The Worker Population Ratio (WPR) for women in India has been volatile in the last two decades. As per the Periodic Labour Force Survey data, WPR for women experienced a sharp decline from 42.7% to 22.0% from 2004-05 to 2017-18. However, this trend has been reversed in recent years, with the WPR for women having risen to 40.3% in 2023–24, indicating a significant increase in female work participation. This high variation in WPR raises questions regarding the sustainability and quality of the new job creation, especially in the context of recent labour law reforms in the country. In addition to the above, there exist significant structural inequalities in the labour market as a majority (55.8%) of women in regular salaried employment still lack social security coverage. Moreover, the gender pay gap in India is alarmingly high at 34% (approx.), which is drastically higher than the global average (i.e., 23%) (ILO, 2016). The Government of India claims that the new Labour Codes, notified on November 21, 2025, represent a significant development toward fostering a more inclusive, safe, and enabling work environment for women.
India’s New Labour Codes
Patriarchal and deep-rooted social norms continue to reinforce a gendered division of labour, contributing to wage/pay inequality for identical work. These structural barriers have led to restricting a large section of women to unpaid domestic work, while the few who enter the labour market encounter systemic barriers and get disproportionately concentrated in low-paid, informal employment with limited or no access to social security. Labour policy experts have for long argued to give protection to women, who constitute 34% (approx.) of the workforce of India, to overcome suppression from such forces.
The government has codified 29 laws into four comprehensive Labour Codes. These four codes are (a) The Code on Wages, 2019; (b) The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020; (c) The Code on Social Security, 2020; and (d) The Industrial Relations Code, 2020. These codes were passed by the Parliament of India during 2019 and 2020 and notified recently on November 21, 2025.
Code on Wages 2019
A key objective of the Wage Code is the establishment of a statutory right to minimum wages for all employees, significantly extending its coverage to every sector, including both the organised and unorganised workforce. This is a major expansion, as the previous minimum wage rules applied only to specific ‘scheduled employments’, which covered an estimated 30% of the workforce. This would especially help women in the unorganised sector for which there was no minimum wage rule formerly. The Code’s provision for a national floor wage of ₹178 per day remains contentious. Critics point out that this benchmark is lower than the minimum wages already enforced in several states. It is argued that the enforcement of a clear, nationwide mechanism for the regular, mandatory revision of this floor wage can be a progressive step.
The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code (OSHWC) 2020
Safeguarding worker rights and ensuring safe working conditions and balancing it with a business-friendly regulatory environment is the clear objective of the OSHWC Code, 2020. It lays down the regulatory framework for establishments with 10 workers or more, in addition to all mines and docks. The burden on employers is eased by streamlining compliance by introducing measures such as a single registration, all-India licences, electronic filings, and time-bound approvals, alongside a reduction in the total number of rules and returns. The workers gain with the enhanced leave entitlements in this Code.
Workers now qualify for annual leave with wages after completing 180 days of work, a substantial reduction from the previous 240-day requirement. This, along with provisions for flexible working hours, aims to promote rest and recovery, thereby boosting productivity. The provision related to working hours and overtime has remained at 8 hours per day and 48 hours per week.
Workers now qualify for annual leave with wages after completing 180 days of work, a substantial reduction from the previous 240-day requirement. This, along with provisions for flexible working hours, aims to promote rest and recovery, thereby boosting productivity. The provision related to working hours and overtime has remained at 8 hours per day and 48 hours per week. However, labour being the subject of the Concurrent List, many state governments are still framing rules for implementation of the OSHWC.
Social Security Code 2020
The Code on Social Security, 2020, is designed to significantly expand the safety net by granting the Union government the power to introduce a comprehensive range of social security schemes for all workers. These measures encompass vital provisions for employees like the insurance scheme, pension scheme, provident fund scheme, and other specific schemes targeting the welfare of unorganised workers.
The Social Security Code also mandates governments to explicitly plan for the welfare of the gig economy workers, such as delivery personnel and for-hire drivers. Thus, the new Social Security Code has broadened the coverage of informal workers, who constitute approximately 90% of the workforce. However, several limitations exist in the proper implementation of these social security schemes. These limitations include complex eligibility criteria to avail benefits, lack of registration of informal workers, lack of rules framed by state governments, etc.
The Industrial Relations Code 2020
The Industrial Relations Code, 2020 consolidates and amends the laws concerning trade unions, industrial disputes, and retrenchment, and it simplifies compliance by establishing uniform definitions. An important change in the Code is the new threshold for layoffs and retrenchments for industrial workers. This code now permits firms with up to 299 employees to dismiss workers without requiring prior approval of the appropriate government. This marks a significant increase from the previous legislation, where the applicable threshold for applying such a provision was 100 workers.
Despite the progressive intent of minimum wage laws, long-standing gender-discriminatory practices continue to shape minimum wage calculation in India. Rule 3 for determining minimum wages is based on the concept of a “standard working-class family”, which comprises one earning member, his/her spouse, and two children.
Though the Code provides for the setup of an Industrial Tribunal to resolve disputes, the increase in the retrenchment threshold has been a major point of discussion. It is argued that this change would reduce job security for workers and potentially reduce the bargaining power of trade unions. Further, it may also inspire companies to remain below the 300-worker cap to avoid the application of the provision of the Code.
Important Provisions Related to Women Workers
Despite the progressive intent of minimum wage laws, long-standing gender-discriminatory practices continue to shape minimum wage calculation in India. Rule 3 for determining minimum wages is based on the concept of a “standard working-class family”, which comprises one earning member, his/her spouse, and two children. The calculation of minimum wage further includes criteria such as a daily intake of 2,700 calories, provision of 66 metres of cloth per year, and expenditure on fuel, electricity, medical care, education, etc. However, the wage-setting rules fail to account for the additional costs or constraints faced by women workers, such as childcare responsibilities, workplace safety concerns, occupational segregation, etc. Thus, it appears that the wage standard is focused around the model of a male worker and factors related to women’s work are undervalued.
Night Work
The Occupational Safety, Health & Working Conditions (OSHWC) Code allows women to work the night shift between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. with their consent. This is the major change replacing earlier prohibitions of night work for women under the Factories Act 1948. This provision expands employment opportunities in emerging sectors such as IT, services, and manufacturing. However, the absence of explicit obligations on employers, such as safe transport and on-site security, would create a regulatory gap. The implementation of this provision depends heavily on state-level rules, which are yet to be notified by various states.
Hazardous Operations
Earlier labour laws, such as the Factories Act, 1948, explicitly mentioned specific hazardous operations where women’s employment was restricted (e.g., dangerous machinery, mines). The OSHWC Code replaces these explicit mentions with a discretionary power for the governments to issue notifications. Thus, the lack of clarity regarding hazardous operations may result in inconsistent safety standards and weaker occupational safeguards for women, especially in high-risk industries.
Maternity Benefits
The Social Security Code, 2020, retains all the progressive provisions of the existing Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, ensuring a continued level of protection and support for working women. Important provisions related to maternity benefits in the Social Security Code include the right to 26 weeks of paid maternity leave with payment calculated at the average daily wage rate. Furthermore, the Code maintains the eligibility threshold (80 days of actual work preceding the delivery date) and ensures essential worker safeguards, such as the provision for nursing breaks and strong protection from dismissal on account of pregnancy.
Crèche Provision
Under the earlier Factories Act, 1948, a crèche facility was required only in factories employing more than thirty women workers. In contrast, the Social Security Code mandates that every establishment with fifty or more employees must provide a crèche facility within the prescribed distance. This requirement is gender-neutral and may therefore expand coverage, particularly in establishments where a larger proportion of employees are men. However, in enterprises dominated by women employees, the new provision under the Social Security Code may narrow the coverage, as eligibility now depends on the total number of employees rather than the number of women workers alone.
Social Security for Unorganised Workers, Gig Workers and Platform Workers
Social Security Code 2020 creates a statutory framework to provide schemes (life and disability cover, health and maternity benefits, old age protection, etc.) for gig, platform and unorganised workers and establishes national and state boards to design/monitor these schemes. This is potentially progressive for women in non-standard work but hinges on scheme design, funding and aggregator contributions notified later.
The Codes introduce significant statutory improvements, notably retaining enhanced maternity benefit entitlements (26 weeks of leave) and greatly expanding the scope of the crèche provision to all establishments with 50 or more employees.
There are some major gains that are revealed by the analysis of the new Labour Codes, with certain implementation challenges regarding women workers’ rights. The Codes introduce significant statutory improvements, notably retaining enhanced maternity benefit entitlements (26 weeks of leave) and greatly expanding the scope of the crèche provision to all establishments with 50 or more employees. Further, a statutory framework for social security has been established for gig, platform, and unorganised workers. This would be highly beneficial for women workers as they are concentrated in these vulnerable informal sectors. Furthermore, the new labour codes facilitate night work for women and amend restrictions on hazardous operations, which have the potential for opening up more employment opportunities. However, the true impact of these amendments may be undermined by regulatory gaps and systemic biases existing in society. For example, the rules regarding the minimum wage determination process are based on the needs of a male worker, which implicitly undervalues women’s work and ignores costs like childcare, thus failing to resolve the structural gender wage gap.
Correcting existing gender biases with an emphasis on implementation of the provisions of the Labour Codes would be a strategic way forward. For example, minimum wage calculation rules require to be reformed to be gender-neutral. The permission for night work and changes to hazardous operation rules must be supported by mandatory employer obligations for safe transport and robust on-site security. Finally, the progressive intent for the welfare of gig workers must be realised by expediting the funding of mandatory social security schemes, and the creche provision should be optimised by adopting a lower threshold or dual threshold (e.g., 50 total employees or 30 women employees) to prevent the exclusion of women in small and/or women-centric enterprises.
About the author(s)
Dr. Sweety Supriya is Assistant Professor (Electronics) at L.S.College, B.R.A. Bihar University, Muzaffarpur.
