Author Description

This handbook is set in the background of the clear provisions of the Constitution and international law regarding gender justice. It examines how various laws designed to benefit working women have functioned in practice. The author provides a large amount of data in the form of tables and charts about critical issues, including the percentage of women's employment in India, enforcement of the Minimum Wages Act, wage rates, maternity benefits paid, time spent on paid and unpaid activity, and women workers in rural and urban areas. He contends that existing legal measures to benefit women workers are often not implemented or are inadequate for meeting the challenges posed by the fast-changing economic environment today. He demonstrates how vast numbers of women in India face problems of low income, unequal pay, lack of access to social and legal protection, poor working conditions, long working hours, insecurity of tenure, as well as social and sexual harassment. He discusses the recommendations of the various committees on women's status, the evolution of government policy on empowering women, and the role of other bodies such as the National Commission for Women. The book also presents a comparison of the relevant laws in India and countries like China, Thailand, Japan, France, the UK and the USA.