If industry complies with labour law, night shifts will be much easier for women

Among the various amendments to labour law proposed by the Narendra Modi Government is one on allowing women to work on shifts between 7 pm and 6 am, “with adequate safeguards for safety and provision of transportation till the doorstep of their residence.”

This amendment will surely open up more job opportunities for women at a time when the female work participation rate is at a dismal 31 per cent, according to the India Labour and Employment Report 2014, published by the Institute of Human Development. It is among the lowest in the world and the second lowest in South Asia after Pakistan.

However, women’s organisations, trade unions and legal experts are still apprehensive about this subject, especially regarding the safety, security and health of women workers at a time when crimes against women are escalating across the country. Crimes committed against women – such as rape, sexual harassment, kidnapping, and trafficking – rose during the past five years from 9.2 per cent in 2009 to 11.2 per cent in 2013, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.

The concerns about the safety of women are compounded by the fact that, by and large, labour law compliance has had a dismal record in the country.

Section 66 of the Factories Act (which will be amended), banning night shifts for women, was enacted after a convention adopted by the International Labour Organisation. But it is already being flouted by factories in tandem with the “corrupt labour bureaucracy”, says K Chandru, former judge in the Madras High Court.

He believes that “no safety and health directions will be ever implemented.” He cites the news report last year about 45 women coolies (24 from Chhattisgarh and 11 from Assam) at a spinning mill in Tamil Nadu’s Erode district who were kept in a single room with one toilet till they were rescued under the Bonded Labour Act.

Take the case of textile and garment units in Tamil Nadu. “Today, in four districts, there are about 40,000 women employees doing three shifts, including night shifts. The present trend shows that women have also been brought from North-Eastern states without any adherence to labour laws. The attempt to challenge this situation in the High Court failed,” he said in an email interaction.

Justice Chandru said several existing textile mills in backward areas of Tamil Nadu, mostly to the South and West, exclusively engage women workers. “They engage agents to fetch women from backward class families by promising a lump sum at the end of a three-year contract period which the say the girls can use to get for their marriages. These women are kept inside the factory compound. Their parents meet them once a year. They are treated as apprentices and are given meagre payments with deductions made for providing lodging and boarding expenses,” he added.

While women’s organisations, by and large, feel that allowing night shifts will lead to ‘equity’ for women in the job market, they feel the added burden of societal and household responsibilities may impact their health in the long-term.

“Has any study been done on the impact of late night shifts on women’s health and reproductive system before proposing such changes? Implementation by the labour law machinery in India is already quite poor. Apart from BPOs, there are units that already make women work all night,” says Indrani Mazumdar of the Centre of Women’s Development Studies, who has done extensive research on the condition of women workers in Special Economic Zones. She also fears that if night shifts become part of routine work or a ‘condition of service’, more women may opt out of the workforce or lose job opportunities to their male counterparts.

Justice Chandru, too, feels that even if the women are allowed to do night shifts, they may not get any rest in the day time, as they will have to carry out household chores for the family, which could lead to double exploitation. “This was the experience even in the US, as shown by many studies in that area,” he adds.

However, Anuradha Kapur, Head of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Delhi’s Max Super Speciality Hospital feels there is no difference between working long hours at night and day and it should not affect women adversely.

But, she said, adequate rest and proper nutrition was a must for women working long hours. “Operating heavy machinery and work that involves lifting heavy goods can lead to inguinal hernia,” she says, adding that women who are pregnant and breast-feeding need a work environment that ensures low exposure to chemicals and pesticides.

Legislation can only be effective if compliance is enforced by imposing stringent penalties when rules are violated or by allowing employees to collectively protect their rights. This seems a far cry in the present scenario of growing casualisation and contractersiation of the workforce.

The ball, therefore, is also in the employers’ court. Many employers feel it is in their interest to self-regulate and ensure a harmonious industrial climate. “Legislation is important, but cannot be an end in itself. Industry has a great responsibility in ensuring the safety of women. There is a phenomenal amount of talent among women and we need to give them the opportunity to grow. But industry must have a safety framework in place,” said Chandrajit Banerjee, President, Confederation of Indian Industry. Te body has already set up a taskforce on women’s safety.

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