International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume IV, Issue XI, November 2020 | ISSN 2454–6186

A Study on the Conditions of Women Construction Workers in Guwahati

Himadri Gogoi
Tata Institute of Social Science, Guwahati, India

Preface
The passion for this research stems from the desire to understand the position of women in the vulnerable parts of the informal economy. The study is predominantly based on women construction workers of Guwahati. The construction industry and its biasness along gender lines is something which is very much prevalent and needs continuous research. This research explores around the social security, working conditions and economic inequalities faced by the women construction workers. The research was demanding, but it has helped in discovering many different issues and perspectives on the topic.
Keywords: Informal labour, construction workers, gender, discrimination

INTRODUCTION
The nature of labour employment in the current scenario is uneven which renders certain group of people in vulnerability, increasing the gap between the mass of the unskilled category of workers and the highly skilled ones. The term informal sector was first given by Keith Hart in 1973 where the key variable is the degree of rationalization of work; that is whether or not labour is recruited on a permanent and regular basis for fixed rewards (Hart, 1973). The informal sector of the economy remains the most vulnerable sector, as there is no definite regulatory mechanism for it and often escapes the guidelines formulated for the formal sector workers. The informal sector has been increasing rapidly in the age of industrialization and service sector growth, as it leads to massive diversification of labour and products. This sector consists of economic units which produce legal goods and services but the operations remain unregistered and beyond regulation by the fiscal, labor, health and tax laws (Agarwala, 2007). It is characterized by large scale use of physical labor, ease of entry and exit and operations are mainly small scale.
At a time when women’s labor is seen as unpaid and unproductive, women in informal sector struggle through deplorable conditions. They have to toil both in the public and the private sphere. The availability of employment is uneven and has been restricted with majority of women finding employment in the informal sector. With the structures of production becoming increasingly flexible and the blurring relationships between the employer and the employee, the distinctions between the public and private spheres become ambiguous. Therefore issues of family, such as childbearing, education, lack of healthcare become crucial. In addition to this, marriage, home ownership etc. are intertwined with the conditions of work (Agarwala, 2007). The feminisation of labour is taking place at a time when paid work is becoming increasingly informal. Women’s economic activity is always characterized by a considerable degree of informality (Kabeer, 2010). At times when the male member of the household is seen as the breadwinner for the family, female workers are often neglected through sharp differentiation of work and wage discrimination.