Heading Towards Better Labour Laws For Women

Introduction

Social justice is crucial to preserving long-term peace and supporting long-term economic progress. Gender equality and the protection of women’s interests in labour law are critical components of enhancing social justice. There are a number of laws with particular provisions for the protection of female employees. These restrictions include rules for separate washrooms, the prohibition of hazardous labour, childcare services, an upper limit on working hours, an upper limit on the weight that women may lift, the ban on night employment, and so on.

There is a tendency in labour legislation towards women’s empowerment; all that is required is an understanding of rights and successful execution. However, still we are lagging behind as a country in ensuring the rights of women workers. This write is an attempt to highlight that.

Analyzing Reality

Seema, a construction worker from Bhagalpur, says “I worked until seven months into my pregnancy and resumed work a month after delivery.”[1]

Ms. Sulochana Kumari, from Madhya Pradesh, says, “this work is very hard. My whole body hurts but if I do not work, we will never have enough money to save for our children.”[2]

“My husband took a loan of 50,000 rupees ($650) during the Covid pandemic. I have to work now to help him pay it off,” says Mohsina Bibi.[3]

Working female labourers are generally impoverished, illiterate, and uninformed of their labour rights. These workers are sometimes paid so little that they cannot make a living. Most female labourers prefer to work alongside their spouses, and their efforts are frequently overlooked. Employers ignore female workers even after they work on par with their male colleagues.

Legislative Framework in India

Constitution

Article 42 of the Indian Constitution requires the state to provide arrangements for reasonable and humane working conditions including maternity leave.[4] Moreover, Even Article 39 of the Constitution states that the state shall direct its policy towards ensuring, among other things, equal compensation for equal labour for both men and women.[5]

The Prohibition of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013

The statute outlines the requirements for employers to implement a robust mechanism in case of sexual harassment complaints by a woman worker. Section 4 mandates the formation of an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC). Section 19 compels businesses to provide orientation, workshops, and awareness programs to educate employees about the perils of sexual harassment, and support the complainant if she chooses to make a police complaint.[6]

The Factories Act, 1948

The statute provides for separate toilets and washrooms with doors for women. If a factory employs more than 30 women, the company is required to offer a creche for the workers’ children. Women cannot be forced to lift more than the recommended weight and to clean or lubricate any moving machine.[7]

The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976

The Equal Remuneration Act of 1976 was enacted to provide for equal remuneration for men and women workers, as well as to prohibit sex discrimination against women in the workplace. Additionally, in the case of People’s Union for Democratic Rights v. UoI,[8] it was held that it is the employer’s obligation to provide equal wages to men and women for the same or equivalent labour.

The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961

The maternity benefit is a payment made to a woman worker at the rate of average daily earnings for the duration of her real absence preceding and including the day of her birth, as well as for six weeks after that day.[9]

Requirement of Women-Specific Laws

While women make up a sizable proportion of the available workforce in India, they are still underrepresented in terms of work participation and job quality. One cause for this lack of female labour participation is a lack of acceptable occupations available, i.e., a gap between what they can perform and what is accessible to them.

Another cause for poor female work participation is the problem of safety at the workplace.[10] Improved administration and policing are essential if we are to increase women’s sense of security and so encourage more women to work.

Another issue is that the sectors in which women are employed, fall under the ‘unorganised sector,’ which is troubling in the sense that there is no strong set of workplace rules in place.[11] Women’s vulnerability in unfavourable conditions is exacerbated by any abrupt negative impact on the sector, as they are already coping with uneven inherent issues.

Women must deal with childbirth and related concerns, as well as family duty, which in a patriarchal culture is of little interest to males, and so on.[12] To bring women up to pace with their male counterparts, it is critical that they be granted not just equal rights under labour law, but also specific protection.

Reforms and Suggestions

When we are thinking to provide women with paid menstrual leaves with the help of a new set of laws, the need of the hour is compliance with the prevailing set of laws. There is a list of rights that are being provided in various laws for women but the implementation of those laws has not been checked. There is no mechanism that the government has developed to check whether the laws that are framed are implemented everywhere or not.

Moreover, a large number of women are unaware that they have any such rights available to them where there is a safeguard available in law. The need is to educate and aware those women of their rights. Here, the NGOs and student volunteers can play a very important role by organising various seminars for the education of women labourers.

The next degree of effort is required by India for the development and efficient implementation of redressal systems. The best approach to guarantee the efficient execution of these regulations and the resolution of any complaints is to start at the grassroots level, i.e., with individual firms and employers. This guarantees that the actions are more defined and the result is.

[1] India’s invisible female construction workers: underpaid and overworked, The National, https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/2022/03/07/hold-indias-invisible-female-construction-workers-underpaid-and-overworked/.

[2] Id.

[3] Supra Note 7.

[4] India Const. art. 42.

[5] India Const. art. 39.

[6] The Prohibition of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013, § 19, No. 14, Acts of Parliament, 2013 (India).

[7] Laws Relating to Working Women, https://vikaspedia.in/social-welfare/women-and-child-development/women-development-1/legal-awareness-for-women/laws-relating-to-working-women (last assessed March 1, 2023).

[8] People’s Union for Democratic Rights v. UoI, AIR 1982 SC 1473.

[9] Supra Note 3.

[10] Runa Jasia, Employment and Labour Laws for Women, Lawyered, https://www.lawyered.in/legal-disrupt/articles/employment-and-labour-laws-women/.

[11] Shraddha Chigateri, Labour Law Reforms and Women’s Work in India, INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL STUDIES TRUST (January 2021).

[12] Radhika Kapur, Women’s Rights in India, ResearchGate, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323825501_Women’s_Rights_in_India (Last assessed March 1, 2023).

By: Anchal Kanthed, 3^rd Year Law Student at Institute of Law Nirma University