The Hindu Business Line : Fair shift

THE GOVERNMENT'S DECISION to amend the Factories Act to allow women to work the night shift is a recognition of the changed realities of business operations the world over. No doubt, the International Labour Organisation's Convention on Night Work by Women, to which India is a signatory, did originally prohibit their deployment on this duty. But with the lifting of this ban in 1990, albeit with certain safeguards, there was little justification for keeping such an archaic provision in force on grounds of multilateral commitments. Also, the Madras High Court had struck down as unconstitutional the relevant provision of the law inasmuch as it seeks to discriminate workers on grounds of sex without subserving any worthwhile social purpose. But the law can never be static and must always strive to reflect the changing social realities. This is particularly true of that realm of law dealing with the world of commerce.

It is now well accepted that the process of globalisation of economic activity has all but made the world a large village, at least in the economic sense. The customer support functions of large multinational corporations that are outsourced to call centres located in developing countries may perhaps be the most visible example of the new world order. But distributed manufacturing of components and final assembly in the market of consumption is as much a part of this inter-connected global commerce. It is easy to see how in both cases the attempt is to ensure that value creation happens 24 hours of the day and seven days a week. In other words, night shift operations have emerged from being a fringe activity to one that is at the core of efficient manufacturing or service provision. If it has become such an integral part, the continued ban on deploying women workers in the night shift must sooner or later begin to tell on the employment opportunities available to them and thereby hinder their quest for an economic and social status on a par with those of men.

Women now drive heavy-duty trucks; fly planes or even stand vigil at a nation's borders. It would be a travesty of justice to prevent them from turning out machines or fabricating plants merely because the law deems such operations in the night unsafe for women. This is not to say that women do not face any harassment at work, especially at night, or that there are no risks to their physical well-being as they commute to the work-place. It is ironic that even when the ban was in force, in terms of the ILO convention women workers were allowed to be engaged in the night shift by the fish canning and curing operators more perhaps as a concession to the economics of that industry where women play a key role than because of any special feature that rendered their functioning free of the hazards that women elsewhere would be subjected to. But adequate safeguards and special arrangements can, and should, be built into the work environment so that women are not only safe but are also made to feel so.

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