Women in India’s workplaces often get the short end of the stick. Beset by cultural proscriptions on stepping out of the household, workplace sexism, wage differentials and safety issues, many prefer to drop out of the labour force altogether. It is of little surprise, that between October-December 2022, women above 15 years of age are only 22.3% of the labour pool.
There is another, less-examined dimension to this gender imbalance: women bear the brunt of well-intentioned but paternalistic laws that ‘protectively’ discriminate against them. For example, shops and establishments in leading states are prohibited, by law, from hiring women at night. These prohibitions – in many cases, devised in 1950s – are often absolute in nature, and exemptions are given rarely, after a long and arduous process.
The Union Government has already displayed intent to reverse these laws. In the last few years, it has passed the Model Shops and Establishments Bill, 2016 and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, both of which specifically allow women to work at night. As long as establishments take the consent of women and make arrangements for their safety, these legislations indicate, they should not face any concerns in engaging them for the night shift.
Taking cue from these developments, several states such as Karnataka and Telangana have also amended their State laws.
However, in some states, one must navigate reams of procedures to hire women...
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