About the Book

This book explores Indian women's economic contribution through paid and unpaid work in different sectors of the economy and society in extremely diverse life situations and geographical locations. It highlights gender implications of interlinkages between local, national, regional and global dimensions of women's paid and unpaid work in India. It encompasses a vast canvas of life worlds of working women in the metropolitan, urban, peri-urban, rural, tribal areas in manufacturing, agricultural, fisheries, sericulture, plantation and service sectors of the Indian economy. It provides nuanced insights into intersectional marginalities of caste, class, ethnicity, religion and gender. The chapters are based on primary data collection and triangulation of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. It presents the multiple marginalities of Indian women in the globalized political economy of the 21st century. It not only focuses on emerging issues but also suggests evidence-based policy imperatives. This book is an essential read for researchers, scholars, policymakers, practitioners and students of women/gender studies.  

Contents

1.         Introduction-Vibhuti Patel, Nandita Mondal

 Macroeconomy and Women’s Work

 2.         Macroeconomic Policies, Neo-liberal Economic Globalisation and Women in the Workforce-Vibhuti Patel

3.         Women’s Work: Worker’s Agency and Dignity of Labour Under Lens-Nandita Mondal

4.         Where Do Migrant Women Work? Glimpses of Paid and Unpaid Work Among Women Migrant Workers in Informal Sector in India-Ananya Chakraborty

 Women in the Urban Economy and Regional Diversity

 5.         Women’s Paid Work as a Bubble of Empowerment: A Case Study of a Social Enterprise Working with Women Artisans-Kaniska Singh, Asfia Jamal

6.         Decoding Professional Women: An Analysis of Social Structure and Organisational Role Stress-Deepmala Baghel

7.         Gender, Labour and the Social Reproduction of Motherhood: A Study of Commercial Surrogacy in Mumbai-Aishwarya Chandran

8.         The Travails of Women Street Entrepreneurs in Aizawl, Mizoram-Lalremruati Rodi, Rama Ramswamy

9.         Negotiating Rights for Street Vendors: The Importance of Incorporating a Gender Perspective-Gayatri Sharma

10.       Begging or Caste-Based Urban Occupations?-Pournima Arvel

11.       Making Visible the Invisible: Women Artists and Herstory-Saptam Patel

12.       Breaking Boundaries—Women in Non-traditional Livelihoods as Professional Drivers-Radhika Uppal, Amrita Gupta

 Women in Agriculture and Allied Occupations

 13. Women’s Participation in Livestock Raising—Evidence from NSSO Employment and Unemployment Surveys 1993–94 to 2011–12-R. Vijayamba

14.       Gender and Livelihood in Post Cocoon Activity: Understanding Patriarchal Legitimisation of Women’s Work in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh-Kanchan Thomasina Ekka

15.       Precarity Among Women Workforce in the Handloom Sector at Sualkuchi, Assam-Reshmi

16.       Women’s Labour, Self-help Groups and Microfinance in a Neo-liberal World: An Interrogation of the Role of Self-help Groups in the Rehabilitation of Former Devadasis in Belgaum District of Karnataka-Lavanya Shanbhogue Arvind

17.       Economic Crisis and Plantation Labour: Changing Contours of Women’s Work in Tea Sector-Ashmita Sharma

About the Author / Editor

Vibhuti Patel is Ph.D. in Economics, University of Mumbai. She was awarded Visiting Fellowship to the London School of Economics and Politcal Science from Association of Commonwealth Universities, UK, in 1992-93. She has authored and co-authored 12 books; edited and co-edited 9 books and contributed over 100 papers as chapters in various books edited by others. She has also authored and co-authored 34 research monographs and reports. Her research papers, comments, commentaries and reviews have been published in the national as well as international academic journals. For E PG Pathshala, UGC, Delhi, she has been a paper coordinator for ‘Women and Economics’ (20 modules) for M.A. Women’s Studies Course, and she has been a writer for 9 modules and reviewer for 11 modules. Video recorded 11 modules. For course on M.A. in Adult, Continuing and Extension Education, she wrote and presented 4 modules, and video recorded 4 modules.

Nandita Mondal is an assistant professor, Centre for Labour Studies, School of Management and Labour Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and is a trained social worker from Visva Bharati, Santiniketan. She has worked on empowerment of Koli fisherwomen in Mumbai for her Ph.D. from the University of Mumbai. She has worked with government, nongovernment and corporate as well as educational institutions during her professional career across India spanning nearly three decades. Her research interest covers the issues of women in informal labour, women’s work and dignity, cooperative governance and women, child labour and corporate social responsibility.  She has several refereed publications and numerous professional presentations to her credit.