Women in employment
Employment of women has now been widely accepted phenomena in present Indian society. The parents and the society are now approving the employment of both married and unmarried girls. Though educated people are changing in their attitude but some conservative section of the society do not consider it good for an unmarried girl to be in a job.
Many employed unmarried women give their salary to their parents or use it in meeting the daily needs of their family. They also use this money on their cosmetics, dress, education, etc. Some of them deposit this money in bank or keep up to themselves for their marriage.
The parents of a girl child do recognize the need of preparing her for a vocational or professional role. Some people do not recognize the occupational role of woman as necessary in normal course but almost all of them recognize the need of preparing her for such a role to cope with calamities. This has also brought in a change in the basic orientation of the female. Employment and career has become an important part of her life. She is gradually becoming achievement oriented, and is thus having her independent aspirations and is trying to achieve those.
Lack of occupational mobility: Most of the working women prefer to get employed at a place near to their place of residence. Many women accept a low salaried job, but do not prefer to go over to a place away from their home.
Conclusion: On the one hand, women have very few job opportunities. On the other, they are restrained to join a job because of its social propriety. There are many barriers of female employment in the course of the country’s economic development and modernization
Illiteracy: Women’s illiteracy stands in the way of women’s employment in business and commerce, agriculture and industries, both traditional and modern. Even on the political scene, their small representation in legislative assemblies shows how marginal women are in the whole political process.
Poverty: Due to immense poverty of the majority of the Indian population, the opportunity of education, participation in social and civic life are thus restricted to women belonging to the upper and middle layers of society.
Decline of household industries: One factor is the decline in household industry. Since household industries constituted the largest traditional non-agricultural source of women’s employment, women were the greatest victims of the economic transformation.
Competition from factories: Within the category of household industry, those activities performed by women – such as hand weaving, oil processing, and rice pounding, – faced especially stiff competition from factory production.
Technological changes: Technological changes have a dampening effect on the demand for unskilled labour. Since the majority of the women in the industrial sector are unskilled, they are the main victims of this change.