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A labour law that facilitates part time work for women is the need of the day. This will empower women while letting them take care of home too!
We have a penchant for casting choices as either-or. Are you studying or working? You can’t possibly be doing both. Are you a ‘housewife’ or working? Surely it’s one or the other?
Women’s Day is the day for buoying women and the season for buoying economy. So here is the silver bullet for sure shot propulsion of both women’s futures and the country’s GDP into high growth Nirvana while sidestepping the artificial either-or trap.
What we need is a robust labour law for part time paid work.
It will enable millions of educated urban and semi-urban stay-at-home women in the stranglehold of the either-or conundrum to start or return to work, productively leveraging downtime at home. Refer to my article Wear Your Own Oxygen Mask First- The Dismal State of Women’s Employment in India that dwelled upon the downward spiral that is the urban working woman.
It will also enable current full time employees of both genders to upgrade their skills part time, while continuing to pursue gainful employment, hence fulfilling India’s parched need for skilled labour.
It will facilitate low wage earners whose nature of work is erratic, like plumbers and janitors to multiplex jobs with legal sanction.
What it requires is for labour law reform to mandate payment proportional to the quantum of part time work. The amended law also needs to enshrine a certain fraction of health, insurance and retirement benefits for at least half to three quarters time of what is deemed full-time employment.
Flexibility of employment, access to hitherto untapped labour, more skilled labour and part-time payments that are on the books.
More labour enticed to join or rejoin the workforce and hence a higher GDP. Continually upgraded skills implies greater productivity and efficiency and hence better quality output. An inclusive growth that puts wealth in the hands of working women.
Women win, men win. Employers win, employees win. India wins.
It’s called win-win-win.
Published earlier here.
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Image source: Indian working woman by Shutterstock.
In software engineering by profession, Tara is passionate about Filter Coffee, Telugu Jaavalis, Caste, Race and Gender Politics. She is a National Council Member of Loksatta. read more...
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Children should be taught to aspire to be successful, but success doesn't have to mean an IIT admission only!
Imagine studying for 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 whole years for the JEE exam only to find out that there’s only a very, very slim chance of getting into an IIT. It is a fact widely acknowledged that the IIT-JEE is one of the toughest exams not just in India but in the whole world. Apart from IITs, the NITs and IIITs of India also accept the JEE scores for admission. There are said to be a total of 23 IITs, 31 NITs and 25 IIITs across the country.
Now, let’s first get a few facts about the IITs right. First, according to the NIRF rankings of 2023, only 17 IITs rank in the top 50 engineering colleges of India and only a few (around 5) IITs are in the list of the world’s top 100 engineering colleges. Second, the dropout rate of IIT-qualifying students stands at least at 20%, with reasons being cited ranging from academic pressure and unmanageable workload to caste discrimination and high levels of competition within the IIT.
So, it’s quite clear that the journey of making it through IIT is as challenging as the journey of getting into an IIT. Third and most important of all, the acceptance rate or the odds of getting into an IIT are below 3% which is a lot lower than the acceptance rate of highly and very highly ranked US universities. Four, getting into an IIT of one’s choice doesn’t mean one will also get into a branch of one’s preference at that IIT.
Dr Nalini Parthasarathi, 79, based in Puducherry has dedicated 30 years of her life caring for people suffering from hemophilia.
It is amazing when a person turns personal adversity into a calling, and extends empathy to make a significant impact in the lives of other people. This has been the life’s journey of Dr Nalini Parthasarathi.
April 17 is World Hemophilia Day. Dr Nalini Parthasarathi, 79, based in Puducherry has dedicated 30 years of her life caring for people suffering from hemophilia. She was honoured with the Padma Shri in 2023.
Hemophilia is a condition where one or more clotting factor is absent leading to bleeding. Severe cases can be life-threatening.
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