Social security in India for women in unorganised sector: An overview Arfat Shabina Faculty of Law, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, Kashmir, India Online published on 7 February, 2013. Abstract The paper presents an overview of the situation of women in informal employment in India and their access to social protection, and examines key public policy issues in extending social protection to this group. The Indian economy can well be studied in two distinct sectors, organized and unorganized (informal). Informal employment of women in India is a recent problem. The widespread informal sector in the country is a major contributor to its development but at the same time it is plagued by several problems such as no proper service rules, no wage rules and no possibilities of career advancement. Woman workers in the unorganised sector is characterised as one in which women do arduous work as wage earners, piece-rate workers, casual labour, paid and unpaid family labour. This is a product of economic crises, labour market liberalization, inadequate welfare reforms/social security and their poor implementation. Relaxed attitude is shown towards this important gender dimension. Women are over-represented in informal employment, and they are also over-represented in lower paid and insecure occupational groups within informal employment. As social protection entitlements in the region are largely dependent on employment status, women in informal employment are often excluded from formal social protection programmes. Reform of labour market institutions and social protection programmes is needed to extend social protection to this group. Integrated policy interventions aimed at supporting women's life course decisions could have an important effect in reducing their over-representation in informal employment. Top Keywords Women Labour, Informal Employment, Informal Sector, Protection, Legal Framework, Right to Social Security. Top |