Rural Women Workers in India’s Unorganized Sector

Census 2011 estimated India’s population at 121 crore. Rural population accounted for 68.8 percent (83.3 crore) of the total population. A very large proportion of rural population is – either wholly or significantly – dependant on agriculture and allied activities like horticulture, animal husbandry and fisheries. According to the final report of the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) [Chairman: Arjun Sengupta] released in April 2009, workers in the unorganised (or informal) sector constitute over 93 percent of the total workforce of India. Unorganised sector workers are those who do not have any job security, income security or social security and are therefore extremely vulnerable to exogenous shocks. Women in rural areas are clearly the overwhelming proportion of the workforce in the informal rural economy and most of them suffer from various forms of insecurities and vulnerabilities. The present work explains and examines the conditions of rural women workers. It also focuses on policies and programmes of the Government to ameliorate their socio-economic existence.