Last week, the central government urged states to implement “systematic deregulation” or “line-by-line reform” of laws that discriminate against women workers. At the National Conference of Chief Secretaries (December 13–15), the government highlighted urgent deregulation of restrictions on women’s employment. It recommended adopting zero-prohibition regimes for working women, similar to practices in Vietnam, Malaysia, and others.
Current prohibitions in industries like glass, fat and oil extraction, and pesticides reduce women’s earning potential by 12–21 percent, pushing them into lower-paying industries such as food processing and paper manufacturing.
In more than half the world’s economies, policymakers are yet to take an obvious step: allowing women to work the same jobs as men.
According to the World Bank, 104 economies still enforce labour laws that restrict the types of jobs women can perform, as well as when and where they are allowed to work, impacting the employment options of an estimated 2.7 billion women worldwide.
What has been the rule so far?
In India too, women continue to face discrimination as job seekers because of their gender. This discrimination is reinforced by the more than 150 laws that prohibit or limit women’s employment in certain industries.
Many Indian states impose laws that restrict women’s participation in factory operations, with 24 states having limitations and 11 banning women from night shifts entirely. These restrictions are governed by the Factories Act, 1948, and state-level shops and commercial establishment laws, aiming to protect women from sexual violence and long working hours. Even where night work is permitted, strict conditions like requiring a minimum proportion of women workers and supervisory staff during night shifts make compliance challenging, limiting job opportunities.
Some states, such as Bihar and Gujarat, impose additional requirements, like inspectors ensuring women’s safety and the provision of facilities like shelters and restrooms. While gradual relaxations have occurred, with states like Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh removing prohibitions on women’s night work in factories and commercial establishments, progress remains slow. Many states, including Bihar, Rajasthan, and West Bengal, still enforce prohibitions, restricting women’s employment opportunities in night shifts.
Why was this rule made?
These limitations are a result of presumptions that some occupations are too risky for women because of increased risk factors and accident vulnerability. For instance, the Factories Act and other labour rules forbid women from working in a variety of industrial activities, including during the day. No state has loosened these restrictions since 2022, which has prevented women from entering expanding markets and higher-paying occupations.
Women’s economic potential is further limited by their frequent exclusion from higher-paying jobs, such as those in traditional industries like glass production and oil and fat processing.
Women are also barred from employment in certain industries due to concerns regarding potential risks to their reproductive health. This restriction is rooted in the perception that women’s primary role is procreation, leading to the belief that engaging in labour-intensive tasks or operating heavy machinery could adversely affect their capacity to fulfil this role.
Regulations that were once perceived as beneficial are now beginning to appear restrictive and menacing.
What happens because of these restrictions?
These unfriendly laws impact both job opportunities and career prospects for women. When women are excluded from specific industries, their pool of potential job opportunities shrinks significantly. These restrictions effectively funnel women into lower-paying, less secure, and less prestigious roles, limiting their ability to achieve economic independence or career growth. For example, women are often over-represented in caregiving, education, and service industries, which tend to offer fewer opportunities for advancement compared to roles in engineering, technology, or manufacturing.
Labour legislation that does not apply to men and women alike harms women and will eventually harm men as well by forcing them to accept lower wages.
Who benefits from this law?
Only corporations and industrialists.
For example, if the glass industry presents occupational hazards, these risks are not exclusive to women. Both men and women can be affected by factors such as exposure to high temperatures, inhalation of silica dust, and physical strain from handling heavy materials. However, with proper safety protocols and protective equipment, these risks can be mitigated for all workers.
There needs to be a complete transformation of our current perspective on organised industries. Recognising that a nation’s people are its greatest value must replace our current veneration of industrial goods, regardless of how they were acquired.
What needs to be done?
Integrating gender considerations into workplace health and safety is crucial, and it requires a multi-faceted approach.
- Legal Reforms: Governments must eliminate laws that restrict women from specific roles based on outdated assumptions about their capabilities.
- Cultural Change: Industries and organisations should actively challenge gender stereotypes by promoting the idea that women are equally capable of performing physically demanding or technically complex jobs. Gender sensitivity needs to be an integral part of work-design. For instance, women frequently report being required to use ill-fitting protective gear, such as overalls designed for men or oversized safety shoes, gloves, and coats, which can compromise both safety and comfort. In a striking example, a woman astronaut was unable to participate in the first all-women spacewalk due to the lack of a properly fitting spacesuit in medium size. These oversights demonstrate the persistent failure to account for women’s specific needs in workplace safety policies and equipment design.
- Research & collection of data: Instead of prohibiting women to work in certain industries because they are deemed dangerous, we need more data on types of injuries women suffer while working in these industries, research on how certain occupations impact women’s health differently, and what measures can be taken to mitigate these hazards.
If a man’s right to work is inviolate, a woman’s right to work is just as inviolate. Industries must be humanised and made fit for women.
