Oxfam flags gender pay gap, lack of quality jobs in India

Oxfam flags gender pay gap, lack of quality jobs in India

1. Oxfam India has recently released a report titled ‘Mind the Gap: The State of Employment in India’. The report says that regressive social norms along with lack of investment in social security and infrastructure continue to hamper women’s participation in the workforce.
2. The report is based on the estimates of employment unemployment survey (EUS) 2011-12 done by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), International Labour Organization (ILO) studies and also builds on the first inequality report launched by Oxfam in 2018.
3. The report says that on an average, women are paid 34% less than similarly qualified male workers for performing the same tasks. The report also stresses that while inequality in jobs has increased, inequality in education has decreased between boys and girls.
4. Further, the report adds that while both men and women are diversifying out of agriculture but still 75% of rural women are still engaged in the agriculture. The reasons for it are (a) patriarchal ideology and local socio-cultural traditions and (b) Male migration to cities has also pushed women into taking on more responsibility of own cultivation and to perform wage labour to ensure households daily survival.
5. However, the report suggests that economic factors can be improved by way of policy interventions. It advocates (a) Focus towards labour intensive sectors to create more jobs (b) Create better work conditions to make jobs more inclusive and (c) Increase investments in health and education to improve productivity.
6. Oxfam International was established in 1995 by a group of independent non-governmental organizations. The main objective of organisation was to work together for reducing poverty and injustice. The Oxfam International Secretariat is based in Nairobi, Kenya.