Women in Movement: Conflictual Issues and Possibilities

Description

Page: 617-625

Jyotsna Srivastava (Malaviya Centre for Peace Research, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh)

This article discusses the phenomena of the migration of women as individuals seeking work away from home, which is relatively new. In the Indian context, an increase in education has not prepared women to enter the labour market. Rural areas have seen the lowest level of female labour participation (LFPR) and the urban regions the highest level (LFPR). The prime factor is the nature of the labour market at the destination. Bhagat (2017) observed that more illiterate women migrate for employment than illiterate men. An increase in employment opportunities in specific job categories resulted from the feminisation of work. The gendered nature of the labour market at the destination can be a deterrent factor for women choosing a specific type of sex-based workforce. Official documentation records more than half of women in urban India as associational migrants. Women reproduce on “reasons for migration”, but many women cannot state clearly their reasons for migration. These structural changes have changed the social-economical symmetry of Indian villages. The factors of the agrarian crisis, along with the neo-liberal economic policies of the Government, brought up the relationship between reduced female labour participation in the workforce. The jobless growth of the Indian economy cannot absorb migrant women/low-skill labour. Lack of job creation and unavailability of jobs in rural areas led to the migration of people from poor regions. Migrant women’s labour is sought to replace/supplement the labour of the women members of the household unit. Gender equality comes into question when a class of women (or men) whose services are now in the marketplace.