BYARPITA MUKHERJEEDEBOSHREE GHOSH
FDI and Women Employment in India
1
Organized by: Institute of Social Studies Trust (ISST) in association with the Heinrich Boell Foundation (HBF)
New Delhi, April 9, 2013
Gender and Economic Policy Discussion Forum: The Politics and Economics of FDI through a Gender
Lens
Status of employment with focus on women employment
FDI and its linkages to women employment
Some examples of sectors with women employment
Challenges and Opportunities
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Table of Contents
Women Employment: Global Overview3
Women constitute 40% of the global labour force, account for 58% of all unpaid work, 44% of wage employment and 50.5% of informal employment against 48.2% for men
Women dominate the service sector (47% of all employed women against 41% of men’s employment); are more likely than men to work in agriculture (38% of all employed women against 33% of all employed men); and much less represented in industry (16 % against 26% of all employed men)
In 2010 the female youth unemployment rate stood at 13.1% compared to 12.6% for males
The estimated number of workers in vulnerable employment in 2009 is 1.53 billion, and in most regions the vulnerable employment rate among women exceeds that of men
In two-thirds of emerging and developing countries where data is available, the share of informal employment stands at more than 40%
ILO evidence from 83 developed and developing countries shows that women earn between 10% and 30% less than men
In 2010, women accounted for just below 12% of board members in the largest publicly listed companies in the European Union, and for just over 3% of board chairs
Source : ILO, 2012
Employment in India
National Sample Survey (NSS) data shows addition of merely 2.76 million work opportunities during the period of fastest growth for the economy (2004-05-2009-10)
Compared to this, there was an addition of 60 million to the workforce during 1999-2000 and 2004-05
Women employment decreased considerably from 2.8 % to 2.2 % and is currently 128 million out of 460 million of total labour force.
It is interesting to analyse the impact of FDI on women employment as no other empirical study has been done in this regard. Therefore the question arise :-
With FDI in the country, what is the future of women employment in India?
Are women better off in states with more FDI investment?
4
No Official Data Primar
y (A
gricul
ture
and
fish
ing)
Indu
stry
Service
s0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
53.2
21.525.4
69.6
16.314.1TotalWomen
Total employment and share of women employment (2009-10)- %
NSSO, 2009-10
• Majority in agriculture
• Financial intermediation and construction sector also employ a sizable number of women
• Lowest share in fishing, mining and transport
• Only 3.5 % are employed in retail and wholesale
68.60.1
0.3
10.8
0.1 5.1
3.50.8
0.40.4
0.5
13.8 1.1 1.81.6
Agriculture
Fishing
Mining and quarrying
Manufacturing
Electricity, gas and water supply
Construction
Wholesale and retail trade
Hotels and restaurants
Transport
Financial intermediation
Real estate
Public administration
Education
Health and social work
Other community work
Activities of private households
Extraterritorial organi-zations and bodies
5
Source : NSSO, 2009-2010
Where women are employed ?
FDI Restriction
s?
• Majority as skilled agriculture and fishery workers.
• Very low percentage of service and sales workers
• Employment in elementary occupations such as mining, construction and basic manufacturing is high
6
Source : NSSO, 2009-2010
What women are employed as?
2.632.513.06
1.07
3.62
40.36
8.550.770000000000002
37.1
0.06
Legislators, Senior Officials
Professionals
Technicians and Associate Pro-fessionals
Clerks
Service Workers and Sales Workers
Skilled Agricultural and Fishery Workers
Craft and related Trades Workers
Machine Operators and Assemblers
Elementary Occupations
Workers not Classified
• SECTOR WISE FDI• STATE WISE FDI• LINK BETWEEN FDI AND EMPLOYMENT
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Understanding the FDI dynamics and its link to women employment
Sector wise FDI in India8
Source : DIPP, 2012
State wise distribution of FDI in India (%)
9
Source : DIPP, 2012
Maha, Dadra,Daman
Delhi,UP and Har
Kar-nataka
TN, Pondicherry
Gu-jarat
AP Ker-ala, Lak-shad-weep
W B, Sikkim, An-
daman
UP, Ut-
tran-chal
Chandigarh, Pun-jab,
Haryana, HP
MP, Chat-
tisgarh
Goa Ra-jastha
n
Orissa Bihar, Jhark-hand
7 N.E states
2010-11
28.5133049618856
12.5192910255811
6.22924753308703
6.32277977832858
3.385867277744
5.90188467474162
0.44427816489734
9
1.94547070102418
2.10915213019688
1.41233690314736
0.17303465369686
2
0.23850722536594
5
0.52378057335266
3
0.07014918393116
03
0.03741289809661
88
0.02338306131038
67
2011-12
27.2002505623416
22.7299906039122
4.36490988297599
4.04885965661569
2.85014663591583
2.41450983741921
1.34107798752883
1.12183593861223
0.39862190712109
6
0.37014891375530
4
0.35021781839924
9
0.10819737479001
2
0.09396087810711
56
0.07972438142421
92
0.06833518407790
21
0.00284729933657925
2.5
7.5
12.5
17.5
22.5
27.5
Urban Women Employment(2009-10) in States with High FDI Inflows (%)
10
Himac
hal
Chhat
tisga
rh
Andhr
a Pra
desh
Mizo
ram
Meg
hala
ya
Sikki
mTam
il
Karna
taka
Aruna
chal
Pra
desh
Mah
aras
htra M
P
Puduc
herr
y
Uttara
khan
d
Keral
a
A and
N Is
land
Rajas
than
Gujar
at
Laksh
adwee
p
Nagal
and
Man
ipur
Orissa
Chand
igar
h
Tripur
a
Daman
Assam
Harya
na
Jhar
khan
dGoa W
B UP
Jam
mu
Kashm
ir
Punja
bDel
hi
Bihar
Dadra
and
Nag
ar H
avel
i0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
2321
25
42
35
22
2725
22 21
17
29
14
32 32
13
19
28
14
19
15
21
26
13 13
1714
16 17
9
17
13
86
3
Source : NSSO, 2009-2010
Many other factors (culture, education, government policy, etc.) determine women employment other than FDI
Sectors that attract women employment
Direct Selling: A New Retail Format
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Size : The size of direct selling industry in India is abour 901 USD million (2010) which is higher than countries like Singapore and Indonesia and is ranked 11th world wide Women: The share of women in this sector is more than 50 % (IDSA, 2011)Benefits: • According to a survey by ICRIER, about 68 %
women feel it builds self esteem, 69 report financial independence and higher earnings, flexible timings and improved and ability to take care of families. (ICRIER research, 2011)
Initiatives by various companies : Tupperware is leveraging a growing female sales force of 2.6 million women in regions like China, India, Indonesia, the CIS, Latin America and South Africa.- 99% sales person are women over all the world
Treated as wholesale trade for FDI inflows- No FDI restrictions
IT Services12
• Size : The Indian IT-BPO industry has emerged as the largest private sector employer in the country with direct employment of about 2.23 million professionals. The sector employ 30-35% women (NASSCOM , 2012)
• Factors : The important factors that encourage women workforce to participate in IT sector is
• comparatively high salary, • easy international mobility, • gender-neutral policy based on
knowledge-centric skills possession, • flexible work routine and physically
less demanding work process in comfortable indoor work- environment (Kumar 2001; Upadhya 2006; Shanker 2008).
• Representation : Senior management have only 5 % representation.
• Initiatives : like Shakti (a women well being initiative) by a BPO called Ajuba, has made it more lucrative for women to work in this sector
Open to foreign investment with limited regulations and high incentives to FDI
Why international companies employ women?
Problems employing women in India
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Opportunities and challenges
• Huge Untapped Women Workers : India is at par, if opportunities availed, with her immediate competitors for the use of women workforce as most Asian countries, including China, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea and Taiwan, have huge women labour force
• More Productive :Employers perceive women as more “productive” in the types of jobs available in the export sector
• They are obedient and • less prone to worker unrest• suited to tedious work• reliability and trainability relative to
men
• Indian Labour Laws : In 2007, the factory act 1948 section 66 was amended, allowing women to work between 10 pm and 6 am, is benefiting those working in Special Economic Zones (SEZs), textiles, garments, handicrafts, leather and IT sector.
• Skills : As Indian women do complete minimum education and even if they get educated their access to English language remains very limited hence it MNCs find it difficult to employ women
• Security : The crime rate in India is high owing to which extra money is spend on ensuring security by providing cabs and security for women working late at night
• Conservative Mindset : Women in India don’t work majorly due to this mindset of their families
• Working Hours : Women in India are homemakers even if they are working hence this requires them to have flexible working hours to manage their homes and office responsibilities
• Labour Regulations: Centre versus states, variation across states
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F O R D E TA I L S C O N TA C T :
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