Books by Dr. Ellina Samantroy
chapter in Edited Volume, 2022
The labour market participation of women has experienced a continuous decline as recorded by the ... more The labour market participation of women has experienced a continuous decline as recorded by the Periodic Labour Force Surveys (PLFS) and the erstwhile Employment and Unemployment Surveys (EUS) of the country. The low participation of women in the labour market and existing gender gaps in labour force participation has remained a matter of serious policy concern particularly in the context of high informality in the country. The Covid 19 pandemic has further exacerbated the existing labour market inequalities leading to disproportionate loss of livelihood and increased vulnerability of women workers. The present paper is contextualized within the ongoing debates on declining female labour market participation and the impact of COVID 19 on women workers. The paper tries to understand the employment trends for women in the productive age (15-59 age group). It also tries to probe into women’s nature of employment through sectoral analysis with a focus of sectors that are worst affected due to the pandemic. The paper also engages in understanding issues of employment protection through an analysis of nature of employment contracts and access to social security. The link between paid and unpaid work is also explored through an analysis of participation of women in unpaid work and an assessment of impact of the pandemic on unpaid work. At the end, the paper tries to reflect on policy perspectives for improving women’s participation in the labour market by addressing the emerging challenges of women’s work caused due to Covid 19,issues of statistical invisibility and larger concerns related to women’s unpaid work.
The analysis in the paper is based on estimates, primarily from the Periodic Labour Force Surveys (PLFS) of the National Statistics Office (NSO). Data from the erstwhile Employment-Unemployment Surveys of NSO has also been used for comparison. The usual activity status (principal and subsidiary status) has been taken into consideration, and unit level data are also used to generate information on a more disaggregated level for the 15-59 age group. The paper has also used data from the Time Use Survey 2019 to provide an analysis of unpaid work and its relationship with paid employment. The paper has also relied on secondary literature from articles in journals, other secondary sources like published governmental reports and reports of international organizations etc for broader analysis.
Declining Female Work Participation in India: What does the Periodic Labour Force Survey Tell Us? |, 2021
The paper is based on highlights from the Periodic Labour Force Surveys (PLFS) on female labour f... more The paper is based on highlights from the Periodic Labour Force Surveys (PLFS) on female labour force participation. The paper has also used the quinquennial rounds of the Employment and Unemployment Surveys. Women's participation in the workforce has been continuously declining since 2004-05 though a marginal increase was reported in PLFS 2018-19 with a corresponding increase in self-employment. In this context, the paper tries to understand the employment trends for women in the productive age (15-59 age group). It also tries to probe into women's nature of employment with a focus on sectoral analysis. The relationship between education and labour market is also explored. The employment protection issues are understood through nature of contracts and access to social security. The paper also engages with women's participation in domestic duties which has been increasing in India and has a close inter-connection with paid employment .Finally, the paper engages with the issue of statistical invisibility of women's work thereby focussing on capturing women's unpaid work through time use surveys. The capturing of women's work in national accounts will contribute in working towards policy for improving female labour force participation.
Indian Journal of Labour Economics , 2020
The global estimates indicate a low participation of women in the labour force and prominent gend... more The global estimates indicate a low participation of women in the labour force and prominent gender gap at 50 percentage points evidenced in regions like South Asia as reported by the International Labour Organization. Within the South Asian context, India has witnessed a decline in the female labour market participation from 34.1% in 1999-2000 to 27.2% in 2011-2012 as per the National Sample Survey Organization. Also, the domestic duties participation for women in India has increased. Women perform a large number of economic activities but most of their contributions remain underestimated with underreporting of women's work. The present paper is contextualized within the emerging labour process theories to understand the gender differentials in employment trends in India. There is an attempt to analyse women's unpaid work with specific emphasis on their participation in household and related activities (domestic duties), thereby exploring intrahousehold dynamics and role of socio-cultural norms in interpreting gender roles in the household. The paper engages with intersections of caste, marital status and household size to understand women's constraints to participate in paid employment within the emerging labour processes in the contemporary society.
Unpaid Work and Time Use Patterns of Women workers in north east india:special reference to Tripura, 2019
Understanding Women;s Work :A Gendered Analysis of Women's Participation in Domestic Duties in North East India, 2017
The first World Conference on Women held in Mexico in 1975 earmarked the beginning of a pertinent... more The first World Conference on Women held in Mexico in 1975 earmarked the beginning of a pertinent issue related to the lives of men and women. In labour market, the separation of women's work and men's work have existed since long where the organisation of labour market revolves around patriarchal norms underestimating women's work to a large extent. Gender issues in labour statistics gained momentum in the Third World Conference on Women 1985 in Nairobi where the attention shifted from statistics on women to gender statistics. The Beijing Platform for Action 1995 also reiterated the fact that women contribute to development not only through remunerated work but also through a great deal of unremunerated work. One of the major functions of labour force statistics is to net all the workers in the workforce statistics comprehensively. However, this concept does not get translated into reality due to various methodological problems since the size of the work force in India particularly the women workers is underestimated. Moreover, women workers engulfed in double burden of work lack social mobility due to the constraining patriarchal socio-cultural norms of our society. This largely unpaid labour of women has not received much attention by our planners and policy makers.
Papers by Dr. Ellina Samantroy
UNICEF INNOCENTI RESEARCH , 2024
Asian journal of social science, Dec 4, 2020
Routledge eBooks, Aug 3, 2022
Asian Journal of Social Sciences 2014 vol 42 No.5, 2014
Gender, Unpaid Work and Care in India
ANTYAJAA: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change, 2019
The present paper is contextualised within the backdrop of high informality and a declining femal... more The present paper is contextualised within the backdrop of high informality and a declining female labour force participation in India. Women in India are predominantly in the informal sector engaged in various kinds of precarious employment including home based work that remains unaccounted and undercounted in National Accounting Statistics. Since the home based workers are not into a formal employment relationship and mostly work within the domains of the household, they largely remain outside the purview of social protection. The present paper provides an insight into home based work in India and tries to locate home based workers and their employment conditions vis a vis their location in various social groups. It also tries to understand the existing data gaps in capturing home based workers thereby attempting to locate the gender concerns in data sources for providing full visibility to the informal economy. The paper tries to provide policy recommendations for addressing the ...
The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, 2020
The global estimates indicate a low participation of women in the labour force and prominent gend... more The global estimates indicate a low participation of women in the labour force and prominent gender gap at 50 percentage points evidenced in regions like South Asia as reported by the International Labour Organization. Within the South Asian context, India has witnessed a decline in the female labour market participation from 34.1% in 1999–2000 to 27.2% in 2011–2012 as per the National Sample Survey Organization. Also, the domestic duties participation for women in India has increased. Women perform a large number of economic activities but most of their contributions remain underestimated with underreporting of women’s work. The present paper is contextualized within the emerging labour process theories to understand the gender differentials in employment trends in India. There is an attempt to analyse women’s unpaid work with specific emphasis on their participation in household and related activities (domestic duties), thereby exploring intra-household dynamics and role of socio-cultural norms in interpreting gender roles in the household. The paper engages with intersections of caste, marital status and household size to understand women’s constraints to participate in paid employment within the emerging labour processes in the contemporary society.
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Books by Dr. Ellina Samantroy
The analysis in the paper is based on estimates, primarily from the Periodic Labour Force Surveys (PLFS) of the National Statistics Office (NSO). Data from the erstwhile Employment-Unemployment Surveys of NSO has also been used for comparison. The usual activity status (principal and subsidiary status) has been taken into consideration, and unit level data are also used to generate information on a more disaggregated level for the 15-59 age group. The paper has also used data from the Time Use Survey 2019 to provide an analysis of unpaid work and its relationship with paid employment. The paper has also relied on secondary literature from articles in journals, other secondary sources like published governmental reports and reports of international organizations etc for broader analysis.
Papers by Dr. Ellina Samantroy
The analysis in the paper is based on estimates, primarily from the Periodic Labour Force Surveys (PLFS) of the National Statistics Office (NSO). Data from the erstwhile Employment-Unemployment Surveys of NSO has also been used for comparison. The usual activity status (principal and subsidiary status) has been taken into consideration, and unit level data are also used to generate information on a more disaggregated level for the 15-59 age group. The paper has also used data from the Time Use Survey 2019 to provide an analysis of unpaid work and its relationship with paid employment. The paper has also relied on secondary literature from articles in journals, other secondary sources like published governmental reports and reports of international organizations etc for broader analysis.