Every morning, Sundari Ammal gets up at 5am, cooks for her daughters, drops them off at school and then takes a share auto to a garment factory nearby. The money she earns every month is not fancy but enough to keep her daughters in school and meet the basic needs of her family.
As the manufacturing sector grows in India, companies are now looking to hire more women on shop floors that were once dominated by men.
Changing face of the workforce: More women in manufacturing sector
According to a Economic Times report, a recent Quess Corp survey has revealed that women constitute approximately 20% of the manufacturing workforce in India, with around 80% representation in electronics manufacturing.
Another Randstad report shows that there is a growing demand for women in traditionally male-dominated sectors like manufacturing. According to it, apart from Bengaluru and Mumbai, cities such as Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune are emerging as key locations for hiring women employees.
Feminisation of the workforce
Why are more women entering the manufacturing sector? “Feminisation of the workforce in the textile sector began more than a decade ago. There was a demand for more women as they are considered docile, are trained to follow instructions, and will not unionise,” says Meera Sundararajan, team leader, Gender and Policy Lab, Greater Chennai Corporation. “In fact, diversity and inclusion actually makes business sense as women are sincere, come on time, and there is less absenteeism.”
Manufacturing jobs move from China to India
As a New York Times report pointed out, international brands are trying to limit their dependence on China by shifting some manufacturing work to India. This means that more manufacturing jobs are generated, especially for women who have largely been excluded from the ranks of formal employment.
Less women in paid jobs
Yet in India, less than 33% of women are engaged in paid work in jobs. According to the World Bank’s Gender Data Portal, India was 165th out of 187 countries in terms of female labour force participation rate (LFPR) in 2023. The country’s female LFPR was only 32.7%.
The challenges to put women in manufacturing sector and beyond
The demands of physical labour, safety concerns, fear of sexual harassment are limiting factors where women are concerned. There is also the issue of “time poverty”. Since women are expected to take care of all the household chores, and care for children and elders, many are unable to step out of the house and go to work.
“The dropout rate is high. But if the employers were to provide childcare facilities, at least in smaller towns where workers live in clusters, it would make a huge difference,” says Sundararajan.
R Geetha, president, National Federation of Unorganised and Migrant Workers, says, “In many manufacturing units, women are employed, most of them unmarried, inter-district migrants. They stay in hostels and are made to work for over eight hours. In Tirupur, women in the textile sector are made to work for 12 hrs and more a day.”
Technology ushers in change
But with technological advances, more companies are looking at hiring women, especially when dexterity is an integral part of the production process.
“An electronics company in Hosur employed a huge number of women for watch assembly as women have nimble fingers,” says Sundararajan. “The work was outsourced, and many self-help groups benefited.”
Government initiatives to boost women’s participation in the workforce
The government has been making efforts to encourage participation of women in the workforce. While presenting the Union Budget 2024-25, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that more than ₹3 lakh crore has been allotted for schemes directed towards women and girls and fostering women-led development. To foster the participation of women in the workforce, the government will collaborate with industry to establish working women hostels and creche-facilities, she added.
The Finance Minister also allocated ₹500 crore for Namo Drone Didi, an initiative that aims to provide 15,000 selected women self-help groups (SHGs) with drones from 2023-24 to 2025-2026 for rental services to farmers.
The government has also increased budget allocation for schemes under Mission Shakti (Mission for Protection and Empowerment for Women ) from ₹2,325 crore to ₹3,146 crore. It includes schemes like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Nari Adalat, Mahila Police, etc.
Smile Foundation has also been working for women empowerment and to increase the participation of women in the workforce. We have adopted a lifecycle approach, supporting child education, family health, livelihood, and women empowerment. This is because ensuring the education of children cannot be done in isolation.
Companies follow suit
According to an article on SHRM, a member-driven catalyst for creating better workplaces where people and businesses thrive together, a few companies have been working to increase gender-diversity in the workforce. They have been seeing to it that some of their assembly lines are run only by women. For instance, at Elgi Equipments, a maker of air compressors, three of the assembly lines in Coimbatore are now being run by women.
Empower women, empower the nation
The promotion of gender equality and women empowerment is a key aspect of UNDP’s Sustainable Development Goals. It is believed that a community, society, and country prosper when women are empowered.
Smile Foundation’s women empowerment programme, Swabhiman, which was launched in 2005, reaches out to marginalised and socially excluded women with interventions in nutrition, healthcare and livelihood.
We also provide entrepreneurship and skill development training to women from urban slums and rural areas with limited means owning low scale businesses. This gives them access to opportunities for economic empowerment, independence, and leadership.
More women in manufacturing sector and the workforce at large with pay equalling men is the near future we should all look forward to. The future is everyone, only when females forefront it.
