Gender Favourtism in Wages in Rural India
* Name of the Author:- Pragya * Professional Information:- Student * Theme:- Women and Men: Issue of Gender Discrimination * The Title of the Manuscript:- GENDER FAVOURTISM IN WAGES IN RURAL INDIA Payment of Wages in India has been protected by various legislations. However, the gender disparity with regard to wages has not yet been bridged. Gender discrimination with regard to wages is an acknowledged fact in India. The details by NSSO reflect this favourtism clearly where, on an average, a woman’s daily wage is Rs.20 less than that of a man, though both work equal hours. In the case of daily salary, the difference is of Rs.50. Children are even more exploited, especially the girl child. This biasness overlooks the fact of equal number of hours worked, skill and labour invested by the female section also the practice is directly contrary to the concept of “Social Justice” and the policy of “Welfare State” as embedded in our Constitution. The women and children in Rural India are paid as low as Rs.30 and Rs.12 respectively daily irrespective of them being more than 60 per cent of the work force also negating the fact of their hard labour. The Paper will begin with understanding the meaning of social justice as has been projected by our Constitution along with its relation with notion of “Welfare State”. The paper will focus on the reasons for gender disparities in wages, the sectors in which such wage discrimination is prevalent, provisions of the Equal Remuneration Act along with other legislations in India dealing with wages, the efficacy of the said legislations, the lacunas in the said legislations along with author’s view regarding the root of such problem and the effective proposed measures to curb such discrimination. The author will also address the impact of such economic disparity on the Indian economy’s growth and development in the author.
Key words: - Social Justice, Equal Remuneration Act, Discrimination in Wages in Rural India, statistics of showing disparities in wages