In this chapter, the researchers critically examine the emancipatory role of neoliberalism with a focus on women’s work in India. They argue that the multi-pronged crisis afflicting the labour market is a fallout of the implementation of the neoliberal project in India that had severely impacted women workers, who typically are one of the oppressed sections in society. They argue that neoliberalism leads to the proliferation of social orthodoxies that promote patriarchal gender contracts whereby men are the primary breadwinners while women are mainly responsible for social reproduction in the ​‘domestic’ space.

They highlight that the neoliberal regime in India is associated with declining participation in paid work for women workers, notwithstanding the rapid growth rate of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that the economy has been witnessing. This is in the backdrop of India having one of the lowest rates of participation in paid employment of women workers. They claim that women’s work participation in India is affected by the production conditions in Indian agriculture and the burden of unpaid care work. However, increased participation in paid work — the quantitative dimension — does not necessarily lead to women’s empowerment under neoliberalism. This is largely due to the proliferation of the informal sector, which has been the major source of paid work for women workers. The researchers contend that women workers encounter two layers of subordination and control in the labour market that become acute in the informal sector, which is associated with a lack of worker’s rights. They are subordinated, first, by the dominance of capital and, second, by the patriarchal social order. These, in turn, adversely impact the quality and economic value of women’s work. They argue that the degradation of the economic value of women’s work has led to the accentuation of the gender bias that endangers the chances of survival of the girl child in a society characterised by deep-rooted patriarchy.

The contemporary precarity of women’s work — in terms of quantity and quality of work — also reflects the existing social orthodoxies that loom large in the private and public domains in India. Lastly, based on the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey database, they argue that the COVID-19 pandemic has widened the structural inequalities in the economy and added a layer to the existing vulnerabilities of women workers.

Authors: Mampi Bose, Shantanu De Roy