Perspective...
In the proverbial 'foot-in-the mouth' style, the minister for Labour in Karnataka notified an ordinance banning women employees working in shifts and promptly scrapped it after outcry from various "welfare organizations", which upheld that the minister is infringing upon the rights of the working women...!
I had not given this issue any importance since this seemed like a routine stunt...However, reading the supplement of Kannada Prabha (20th May 2007) changed my views on this...I wanted to link the article, but their online edition pops up so many ads that I got fed up with it and gave up...Unfortunately, I don't remember the columnist either...I will try to present the gyst of the article here...!
The author asks...
As soon as the law was notified, we had all the women's welfare organizations swooping down and protesting vehemently asking the govt to backtrack and let the IT sector function smoothly...However, none of these people tried to understand that there are women in other sectors (like retail outlets and garment factories) who typically work up to 10 pm, but are not provided transport back home and even if they are provided transport, they are usually dropped a couple of kms away from their homes and have to travel alone for "the last mile"...It is here that they face the taunts and are harassed by rogues whom they encounter en route...! Who is looking into their problems...? This law, if implemented would've been a boon for these employees and helped in reducing the atrocities against the women...Instead the welfare organizations are fighting against the govt, citing the examples of women employees in the IT sector, for whom transport is taken care by the companies...
My Take:
This article came as an eye-opener for me and I liked the perspective of the author in presenting the issue...I wonder how many people would have thought of this argument...My biggest doubt is whether the minister himself thought from this angle before notifying the law...If he had indeed thought about it, he would have made at least one statement to that effect...
I agree/disagree with the views of the author on some of these counts...
1. Yes...Women have to face problems while returning home due to the various anti-social elements who are nothing more than scavengers...! But by banning women from working late, you are solving the wrong problem...Wouldn't it be better if action was taken against the people who are loitering on the streets passing comments and making suggestive actions...?? Just because a woman is not working late, doesn't mean that she might not need to go out at that time...!
2. Employment in the above mentioned sector itself is un-organized and the employees are subject to exploitation. A couple of other websites also carry tales of horror, but I am not sure of how creditable the source is...! In these circumstances, I am sure even if a law is passed, implementing and regulating it would be a big problem...
So the law would've remained a law just for the sake of it and would not do much to improve the state of the working women anyway...!
I had not given this issue any importance since this seemed like a routine stunt...However, reading the supplement of Kannada Prabha (20th May 2007) changed my views on this...I wanted to link the article, but their online edition pops up so many ads that I got fed up with it and gave up...Unfortunately, I don't remember the columnist either...I will try to present the gyst of the article here...!
The author asks...
As soon as the law was notified, we had all the women's welfare organizations swooping down and protesting vehemently asking the govt to backtrack and let the IT sector function smoothly...However, none of these people tried to understand that there are women in other sectors (like retail outlets and garment factories) who typically work up to 10 pm, but are not provided transport back home and even if they are provided transport, they are usually dropped a couple of kms away from their homes and have to travel alone for "the last mile"...It is here that they face the taunts and are harassed by rogues whom they encounter en route...! Who is looking into their problems...? This law, if implemented would've been a boon for these employees and helped in reducing the atrocities against the women...Instead the welfare organizations are fighting against the govt, citing the examples of women employees in the IT sector, for whom transport is taken care by the companies...
My Take:
This article came as an eye-opener for me and I liked the perspective of the author in presenting the issue...I wonder how many people would have thought of this argument...My biggest doubt is whether the minister himself thought from this angle before notifying the law...If he had indeed thought about it, he would have made at least one statement to that effect...
I agree/disagree with the views of the author on some of these counts...
1. Yes...Women have to face problems while returning home due to the various anti-social elements who are nothing more than scavengers...! But by banning women from working late, you are solving the wrong problem...Wouldn't it be better if action was taken against the people who are loitering on the streets passing comments and making suggestive actions...?? Just because a woman is not working late, doesn't mean that she might not need to go out at that time...!
2. Employment in the above mentioned sector itself is un-organized and the employees are subject to exploitation. A couple of other websites also carry tales of horror, but I am not sure of how creditable the source is...! In these circumstances, I am sure even if a law is passed, implementing and regulating it would be a big problem...
So the law would've remained a law just for the sake of it and would not do much to improve the state of the working women anyway...!
posted by Sathish at
7:24 AM
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