent families did not report indebtedness. Loans had been normally taken from guthadars without charging interest and get back the loan in installments or at the time of final payment. A major reason for employer preference for this type of facility was the flexibility in working hours. Yet it could also mean exploitation through a long work day. Table 7 Distribution of respondents by amount of debt Amount in Rupees. Not in debt 0-500 500-1000 1000-1500 1500-2000 Total No. of families 102 301 63 41 21 528 Percentage 19.32 57.01 11.93 7.76 3.98 100.00

Decision Making Participation in decision making is an important indicator that reflects the position/status of woman in the family. In the tradition-oriented social structure the typical pattern of husband-wife relationship is: "man dominance and female dependence." The husband enjoys the superior position over the wife and the major decision making role are mostly the

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Table 8 Respondents and Decision Making power in the Family Decision making power in the family Husband Wife Husband & wife Father-in-law Mother-in-law Relative/friends Total Reporting respondents 204 85 181 27 12 19 528 Percentage 38.64 16.10 34.28 5.12 2.27 3.59 100.00

domain of the husband. But this situation may vary in families where women work and contribute toward family (Table 8). The data on decision making revealed that majority of the decisions (38.64 per cent) were taken by husbands. In 34.28 per cent cases both husband and wife jointly took the decisions. Approximately 11 per cent decisions were taken by father-in-law, mother-in-law and relatives/friends. Merely 16.10 per cent women took the decision themselves, and these were either widowed, divorced or whose husbands were addicted of bad habits like alcohol, gambling and theft. The data from table confirm the view that even if the wife is working, decision making power is mainly exercised by husbands.

5.

Conclusion

In the foregoing analysis I have seen that the lives of women working in construction industry are hard and tough and they bear the double burden of working at home as well as at the work sites. Frequent shifting of residence, especially when the work spot is moved far away, is a problem faced by the construction workers. Their problems on their work spots are low wage rates, job discrimination, lack of payment for holidays, lack of sufficient rest and underemployment. The economic condition of the migrant construction workers is not better than the other poor women in the unorganized sector,

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with ignorance and illiteracy compounding their social and economic suffering. All women workers contribute to the family income, but they do not receive independent income and have to depend upon male members of the family.

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References Anant, Suchitra et al. (1987), Bibliography on Women at Work in India: An Update, 1985-86, New Delhi: Institute of Social Studies Trust. Boserup, Ester (1975), Women's Role in Economic Development, London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd. Census (2001), New Delhi: Government of India. Gadgil , D. R. (1965), Women in Working Force in India, Bombay: Asia Publishing House. Government of India (1988a). Shramshkati: Report of the National Commission on Self -Employed Women and Women in the Informal Sector, New Delhi. _______(1988b), Survey of Socio-Economic Conditions of Women in Unorganized Industries, Labour Bureau Ministry of Labour, New Delhi. Nandal, Santosh (1995), Cultural Pattern and Economic Participation of Women, Radha Publications, Delhi. Reddy, Atchi (1995), "Some aspects of Quality of Life of Construction Workers in Hyderabad City," Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Vol. 36, No. 4. Reddy, Atchi, (2003), A Socio-Economic Profile of the Construction Workers of Hyderabad City in Anita Banerji, Raj Kumar Sen (ed.), Women and Development. SEWA (1988), Self Employed Women's Association, Annual Report, Ahmedabad. Towards Equality (1974), Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in India, New Delhi.