INDIANS MOMS ONLINE

What’s more, one in six working women nationwide has no say in how her earnings are spent, with her husband or in-laws making the decision for her


One in four, or 25% of Indian women do not get any form of payment for their work, compared to only 5% of Indian men, according to the results of the third National Family Health Survey (NFHS-III) released on October 11. Women below 20 were least likely to receive only cash wages and most likely to be engaged in wage-less work, the survey found.

India’s most comprehensive health and social indicators survey ever, which interviewed 1.25 lakh women and 75,000 men aged 15-59 across 29 Indian states and the national capital New Delhi, in 2005-2006, found extreme gender disparities with regard to participation in the workforce and compensation.

It also provides valuable insight into the role that age plays in women’s employability, and sharp regional, community and religious disparities in women’s employment as well as the extent of working women’s financial empowerment.

Nationally, 43% of currently married women, aged 15-49, are employed, compared to almost 99% of married men, 92% of whom get cash wages for their labour, NFHS-III reported. Only 51% work exclusively for cash wages while 13% receive payment in both cash and kind.

Women aged 35-39 were found to be most likely to be employed and least likely not to receive any cash wages. Nonetheless, even in this age-group, one in five women does not receive cash payment for the work.

Kamla Gupta from the International Institute of Population Sciences, Mumbai, one of the 18 research institutes that conducted the NFHS says: “Employment among currently married women increases from 31% in the age-group 15-19, to 50% in the age-group 35-39, and then declines to 45% in the oldest age-group. In contrast, employment among married men does not vary across states. In all states, 96% or more married men were employed.”

Among employed women, those aged 15-19 were least likely to be employed for cash only (39%) and also most likely to be employed in work for which they don’t receive any form of compensation.

More tellingly, one in six working women nationwide has no say in how her earnings are spent, with her husband or in-laws making the decision for her. Even in the oldest age-group of working women, the wealthiest and the most highly educated, only between 28-31% said they decided how to spend their wages.

Even in states where at least three out of four employed married women earn in cash, like Kerala (91%), Tamil Nadu (90%), Goa (83%), Assam (85%) and West Bengal (83%), women don’t have control over their earnings.

However, the level of financial control over one’s earnings did vary according to religion if not by region, the NFHS found. Among Buddhists and Hindus, the husband was more likely to have a greater say in how his wife’s earnings were spent (15%-16%). By contrast, Muslim and Jain women enjoyed a greater level of financial empowerment than other communities, with up to 38% saying they had a major say in how their wages were spent.

“Financial empowerment also requires control over the use of one’s earnings. When women in the survey were asked who decides how the money they earn will be spent, only 24% who earned said they decided on their own what to do with the money they earned, while 57% said their husbands had a major say. For 15%, the husband single-handedly made that decision,” says Gupta.

Freedom of movement was also a luxury for most of the women surveyed. While only about half were allowed to go shopping or to a health facility alone, only 38% were allowed to travel unaccompanied outside their city or village.

Source: PTI, October 14, 2007
www.nfhs.nic.in, October 11, 2007