Introduction
In “Women in Trade Unions in India,” Ratnam and Jain states women in India suffer from occupational segregation. This has many implications such as the inability of the women in India to have access to the same job opportunities made available for men. In terms of economic well-being this is also very problematic because there is less opportunity to change their current situation. In other words a poor woman in India can find it extremely difficult to break the cycle of poverty.
Main Body
There are two ways to demonstrate the validity of this assertion. The first one is to examine the fact that “less than 8 percent of the 380 million workforce in India are unionized and women account for a very small fraction of trade union membership” (Ratnam & Jain, 2002, p.277). It must also be considered that there is only one national trade union center in all of India that allowed women to lead (Ratnam & Jain, 2002, p.278).
Finally, the most convincing evidence is the fact that women are “predominantly engaged in informal or unorganized sector activities where wages and working conditions are inferior, largely unsecured and mostly devoid of social security benefits” (Ratnam & Jain, 2002, p.280). There is a need for the government to change the current situation.
Conclusion
There is a way to deal with the blatant occupational segregation in India where there is a biased against women. The first thing to do is to identify the sexual division of labor. Secondly, there is a need to increase the number of women that are part of a trade union. Thirdly, there is a need to increase the number of women working in formal and organized sectors. Finally, it is important to increase the number of women leaders in trade unions.