Problems Faced by Rural Woman Labourers in Punjab: A Case Study of Ludhiana District

Abstract

An attempt has been made in this paper to analyze the problems that rural woman labourers face at the workplace and on the domestic front. The study is based on primary data collected from 151 rural women labourers in the Ludhiana district of Punjab. The study reveals that more than three-fifths of the respondents worked as labourers within their native village. There is an inverse relationship between the number of woman labourers and the distance of the respondents' workplace. Only 32.45 per cent enjoy some facilities and 67.55 per cent are not provided any facilities. More than one-third of the respondents have reported that wages are not paid equally to male and female labourers for the same type of work. A very large proportion of woman labourers are not aware of the Minimum Wage Act, standard working hours, and Equal Remuneration Act. About 63 per cent of the respondents stated that their husbands accepted their employment from outside of the home because they were contributing to the family expenditures. The majority of the respondents have reported that their children are attending school.