The Trauma of 'Wage Employment' and the 'Burden of Work' for Women in India: Evidences and Experiences

Abstract

Approached from any discipline – demography, economics, sociology etc. women’s participation in paid employment and particularly participation outside the

 household domain has uniformly been given a positive connotation. In demography, for

 example, the seemingly high correlation between increase in female WPR and reduction

in fertility rate has catapulted this statistical finding into a policy decision, wherein growth

 in population in populous LDCs is sought to be controlled through, among other things,

 larger participation of women in paid employment. In economics, where the study of

 poverty is a major preoccupation, wage employment is central among the prescriptions

 for poverty reduction. Further, paid employment for women is also generally associated

 with greater economic independence resulting in better household nutritional status as

 well as better scope for education of girl children. Sociological studies of women’s

 participation in wage employment stress the enhanced status and autonomy that such

 work participation provide for women, which in turn confers on them greater decision making

power.