[Answered] Women’s informal work is central to the feminisation of poverty. Discuss and also highlight the multidimensional factors behind informalisation of female workforce.

India has a vast workforce with more than 450 million people in the informal sector. According to the ILO data (2018), about 88% of women employed in industries and 71% in services are informal workers which is central to feminization of poverty. UNIFEM describes it as “the burden of poverty borne by women, especially in developing countries”

Increasing number of women in informal work is leading to feminisation of poverty, because;

• Women working in informal sectors are paid less than men, and mothers also bear the costs of caring for children such as paying for out-of-home child care.
• Due to absence of pensions or any other social security measures in informal economy, more elderly women are now living in poverty.
• The lack of affordable and quality childcare services and maternity benefits increase the burden on informal women workers, aggravating gender and class inequalities.

Various factors behind informalization of female workforce are as follows:

• Maternity benefit laws: The pro-women laws like maternity benefit act that mandated 26-week maternity leave and creche facilities could have discouraged the female recruitment in formal sectors. TeamLease had estimated an additional loss of 1.8 million female jobs attributable to this piece of legislation alone.
• Feminisation of agriculture: Poverty is a major factor due to which women are forced to work as agricultural labourers to supplement the family’s income.
• Women are preferred in the unorganized sector as they are paid less than their male counterparts. For example, women workers receive less than half the remuneration in construction work.
• Migration of male counterparts to urban areas in search of the jobs also results into women accepting the informal works in the rural areas to support their families.
• Due to a significant fall in earnings after the lockdown period many of them resorted to informal jobs in fear of loss of livelihood opportunities

Conclusion

In the light of the above factors, there is a need for providing benefits to women working in the informal sectors. Expansion of ICDS, revitalizing the crèche scheme, self-employed women’s associations, increasing due representation of women in decision making at grassroot level, improving health outcomes through POSHAN Abhiyan, Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana can be beneficial for women empowerment.