An Empirical Study of Women Labourers at Workplace and at Home in Rural Punjab

The study attempts to analyse the problems faced by the women labourers at the workplace and on the domestic front along with their social status and living conditions in the rural areas of Punjab. Data were collected from 498 households of three districts, namely, Sangrur, Ludhiana and Hoshiarpur, selected on the basis of work participation rate of rural women in Punjab by using multi-stage systematic random sampling technique. The study reveals that the social status and living conditions of the sampled women labourers are very miserable in the rural areas of Punjab. Further, almost all the sampled women labourers do not find work in agriculture and non-agriculture sectors for more than 180 days in a year. A large majority of them do not enjoy any facility at their workplace. About one-third of the respondents are not being paid equal wages for equal work with men. Further, about 93 per cent of the respondents are not aware about the standard working hours fixed by the government for such labour. This is mainly because of their illiteracy and ignorance towards their rights. On the domestic front, there are some encouraging responses which reflect an element of their importance at home and their empowerment too to some extent.