Women in the New Economy

(Ms. Mamatha R & Vijayshree .S)

Women play a key role in the new economy for weal or for woe.
-Mary C.Murphree
Today the physical borders between countries are no longer barriers for any kind of trade, service or information exchange. Globalization is catching up at a fast pace transforming not only the economy but also the mindset of the people of the world. The opening that globalization has brought in, have roughed away traditional stigma associated with women employment. Today like men, women also wrestle with new uncertainties and new choice; many young Indian women are embracing the changes tentatively, tinkering for time being with the customers of the past. While women are gaining a better status and a greater presence in the work place today apart from an earlier role of a home maker, she adorns various roles as managers, producers, workers, teachers and trainers to astronauts. A woman is given an opportunity to explore herself and manifest her credibility in all walks of life. We have women entrepreneurs like Ms.Kiran Majumdar Shaw who are very like their male counterparts. In the post-independent Indian scenario, the society started recognizing women as an individual who deserve respect and identity which can be achieved through education and carrier. In such situations in financially well off families women got good education and an opportunity to pursue a career of their choice. In middle class families it took some time to accept the concept of their women going out for work. In lower class family education took a back seat but financial necessities forced the women to search for a job. Despite the importance and acknowledgement given to working women, we are not blind about the various phases were women are forced to work in poor working conditions, harassed and not given their due recognition . The garment industry is one of the worlds biggest employers of women in blue collar level. Its heartening to note that the condition of women in garment industry, despite of booming sensations created by globalization is not very lucrative. However, according to the ILO publication Decent Work for Women, there have been opportunities for better jobs for small minority while the majority of women workers remain disadvantaged. What about the millions of women working in the shop floor in various production units? Has their situation really improved? For women who are moderate and less educated, blue collar jobs in medium and small scale industry provide the required opportunities. A large number of women are found in SMEs.

Peenya industry in Bangalore has a large number of garment industries giving jobs to large number of women workers. A look at working condition of women in garment industry makes one feel that the conditions are not very satisfactory. A campaign called Clean Cloths Campaign (CCC) in Europe during early 1990s observed that almost universally it is a female face that is making cloths under bad conditions whether stitching our garments or gluing our sneakers together. India is not an exception. Why concentrate on women employees? Going beyond the biological differences between men and women and thinking about the roles that are attributed to them, most people would agree that men and womens life are different because their roles are socially and culturally constructed in different ways. Gender influences labour practices in countless ways , ideas about the jobs that the women can do, how they should do it, their wages , their relationships to employers and the law. In case of working women, it affects their family life too. It is important to understand the conditions of working women. The benefits obtained by women both in terms of social and financial well being and the lacunae in the present system. The time has come where we should show cause the quality of work life of women and its impact on various facets of their life. If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman - Margeret Thatcher