The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/0144-333X.htm

Home-based work or non-home- HBW or

non-HBW?
based work? Factors influencing
work choices of women in the
informal sector 89
Reetika Dadheech and Dhiraj Sharma Received 17 August 2021
Revised 21 November 2021
Punjabi University, Patiala, India 31 January 2022
Accepted 1 February 2022

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of the study is to determine the factors influencing the job choices of Indian women
working in the informal manufacturing sector. The informal sector has always played a significant role in
emerging and developing countries. This study investigates the effect of social cultural norms influencing
women informal workers in the manufacturing sector to participate in home-based work (HBW) or non-home-
based work (non-HBW) .
Design/methodology/approach – Both Quantitative and Qualitative methodology have been used. In
accordance with descriptive statistics, a multinomial logistic regression model was employed to assess
women’s likelihood of participation in home-based activities. To gain a more in-depth insight, semi-structured
interviews were used to collect the perspectives of both men and women workers. The data were analysed
using narrative analysis.
Findings – The findings reveal that a high fixed cost is a key driver of HBW. Workers prefer to work from
home when the loss of joint household production due to working outside is substantial. Social and cultural
standards play a significant effect in job selection for women. These conventions limit women’s employment
options, and the current study demonstrates that strong social and cultural standards limit women to home-
based jobs only.
Social implications – Enhancing women’s involvement in the public realm is critical and may be
accomplished by affirmative action; but, for women to be treated equally in their homes and in society, an
attitude shift is necessary. Despite the government’s initiatives and regulations aimed at protecting informal
women workers, many of the programmes and legislation fall short. The position of women in this environment
cannot be improved until and unless the norms of society are flexible and liberal for Indian women. The first
step would be to educate people and make them aware of the need to abandon outdated practices and embrace
new progressive ideals. It will not be achievable just via government efforts; rather, both the government and
society must work together to achieve the same goal.
Originality/value – The author hereby declares that this submission is their own work and to the best of their
knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, except where due
acknowledgement is made in the thesis. The author would like to undertake the above-mentioned manuscript
has not been published elsewhere or under editorial review for publication elsewhere; and that all co-authors
have agreed to have seen and approved the manuscript for submission.
Keywords Home-based worker, Sociocultural norms, Informal sector, Women workers
Paper type Research paper

Home-based workers account for 260 million of the global labour forces (ILO, 2021), with 86%
working in emerging and developing countries; in Asia and the Pacific, home-based workers
account for 65% of the labour force (WIEGO, 2021). Many large organisations, especially
multinational corporations, prefer home-based labour and have developed a vendor
subcontracting structure for their manufacturing. Depending on the nature of the work,
several of these suppliers either employ a significant number of women or assign contractual
International Journal of Sociology
work to home-based workers (Chen et al., 1999). Still, home-based work (HBW) remains and Social Policy
invisible, away from policy intervention and labour statistics in many countries, including Vol. 43 No. 1/2, 2023
pp. 89-106
India. It has been almost 20 years since the International Labour Organisation (ILO) © Emerald Publishing Limited
0144-333X
convention on homeworkers held in the year 1996, stated that each member country that has DOI 10.1108/IJSSP-08-2021-0200
IJSSP ratified this convention shall adopt, implement and periodically review a national policy on
43,1/2 home-based workers, aimed at improving the situation of homeworkers (International
Labour Organisation, 1996). Home-based workers are at the bottom of the value chain
without any social security and earnings (Carr et al., 2010; Mishra and Kumar, 2016). Banerjee
and Veeramani (2017) argue that trade liberalisation is also detrimental to female labour in
the manufacturing industry. Then the question arises: why do workers still prefer home-
based work?
90

Women in home-based work

Literature has suggested two ways of explaining the recent rise in home-based labour in a
developing nation like India: first, because of domestic policies; and second, as a result of the
effects of the global political economy (Aldrich, 1999; Nelson and Bruijn, 2005). Marginal
peasants were evicted from their land and forced to join the expanding ranks of wage
labourers because they were unable to adapt to modern agricultural technologies and market-
oriented agriculture (Mazumdar, 2018). Meanwhile, formal-sector employment has not grown
quickly enough to absorb an increase in labour supply. In most countries, women (57%)
exceed men (43%) in terms of participation in home-based work, despite the fact of their
(women’s) lower labour force globally (WIEGO, 2021). The availability of such low-cost
labour has been a windfall for employers. Neetha (2010) finds that a large proportion of
women within the category of home-based workers are either subcontracted workers getting
very low wages or unpaid family workers. According to Khanna and Varghese (1978), the
main earner’s inability to provide for the family, family emergencies requiring extra income,
the main earner’s mortality and the female’s desire for economic independence or a higher
standard of living are the main reasons for women to join the workforce. Studies have shown
that women’s capacity to work is impacted by marital status, the number of children, caste,
religion, gender, lack of basic education, apprenticeship and labour-market discrimination.
Women’s work is viewed as supplemental in poor and emerging nations, and it has been
given less weightage. Likewise, women are discouraged from working if household income is
high (Mannino and Deutsch, 2007). According to Mishra and Kumar (2019), Muslim women
have the lowest participation rates in both home-based and non-home-based jobs, with their
involvement in non-home-based jobs being significantly lower. For the scheduled castes,
whose women worked equally outside and within the house, the difference was insignificant.
This might be because Muslims are more likely to find self-employed jobs through social
networks, whereas scheduled castes are more likely to find casual labour. Uma and Unni
(2005) discovered in an Ahmedabad survey-based study that “scheduled castes had a larger
engagement of women both at home-based and non-home-based jobs.” According to Uma and
Unni (2009) an increase in the unit cost of labour is related to an increase in female HBW.
While extensive studies have been conducted on the influence of job outcomes on women in
developing countries, much of this work has been focussed on economic issues. Several
studies have been conducted on working conditions, social security and the role of women in
the informal sector and have discussed potential channels that may impact home-based
workers. However, none of this research tries to explain the causes or reasons of individuals’
engagement in HBW and has not discussed the possible determinants like sociocultural and
other demographic variables in a comprehensive approach that could have been taken into
consideration while choosing between home-based or non-HBW. The current study aims to
fill this knowledge gap in the literature. This problem has not been empirically investigated in
India, to the best of our knowledge, and specifically, no study on women in the informal
manufacturing sector and the variables influencing their decision between home-based and
non-home-based labour has been conducted. This is significant since the manufacturing
sector is a major source of jobs. Manufacturing, out of all other sectors (like service and
agriculture), distributes money most fairly throughout the labour force; hence, it is a HBW or
significant component in lifting people out of poverty, this sector has seen the quickest rate of non-HBW?
“feminisation [1]” throughout the years (Caraway, 2007). A significant portion of this comes in
the form of employment in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) [2], particularly in
home-based businesses (Tipple, 2005). The Government of India launched the “Make in India”
[3] campaign in 2013 and the “Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan” [4] initiative in 2020, which
primarily focusses upon the development of the MSME sector and hence, contributes to the
Sustainable Development Goals, 2030 (SDGs) [5] having the objective of equitable growth of 91
the economy. But how can we realise this ideal of a self-sufficient economy, if women of the
nation are not empowered? This study chose to investigate the factors influencing the job
choices of Indian women working in the informal manufacturing sector, focussing upon the
role of cultural, social, demographic and economic impediments in women’s labour force
involvement. In accordance with descriptive statistics, a multinomial logistic regression
model was employed to assess women’s likelihood of participation in home-based activities.
The results suggest that greater budget prices for home-work are a significant decision. It has
also been demonstrated that when the loss of shared products caused by working outside the
house is substantial, people prefer to work from home. The current study also demonstrates
that strong social and cultural norms hinder women from working outside the home.

Theoretical framework
Structuration theory
Several theories have considered sociocultural norms as a crucial determinant of women’s
career choices. The idea of structuration, proposed by Giddens (1984), sees social structures
as both facilitating and restricting. Structure, according to Giddens, is a collection comprising
“rules and resources arranged as social system attributes” that exist exclusively as structural
features. Societal and cultural norms, on the other hand, have a significant impact on women’s
labour force involvement. Women who pursue paid work frequently face criticism from their
friends and families due to societal expectations of women’s roles as caretakers of the home,
resulting in reduced involvement of women in the labour force. According to Rustagi (2010),
these standards have not altered much during the previous two decades. Systems theory,
widely used in social work, also emphasises the idea of social factors affecting one’s
behaviour. These factors are social structures, social class, family and friends. Social norms
affect group members by dictating which behaviours are acceptable and which are not
(Abrams et al., 1990). Formal and informal discriminatory norms that exist in society limit the
rights of women and girls, as well as their access to empowering opportunities and resources
(OECD, 2014). Some sociocultural variations have deep and significant historical foundations.
Walbly (1990) defines “patriarchy” as a system of social structures and practices in which
men dominate, oppress and exploit women. Bhatt (1987) also contends that in patriarchal
societies, women typically refrain from working outside the home because they are unable to
publicly question the traditional image of the family head. Women’s participation, wages and
roles in the labour force are regulated by social standards, which occasionally compelled
families, notably husbands, to push women to disengage from paid work when their
individual and family honour seemed jeopardised. Furthermore, the degree of social
stratification varies between civilisations. People are classified into strata in all societies to
some extent based on factors such as economics, employment, the background of the family,
education, or other characteristics. However, the importance of these categories in defining
how individuals interact with each other within and between groups and the extent of social
mobility to which one can move or change hierarchical status varies between cultures (Griffin
and Pustay, 2013). In India, this hierarchy is represented by the [6] Varna system or caste
system. Caste is an important factor in employment in India. Due to the fate of birth (Dixon,
IJSSP 1982), caste mobility is practically impossible. The income level of families from minority
43,1/2 communities such as SC and ST are lower than others, and women belonging to these casts
are poorer, resulting in a financial impact on women’s participation, where upper-caste
women are less active in earning than lower caste women (Lahoti and Swaminathan, 2016).
Furthermore, upper-caste women are discouraged from working because of the ongoing
shame connected with women’s paid work in Indian society (Kabeer, 1994). The fact that the
majority of impoverished women are from lower castes demonstrates that, in India, there is a
92 relationship between gender, caste, class and money (Borooah et al., 2014). Religion also has a
major influence on women’s labour force involvement. A Muslim woman’s odds of finding
work outside the home are substantially lower than her chances of finding work at home.
Muslim women are less likely to work outside the house (Uma and Unni, 2009).

Mincer model
The Mincer model is the pioneer in deciding wage offers and women’s work choices,
considering experience and education as the prominent factors (Mincer, 1958). Wage offers
are contingent upon age, level of general as well as technical education, area of residence and
social groups, and eventually affect women’s work choices (Gould and Schieder, 2016).
Mincer considered age as a perfect proxy for experience in the labour-market (Mincer, 1958).
And as the worker ages, their wages increase over the life cycle, but at a diminishing rate,
supporting [7] Human Capital Theory, yielding a concave profile of earnings. Mincer and
Pollachek (1978) emphasised various other societal and demographical factors that affect
wage offers and women’s work. Married women or women with a huge gap in work
experience get lower wages, so they prefer HBW. According to Human Capital Theory, the
higher the skills and education of a worker, the higher the wages offered (Becker, 1971).
However, prior research has shown discrimination based on caste (Deshpande, 2017; Munshi,
2019). While upper-class educated women’s engagement in the labour field has declined over
time, lower-caste women, generally belonging to poor families, have fewer possibilities for
further education, forcing them to choose low-paying work to maintain their family income
(Pattanaik and Singh, 2020).

Cogan’s model
Cogan’s model (1981) explains the differences between home-based and non-HBW using the
[8] fixed cost (time costs incurred in commuting, commuting expenses). It demonstrates that
the existence of (time and money) fixed costs of working for onsite work raise the reservation
wages [9] (minimum wage at which a worker would accept a certain type of work) as
compared with what it would have been in the absence of these costs. Because HBW provides
flexibility to women in terms of workplace location and timing, it allows them to participate in
the workforce without leaving their homes. When this concept is implemented in home-based
employment, it is clear that female workers will get a lower reservation wage [10] for HBW
than for non-HBW. To put it in another way, the higher the fixed cost for working in a
non-home-based work, the greater the reservation pay for onsite work. Edwards and Hendrey
(2002) demonstrated the same in their study using data from the US census for the year 1990,
they took fixed cost along with household production [11] (caring for elderly or children, and
produce goods for the family consumption or for a small business; where women may be
working as a family helper or run the business by their own) and explained that women
performing non-home-based jobs will invest time and money in commuting (fixed cost) and
also have to give up household production, which will increase the opportunity cost for non-
home-based jobs, which will eventually lead to the increase in the reservation pay for non-
home-based jobs. When this model is implemented in the context of home-based work, it is
evident that women workers will have lower reservation pay for home-based jobs than for
non-home-based jobs. Marriage has also been identified as one of the major variables HBW or
influencing women’s labour force involvement. Women’s marital status impacts their labour non-HBW?
force involvement in two ways: first, married women are often involved in homemaking,
which significantly modifies the allocation of their time; and second, marriage changes a
woman’s social position and status. As a result, married women are forced to choose either
between HBW or staying away from the labour force (Mehrotra and Parida, 2017; Hirway,
2015). Unmarried women, on the other hand, have a greater percentage share of paid activities
than married women (see Figure 1). 93

Data and methodology

There has been a lot of confusion about what it means to be a home-based worker. In the
literature, homeworkers, outworkers, piece-rate workers and home-based workers have all
been mentioned. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) distinguishes between
homeworkers and home-based workers. The Delhi group [12] removed this distinction, and
just one concept of home-based workers was accepted, which was defined as self-employed
persons working from home (Economic and Social Council, 2007). According to Women in
Informal Employment, Globalising and Organising (WIEGO, n.d.), the definition of home-
based workers is (1) own-account workers or contributing family workers assisting own-
account workers in the creation of goods and services in their homes, for the market, or for
themselves; and (2) labourers conducting remunerated labour in their homes, resulting in a
product or service as defined by the employers, regardless of who supplies the equipment,

Age (Proxy of experience)

Family type

Work Choice

Homebased
Fixed Cost Work Or Wage Offer
Reservation
Pay Non-Homebased
Work

Education
Household
Production

Marital Status Socio Culture

Caste Figure 1.
Religion
Variables affecting the
work choice (home-
based work or non-
home-based work) of
women informal
Source(s): Developed by the author using theories and models mentioned in the theoretical workers
framework
IJSSP materials, or other inputs needed, and contributing family workers all come under the
43,1/2 definition of home-based workers.
A field survey was performed over three months in Ludhiana, Punjab, where the majority
of women work either at home or in unorganised hosiery manufacturing units. The main
segments of the textile sector are decentralised power looms and hosiery. The hosiery
industry in India is one of the oldest and largest in the country. It is a major generator of
economic growth and prosperity in the country, contributing significantly to the GDP and
94 exports. This industry is significant not just in India but also globally. Between 2020 and
2025, the global hosiery industry is expected to grow at a CAGR [13] (Compound Annual
Growth Rate) of 2.5% (Gupta, 2021). According to the Apparel Export Promotion Council
(AEPC, 2009) the value of export from the hosiery sector in India for the year 2008-2009 is Rs.
50,725 crores, while Tripura largely focuses upon cotton knitwear, Ludhiana is actively
engaged in the manufacture and export of woollen knitwear, accounting for 95% of the
country’s woollen knitwear with a turnover of Rs. 7,000 crores and an export share of 20%.
The hosiery business is a labour-intensive sector dominated by women with active
involvement in a variety of occupations such as weaving, carpet weaving, Zari workers,
chikan crafts, Minakari and so on. Snowball sampling method using semi-structured
questionnaires was used to collect the data. A local NGO assisted me in making the contact
with the female workers. These women then introduced me to other female co-workers, and a
total of 100 home-based workers (most of whom were involved in embroidery, but some in
button-stitching or spinning threads/weaving in handloom units) and 100 non-home-based
workers were contacted for the study. The data were gathered through semi-structured
interviews. There were 58 subcontracted employees and 42 unpaid family assistance cases
amongst home-based workers. Qualitative analysis was also carried out to gain a deeper
grasp of the viewpoint. Open interviews were taken from ten female workers, five male
subcontractors, seven male workers working in the manufacturing units, three employers
and the remaining male family members of women workers.

Variables
Outcome variables. Individuals performing home-based labour are the outcome variables in
our model. We included all people between the ages of 15 and 65 in the sample since age is an
important classification factor. We adopt the Delhi Group’s definition of a home-based
worker, which includes own-account workers, employers and unpaid family labour working
for pay within their own home. Workers have two alternatives in theory: either working as a
home-based worker or working as a non-home-based worker (working outside the home). The
HBW variable is assigned a value of 1 otherwise, it is assigned a value of 2.
Variables under control. Control variables are classified into three types: The first variable
in this category is the wage in the labour market for working from home; the second variable
is fixed cost in terms of joint household output loss, and the third variable is societal
sociocultural norms (Table 1). It is important to note that these groupings are not mutually
exclusive. There are overlaps when a variable belongs to more than one category.
Variables in wage offers (age, education and social class).
Age. As age is a good indicator of labour-market experience (Mincer, 1958), We use age
and square of age as control variables to assess the relationship’s nonlinearity. We created
dummies for people who are illiterate, literate (informal schooling) and those who have
finished elementary, middle and secondary school; a higher level of education is used as a
benchmark. If one has a technical education, he will get a dummy, or else will get a zero.
Experience. Experience in the labour market and a high level of education are believed to
have a positive impact on labour market pay offers (Mincer, 1958; Becker, 1971). Individuals
with a low level of general education, no technical education and fewer years of experience are
Variable name Definition
HBW or
non-HBW?
Age Age of individual in year
Age squared Square of age
Level of education (higher education)®
Illiterate If the individual has no education 5 1; 0 otherwise
Literate If the individual is literate (without or with schooling) 5 1; 0 otherwise 95
Primary school If the individual has completed primary school 5 1; 0 otherwise
Middle school If the individual has completed middle school 5 1; 0 otherwise
Secondary school If the individual has completed secondary school 5 1; 0 otherwise
Technical education If the individual has any technical education 5 1; 0 otherwise
Caste (forward caste)®
Scheduled caste If the individual belongs to scheduled caste 5 1; 0 otherwise
Scheduled tribe If the individual belongs to scheduled tribe 5 1; 0 otherwise
Other backward caste If the individual belongs to other backward caste 5 1; 0 otherwise
Religion (Hindu)® Muslim If the individual belongs to Islam 5 1; 0 otherwise
Sikh If the individual belongs to Sikh 5 1; 0 otherwise
Other religion If the individual belongs to other religion 5 1; 0 otherwise
Marital status (married)® Never If the individual is unmarried 5 1; 0 5 otherwise
married
Divorced/separated If the individual is divorced and separated 5 1; 0 5 otherwise
Age of children (0–6 years) Number of children in the household aged 0–6 years
Age of children (7–15 years) Number of children in the household aged 7–15 years
Aged Number of elders in the household aged more than 65 years
Household type If more than 50% of household income comes from self-employment 5 1; Table 1.
0 otherwise Variable names and
Source(s): The Author definition

more likely to participate in HBW because the reservation wage for working outside the home
is always higher than the reservation wage for working at home due to the additional
commuting cost of the former.
Caste. Literature (Madheswaran and Attewell, 2007) has shown discrimination in wages.
Wages offered to the workers are based on caste. We expect that SC, ST and OBC workers
will be offered lower wages and hence, will more likely to participate in HBW.
Variables with fixed costs (marital status, dependants).
Number of dependants and type of household. Of course, the fixed cost varies with the
family’s life cycle, but we are talking about it in a static sense here. A higher dependence ratio
in a home indicates a greater proportion of children under the age of six, children aged seven
to fifteen and individuals over the age of 65. We predict that it will be associated negatively
with working outside the home. If self-employment accounts for more than 50% of total
household income, a value of 1 is assigned to the response; otherwise, a value of 0 is assigned
to the response.
Marital Status. Married women are more active in household responsibilities than
unmarried, divorced, or separated women. As a result, married women doing domestic tasks
are more likely to work from home. Literature has shown that married women with children
or other dependants in the family devote less time to paid activities or almost give up the paid
activities for a shorter or longer time due to more household production, which widens their
gap in work experiences. This amounts to a lower reservation cost. Wage discrimination in
the industry and higher fixed costs push them to accept HBW or remain out of the labour
force (Polachek, 1975b; Harkness and Waldfogel, 2003).
Social and cultural norms (religion, caste). According to Bhatt (1987), women do not work
outside the home because they are hesitant to openly challenge the conventional image of the
IJSSP head of the household as the primary earner. Muslim and upper-caste Hindu women, who
43,1/2 participate in bidi rolling prefer to labour at home rather than in MGNREGA [14] due to
sociocultural mobility constraints and cultural shame associated with working (women)
outside the house (Baud, 1986; Noponen, 1987). As a result of inadequate human capital
(Sachar Committee, 2006; Mishra Committee, 2007) and limited mobility, Muslim women are
at a disadvantage when it comes to career advancement, and working from home is more
common for them than for any other woman. Dummy variable has been created for religion.
96
Statistical analysis
The empirical model employed is a multinomial choice model with two options available to
individuals aged 15–65 years. In our situation, the dependent variable, which is an
individual’s involvement, is divided into two groups: “home-based workers” and “non-home-
based workers.” The maximum likelihood estimation approach, rather than the least-square
estimation technique, is used to estimate the multinomial logit model. As a result, the method
is free from many of the necessary requirements of the least-square estimation methodology.
Open-ended questions were decoded using narrative analysis.
Determining factors for participation in home-based work. Employees working from home
are more likely to display characteristics associated with a high fixed cost of working outside
the house and with a larger loss of household production. Following is the table depicting the
socio-economic characteristics of women workers (see Table 2).
Younger and older generations are more likely to work from home. An increase in family
responsibilities makes home-based employment a viable option for many. Individuals in their
forties and fifties are more likely to work from home than those in their thirties since they do
not want to commute and have more household obligations. While it is true that marriage
motivates workers to work from home, it is also true that divorced, widowed and separated
people have a higher percentage of employment in home-based jobs. There is an inverse
relationship between education and the decision to work from home. Workers with high
levels of education are less likely to work from home. Only 26.76% of HBWs have a bachelor’s
degree or higher, and SCs (Scheduled Casts) work at home at a lower rate than OBCs (Other
Backward Classes). In Punjab, however, there were no women from ST (Schedule Tribe)
group. As we move up the wealth quintiles, workers’ engagement in home-based labour
diminishes.
Surprisingly, more than 19% of workers from self-employed families work from home,
compared to only 5% of workers from wage-employed households. The dependency ratio’s
significance cannot be overemphasised. The higher the dependency ratio, the more is the
workers work from home. Over half of all the manufacturing workers work from home.

Multinomial logit regression

For female workers, we used multinomial logit regression. We used a statistically significant
Chi-square test to see if home-based workers and non-home-based workers are statistically
dissimilar. This indicates that the two equations are statistically distinct, and the null
hypothesis of equivalence is rejected. Our hypothesis focusses on how changes in explanatory
factors are related to expected changes in probability rather than the odds of being in distinct
job status. All other explanatory factors, with the exception of scheduled castes, are statistically
significant predictors of women preferring home-based labour. The marginal effect describes
the effect of a unit change in one variable on the likelihood of labour participation while holding
all other variables constant at their mean values. The marginal effect of each variable on the
chance of selecting each labour-market status is shown in Table 3.
Marginal effect of wage offer variables (age, caste and education). Age. According to Mincer
(1958), age represents experience, and being older indicates having a greater degree of
 Home-based workers Non-home-based workers
HBW or
Determinants percentage percentage non-HBW?
Age distribution
15–30 years 68.03 31.97
31–45 years 19.3 80.7
46–50 years 20.12 79.88
51–65 years 89.64 10.36 97
Marital status
Never married 17.38 82.62
Married 89.02 10.98
Divorced, widow, separated 59.05 40.95
General education
Illiterate 69.48 16.62
Literate 35.94 64.06
Primary school 15.59 75.26
Middle school 31.01 68.99
Secondary school 28.93 71.07
Higher education 26.76 74.24
Technical education 91.64 6.13
Social group
Schedule caste 11.76 88.24
Other backward caste 24.88 75.12
Other caste (GEN) 83.91 16.09
Religion
Muslim 89.25 10.75
Sikh 48.15 51.85
Hindu 59.72 40.28
Wealth quantile 9.69 90.31
Poorest 10.15 89.85
Poorer 38.96 61.04
Middle 20.09 20.09
Rich 94.06 05.94
Type of household
Self-employed household 72.02 27.98
Wage-employed household 14.92 85.08
Dependency ratio
≤2 children aged between 0 and 80.15 19.85
6 years
>2 children aged between 0 and 82.25 17.75
6 years
≤2 children aged between 7 and 45.84 54.16
15 years
>2 children aged between 7 and 56.05 43.95
15 years Table 2.
≤2 elders aged above 65 years 76.23 23.77 Socio-economic
>2 elders aged above 65 years 84.35 15.65 characteristics of
Source(s): Calculated by the author from the data collected home-based workers

experience. Therefore, it was anticipated to have a negative relationship with home-based

labour. This relationship proved true for aged or experienced women possessing extra skills
with time, these women preferred non-HBW. On the other hand, the relationship was reversed
IJSSP Marginal effect for home- Marginal effect for non-
43,1/2 based work home-based work

Predicted outcome 0.174 0.542

Age 0.007*** (0.002) 0.070*** (0.002)
Age squared 0.000*** (0.000)
0.001*** (0.000)

98 Level of education (higher education)®

Illiterate
0.030*** (0.009)
0.130*** (0.012)
Literate
0.058*** (0.009)
0.121*** (0.015)
Primary school
0.030*** (0.009)
0.120*** (0.014)
Middle school
0.022*** (0.009)
0.177*** (0.013)
Secondary school
0.032*** (0.009)
0.183*** (0.015)
Caste (forward caste)®
Scheduled caste
0.024*** (0.006) 0.074*** (0.012)
Other backward caste 0.007 (0.006) 0.034*** (0.010)
Religion (Hindu)®
Muslim 0.050*** (0.007)
0.110*** (0.012)
Sikh
0.017 (0.013) 0.071*** (0.018)
Other religion 0.069*** (0.021)
0.069*** (0.024)
Marital status (married)®
Never married
0.054*** (0.008) 0.157*** (0.012)
Divorced, widow, separated
0.042*** (0.007) 0.228*** (0.010)
Number of dependent members in the household
Age 0–6 years
0.002 (0.004)
0.034*** (0.004)
Age 7–15 years
0.002 (0.002)
0.014*** (0.005)
Table 3.
Marginal effect of Aged 0.031*** (0.004) 0.031*** (0.008)
participation in home- Technical education
0.008*** (0.017) 0.171*** (0.020)
based worker, women Household type 0.143*** (0.004)
0.239*** (0.007)
aged 15–65 years Source(s): The Author

for women of a certain age with low skills and no up-gradation of skills; they were more
inclined to choose home-based jobs. In the study, it was seen that female workers with more
experience and age preferred non-home-based jobs since they paid them more. This is
because earnings levels are related to human capital investments which mean the women
who upgraded their skills with age or gained continued market experience with no break or a
little break, only those women were inclined more towards non-HBW. The wages offered to
them got increased but at a diminishing rate, showing a concave relationship (as per the
Mincer model). This implies that women’s age is connected to their ability to choose between
home-based and non-HBW. These two terms should not be used interchangeably to describe
the same operation. Non-home-based occupations often have higher pay and benefits. As a
result, older or experienced women who have developed the ability through time may transit
to non-home-based jobs, whereas those who lack it may join HBW.
Caste. Caste (social class) and HBW have a negative connection. SC and ST women are less
likely to participate in HBW than upper-caste women because lower-caste women experience
less cultural constraints and have more freedom to work outside the house (Kala, 1976;
Boserup, 2008), and these women were active in low-paying non-home-based jobs probably
because these women do not get much opportunity to upgrade their skills over time due to
poor economic conditions or due to their low-level skills, they get menial wages. Upper-caste
women, on the other hand (as discussed earlier), were spotted working at home, also upper
cast women have less freedom of movement and are not much allowed to work outside their HBW or
home due to patriarchy or other social norms prevailing in their society. The slightly better non-HBW?
economic conditions of their families also restrict their movements, so these women either
completely give up onsite paid work, work as helpers in their homes or prefer home-based
paid work only.
Education. Women’s participation in home-based labour reduces as their education
improves. It was assumed that women with low or no education/technical skills generally join
home-based work, as the reservation wage for HBW is always lower than reservation wage 99
for nonHBW due to the extra cost incurred in commuting and clothing. Marginal effects for
literate and illiterate women were negative for both home-based and non-HBW. Education
dummy variables have a negative impact on women’s participation in both home-based and
non-HBW. The marginal effect of illiterate women working at home, on the other hand, is
larger than the marginal effect of non-home-based jobs. The situation is reversed for women
who have completed secondary school. De-feminisation theory (Abraham, 2013) also
advocates for the de-feminisation of home-based labour. It does, however, claim that women
of any level of education were less likely to participate in either home-based or non-home-
based jobs. This might be related to a variety of causes, which are being investigated further.
Marginal effect of fixed cost variables (number of dependants, marital status and family
type). Working from home is expected to benefit from factors such as family type (self or
wage employed), and a number of dependants (dependent members in the family).
Number of dependants and marital status. The marginal effect of variables associated with
household responsibilities like the number of dependants, marital status and household type
showed a positive effect on HBW, it may be due to large household production and high fixed
cost associated with onsite work (non-HBW). It was seen that women who are married and
have children below the age of six years and elderly persons at their home are mostly working
as home-based workers, whereas the women whose children are between the age of
7–15 years showed marginal improvement in their probability to work as non-home-based
workers and this probability (onsite work [15]) work was highest amongst women who are
unmarried and have no dependence on their families. This may be due to the fact that the
dependency ratio is a crucial component of fixed cost. In a gendered society like India
marriage is considered as an institution where household duties are supposed to be
performed by women only. Literature has also supported our result and has shown that
married women with children or other dependants in the family devote lesser time to paid
activities or almost give up the paid activities for smaller or a long time due to more household
production which widen their gap in work experience (Andreas et al., 2017), this amounts to
lower reservation cost. Wage discrimination in the industry and higher fixed cost-push them
to accept HBW or remain out of the labour force (Harkness and Waldfogel, 2003). The
research conducted by Mishra and Kumar (2019) on women in non-agricultural HBW, in
which he addressed how the dependency ratio is positively connected to home-based labour.
This might be owing to the additional responsibilities of cleaning and caring for children and
the elderly, which would leave them with few opportunities to participate in productive work.
Mothers may pursue both home-based and non-HBW after their children reach school or elder
children are able to care for their younger siblings. This adds credibility to the notion that as
fixed expenditures grow, women either work from home or exit from the labour force.
Family (household) type. The composition of a worker’s home has a major influence on his
or her career choices. Employers, self-employed individuals and unpaid family helpers are all
instances of home-based workers. In self-employed homes, the chances of conducting HBW
by women should be higher than the chances in wage labour households. Non-participation in
household business, whether through non-home-based production or departure from the
labour force, results in a reduction in joint family output and hence, constitutes a fixed cost.
IJSSP Women from self-employed households generally prefer to work as unpaid family helpers or
43,1/2 combine domestic chores with paid work in home business only.
Marginal effect of sociocultural variables. Social and cultural norms impact worker’s career
choices. Strict social and cultural norms tend to limit worker’s participation in non-HBW and
confine them to HBW. They can be categorised as religion, marital status, caste and gender
(within the limits of the available data sets). In the previous section, we have already
addressed caste and marital status. As a result, we limit ourselves to religion in this section.
100 Muslim women had a 6% effect on HBW and a 1.6% influence on non-home-based labour
participation. This implies that Muslim women are more likely to work from home than
Hindu women. It might be because of the Muslim women’s lack of mobility and strong
cultural constraints (GOI, 2006). Several microstudies have also shown that home-based
labour has provided an essential option for Muslim women to work as a means for them to
enhance their family status (Bhatt, 1987).

Narratives from the field

Narrations of the selected employees’ life experiences will aid in revealing the worker’s
various identities (as a woman, a wife and a mother). These tales will also help to reveal
societal restrictions (gender and patriarchy) as well as individual constraints caused by lack
of education, old age and economic situation. All of these issues have affected workers in
various ways, driving them to work in the informal sector. Conditioning by dominant
gendered norms might limit women’s work outside the house and lead to labour-market
segmentation based on gender (Carr and Chen, 2004). Women’s autonomy and control over
their lives can be limited by patriarchal and gender-stratified institutions in terms of decision-
making, mobility, independence from dangerous relationships with husbands and access or
control over economic resources (Jejeebhoy and Sathar, 2001). For example, Rama, a married
Hindu woman, belonging to the upper cast, was involved in home-based thread removing and
finishing work. She worked as an assistant in a manufacturing unit prior to her marriage. She
relocated to Ludhiana after her marriage and currently works as an unpaid household
assistant. “I used to make money when I was working a manufacturing unit before marriage,
but now that I am doing a work of removing threads and assisting my family members in
their socks-producing tiny manufacturing unit, I am not getting anything in return”, she
added. I am not pleased with working as an unpaid family member, but I have a little choice
because my spouse does not want me to work. His point of view is that if we have our own tiny
unit, I should not go out and work. Certain religious norms, such as Purdah paratha, forbid
Muslim and higher-caste Hindu women from working outside the house. Farhan Sheikh, a
Muslim labourer, says he does not want his wife to go out and work with an unknown man;
“This will undermine my wife’s sanctity, and I do not want to ruin it for the sake of money. If
she wants to make money, she can do so by performing paid work at home”. This was in
contrast to the cases of low-caste Hindu women who, due to their poor financial situations,
had to take up non-HBW and males from their families, who did not have family prestige
issues, permitted their women to take up paid work in manufacturing units to supplement the
family income. According to Mandal (2013), Dalit women have more economic challenges and
rely largely on wage labour. They do the most dangerous and informal duties, which are
degrading yet must be done on a regular and tedious basis. Dalit women’s situations and
struggles differ greatly from those of other Hindu women due to their economically and
socially disadvantaged status.
Women’s gender roles and obligations towards their children and home also strongly
affect their work choices. Males of the house do not want to share household responsibilities,
and it is considered a woman’s responsibility only. Women were continuously concerned
about the safety of their children and sought to avoid incidents for which they, as mothers,
would be held liable. As a result, some female workers were forced to give up paid work or HBW or
transfer to alternate types of employment, such as paid home-based work, giving them more non-HBW?
time to care for their children. This is what happened to Phula when her little daughter got
separated from her while she was working in a manufacturing unit far away from home. After
a lengthy and tough search, Phula’s husband chastised her and ordered her not to work
outside again. Employers and male workers in the manufacturing units had a negative
attitude towards hiring women. They claim women are less capable, unskilled and
cooperative than males. There are many safety concerns for women that preclude them from 101
regularly providing work in the manufacturing units. Satbir Singh, an employer who runs a
modest manufacturing business of making shawls, says, “We do not want to recruit women
on a regular basis since they take absences every now and then, citing family difficulties.”
Young women with children take more leaves, and elderly women are physically inactive.
However, middle-aged women work here on a casual basis, but they are unskilled, and
teaching them is a major issue. Women leave employment for a variety of reasons without
notifying us. Shankar, a male worker at the hosiery production unit, claims that “women are
inept and therefore do not deserve to be regular employees. They are assisting us, and that is
sufficient for them. They are women; how can they not be confined to their homes? We also do
not feel comfortable working with them since cooperation with women at work is difficult.”

Conclusion
It has been statistically analysed that wage offer variables, fixed cost variables and
sociocultural norms highly affect the work choices of informal women workers. Though these
workers are in the dire need of money still most of them prefer HBW at minimal wages or no
wages. Statistically, we can predict from the study that more percentage of home-based
workers than non-home-based workers are working in the hosiery industry (informal). Home-
based workers majorly belong to self-employed households from the Muslim religion and
upper-caste Hindu community whereas, non-home-based women workers are from lower
caste and wage-employed households. However, women will only choose HBW over non-
HBW when the wage offer is more than fixed cost, and the opportunity cost for the non-HBW
is higher than the opportunity cost for HBW. Every woman will respond differently to the
variables discussed in the study and to decide whether women will prefer HBW or non-HBW
will depend upon how these variables affect that particular woman (considering her, age,
education, skill, caste andreligion). The study demonstrates lower caste (SC/ST) women are in
a high percentage in non-HBW. They are less affected by social, cultural and patriarchal
norms. Their movement is also not restricted, as it is for upper-caste Hindu women and
Muslim women. However, they work in precarious working conditions in manufacturing
units where even basic safety and security measures are not taken care of (Kalpagam, 1994).
These ladies are economically disadvantaged, they cannot deny working in such deplorable
conditions (Jhabvala and Tate, 1996).

Implications
Discrimination against women and girls is a widespread and long-standing issue in Indian
society. More coordinated efforts at the community, national and local government levels are
required if India is to maintain its position as a global growth leader. Enhancing women’s
involvement in the public realm is critical and may be accomplished by affirmative action; but
for women to be treated equally in their homes and in society, an attitude shift is necessary.
Despite the government’s many initiatives and regulations aimed at protecting informal
women workers, such as the “Sexual Harassment Act, 2013”, “Unorganised Sector Social
Security legislation of 2008” (now covered under the Social Security Code, 2020) and
IJSSP programmes such as “Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana”, “Janani Suraksha Yojana”
43,1/2 and many others, they have not been effective in improving women’s situations. Many of the
programmes and legislation fall short. This flaw necessitated more in-depth debate and
research. According to Fischer and Forester (1993), unsuccessful public policies aim to treat
the symptoms rather than the causes of social issues, and they also generally focus on efforts
rather than results. This occurs because there is either an incomplete understanding or a
misunderstanding of the causes of an issue on the part of the policymakers, which often leads
102 to ineffective or detrimental policies that aggravate the issues they were implemented to
correct or cause other issues to arise. A successful policy must target the correct leverage
points in this case: the aspects of the social issues that, if modified, will produce a sizeable
enough effect to correct this problem. In this study, the focus has been put upon discussing
the causes of women’s choosing HBW. The factors impacting women’s work choices have
been studied from a societal, religious, patriarchal and demographical angle rather than only
an economic one. A woman’s decision to work has been influenced by various factors. An
attempt has been made to highlight those factors. The study will help policymakers
understand the sociological factors influencing women’s work choices. Secondly, this study
also throws light upon the criticality for any country’s progress to enhance its society from a
fundamental level. The position of women in this environment cannot be improved until and
unless the norms of society are flexible and liberal for women, regardless of how many
programmes and regulations are enacted by the government. The first step would be to
educate people and make them aware of the need to abandon outdated practices and embrace
new progressive ideas. It will not be achievable just via government efforts; rather, both the
government and society must work together to achieve the same goal.

Limitations and future scope

The small sample size limits the generalisation spectrum of the results. The findings and
conclusions are based only on informal hosiery manufacturing units in Ludhiana, Punjab.
Future studies may include a larger population across the nation and should explore other
areas of the informal sector such as agriculture, service sectors. The studies can be conducted
on discrimination against women, more detailed analysis should be conducted comparing
men and women working in the informal sector. The policies and welfare schemes for women
and men in the informal sector can be studied in detail and their impact of the same on these
workers can be assessed.

Notes
1. The feminisation of labour refers to the increasing integration of women into the wage labour
market as a result of industrialisation and globalisation processes (Choudhry, 1997).
2. MSMEs are introduced by the Government of India under Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
Development Act, 2006; involved in the production, processing, or preservation of goods and
commodities (MSME, 2006).
3. Make in India initiative was launched as a part of India’s renewed focus on Manufacturing. The
objective of the Initiative is to promote India as the most preferred global manufacturing destination
(IBEF, 2014).
4. Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan is the mission started by the Government of India on May 13, 2020,
towards making India a Self-reliant economy using five “I’s: Intent, Inclusion, Investment,
Infrastructure and Innovation (Aatmanirbharbharat, n.d.)”.
5. SDGs also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal
call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and
prosperity (UN, 2015).
 6. Caste System: Hindu religious script “Manusmriti” defined the “Varna” (now referred as castes) as HBW or
the ideology of hierarchising society into classes. The ideology is epitomised in texts which classify
the society into four varnas: Brahmins: Vedic scholars, priests and teachers; Kshatriyas: rulers, non-HBW?
warriors and administrators; Vaishyas: agriculturalists and merchants and Shudras: labourers and
service providers/servant (Pachauri, 2008; Charsley and Karanth, 1998).
7. According to Human Capital Theory, education and training are investments that make people
more productive. Individuals who are more productive will have better pay and be even more
employable, according to this notion (Schultz, 1961; Becker, 1993). 103
8. Fixed cost in Cogan’s Model (Cogan, 1981; Edwards and Hendrey, 2002) is out of pocket expenses
incurred in commuting, clothing and some miscellaneous costs incurred when a worker does a non-
home-based job (some fixed cost would be there). On the other hand, when a work chose a home-
based job then the above-written costs (commuting, clothing and miscellaneous costs) will be zero as
the worker is performing the job from the home only. For more explanation, please refer to https://
doi.org/10.1086/323936.
9. Reservation Wage for onsite work 5 Wage offer þ Commuting cost.
10. Reservation Wage for home-based work 5 Wage Only (because the commuting cost is zero).
11. These are the unpaid economic activities performed by family members to produce goods or
services for their own consumption. In a particular society caring work, cooking, cleaning, all
household production activities are supposed to be performed by women only. Along with this
woman may be involved in a small family business as a helper. For more clarity, please refer to
Household Production and the Household Economy (Ironmonger, 2000).
12. Delhi Group: An expert group on informal sector statistics, popularly known as the “Delhi Group,”
was established in 1997 as one of the statistical commission’s city groups to address numerous
methodological challenges involved in the handling of the informal sector.
13. CAGR is the Annualised Rate of Revenue growth between two given years assuming growth takes
place at an exponentially compound rate.
14. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act is Indian labour law and social
security measure that aims to guarantee the “right to work”. It aims to enhance livelihood security in
rural areas by providing at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to at least one
member of every household.
15. The term home-based work and onsite work has been used interchangeably.

References
Aatmanirbharbharat (n.d), available at: https://aatmanirbharbharat.mygov.in/.
Abraham, V. (2013), “Missing labour or consistent de-feminisation?”, Economic and Political Weekly,
Vol. 48, pp. 99-108.
Abrams, D., Wetherell, M., Cochrane, S., Hogg, M. and Turner, J.C. (1990), “Knowing what to think by
knowing who you are: self-categorization and the nature of norm formation, conformity and
group polarization”, British Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 29, pp. 97-119.
Aldrich, H.E. (1999), Organizations Evolving, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.
Andreas, L.A., Dasgupta, B., Joseph, G., Abraham, V. and Correia, M. (2017), “Precarious drop:
reassessing patterns of female labour force participation in India”, Policy Research Working
Paper 8024, World Bank Group, South Asia Region Social Development Unit.
Apparel Export Promotion Council (2009), Emerging Issues in Apparel Trade.
Banerjee, P. and Veeramani, C. (2017), “Trade liberalisation and women’s employment intensity
analysis of India’s manufacturing industries”, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 52 No. 35,
pp. 37-47.
IJSSP Baud, I.S.A. (1986), “Invisible hands: women in homebased production”, in Menefee Singh, A. and
Kelles-Viitanen, A. (Eds), Women and the Household in Asia, Sage Publications, New Delhi;
43,1/2 Newbury Park, CA, Vol. 1.
Becker, G.S. (1971), The Economics of Discrimination, 2nd ed., University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Becker, G.S. (1993), Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to
Ducation, University of Chicago Press.
104 Bhatt, E. (1987), “The invisibility of homebased worker: the case of piece rate worker in India”, in
Andrea, M.S. and Anita, K.-V. (Eds), Women in Homebased Production, Sage, New Delhi,
pp. 29-34.
Borooah, K.V., Diwakar, D., Mishra, V., Naik, A. and Sabharwal, N. (2014), “Caste, inequality and
poverty in India: a re-assessment”, Development Studies Research, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 279-294.
Boserup, E. (2008), Women’s Role in Economic Development, South Asian Edition Earthscan, London.
Caraway, T.L. (2007), Assembling Women: The Feminization of Global Manufacturing, Cornell
University Press, Ithaca, New York and London.
Carr, M. and Chen, M.A. (2004), Globalization, Social Exclusion and Work: With Special Reference to
Informal Employment and Gender, International Labour Office, Geneva.
Carr, M., Chen, M.A. and Tate, J. (2010), “Globalization and homebased workers”, Feminist Economics,
Vol. 6 No. 3, pp. 123-142.
Charsley, S.R. and Karanth, G.K. (1998), Challenging Untouchability: Dalit Initiative and Experience
from Karnataka, Sage Publications, New Delhi.
Chen, M.A., Jennefer, S. and Lesley, C. (1999), “Counting the invisible workforce: the case of
homebased workers”, World Development, Vol. 27 No. 3, pp. 603-610.
Choudhry, S. (1997), “Women workers in the Global factory: impact of gender power asymmetries”, in
Gupta, S.D. (Ed.), The Political Economy of Globalization, Kluwer, Boston, pp. 216-236.
Code on Social Security (2020), PRS India.
Cogan, J.F. (1981), “Fixed cost and labour supply”, Econometrica, Vol. 49 No. 4, pp. 945-963.
Deshpande, A. (2017), The Grammar of Caste: Economic Discrimination in Contemporary India,
Oxford University Press, New Delhi.
Dixon, R.B. (1982), “Mobilizing women for rural employment in South Asia: issues of class, caste, and
patronage”, Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol. 30 No. 2, pp. 373-390.
Economic and Social Council (2007), Report of the Delhi Group on Informal Sector Statistics
(Supplement No. 4), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of
India, New Delhi, available at: https://unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/39th-session/documents/
2008-22-delhigroup-E.pdf.
Edwards, L. and Hendrey, E.F. (2002), “Homebased work and women’s labour force decisions”, Journal
of Labour Economics, Vol. 20 No. 1, pp. 170-200.
Fischer, F. and Forester, J. (1993), The Argumentative Turn in Policy Analysis and Planning, Duke
University Press, Durham, NC.
Giddens, A. (1984), The Constitution of Society, Polity, Cambridge.
Gould, E. and Schieder, J. (2016), Women’s Work and the Gender Pay Gap, How Discrimination Societal
Norms and Other Forces Affect Women’s Occupational Choices and Their Pay, Economic Policy
Institute, Washington, DC.
Government of India (2006), Report on Conditions of Work and Promotion of Livelihoods in the
Unorganised Sector, National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector,
New Delhi.
Griffin, R. and Pustay, M. (2013), International Business, Pearson Education, Boston.
Gupta, K.V. (2021), Indian Hosiery Industry: Surviving the Pandemic, Textile Value Chain, available at: HBW or
https://textilevaluechain.in/in-depth-analysis/indian-hosiery-industry-surviving-the-pandemic/
(accessed 15 June 2021). non-HBW?
Harkness, S. and Waldfogel, J. (2003), “The family gap in pay: evidence from seven industrialized
countries”, in Polachek, S. (Ed.), Worker Wellbeing and Public Policy, Research in Labour
Economics, Vol. 22, pp. 369-413.
Hirway, I. (2015), “Unpaid work and the economy: linkages and their implications”, Indian Journal of
Labour Economics, Vol. 58, pp. 1-21. 105
IBEF (2014), “Make in India programme, all about the manufacture in India initiative”, Ibef.org,
available at: https://www.ibef.org/economy/make-in-india.
International Labour Organisation (1996), C177 - Homework Convention (No.177), ILO, Geneva.
International Labour Organisation (2021), Working from Home: From Invisibility to Decent Work,
International Labour Office, Geneva, available at: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—
ed_protect/—protrav/—travail/documents/publication/wcms_765806.pdf.
Ironmonger, D. (2000), “Household production and the household economy”, The University of
Melbourne, Department of Economics - Working Papers Series.
Jejeebhoy, S.J. and Sathar, Z.A. (2001), “Women’s autonomy in India and Pakistan: the influence of
religion and region”, Population and Development Review, Vol. 27, pp. 687-712.
Jhabvala, R. and Tate, J. (1996), “Out of the shadows: homebased workers organize for international
recognition”, Poverty, Gender, and Youth, Population Council, New York.
Kabeer, N. (1994), Reversed Realities: Gender Hierarchies in Development Thought, Verso Publications,
London.
Kala, C.V. (1976), “Female participation in farm work in Kerala”, Sociological Bulletin, Vol. 25 No. 2, pp.
185-206.
Kalpagam, U. (1994), Labour and Gender: Survival in Urban India, Sage Publications, New Delhi.
Khanna, G. and Varghese, M.A. (1978), Indian Women Today, Vikas Publications, New Delhi.
Lahoti, R. and Swaminathan, H. (2016), “Economic development and Women’s labor force
participation in India”, Feminist Economics, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 168-195.
Madheswaran, S. and Attewell, P. (2007), “Caste discrimination in the Indian urban labour market:
evidence from the National Sample Survey”, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 42, pp. 146-153.
Mandal, B. (2013), “Dalit feminist perspectives in India”, Voice of Dalit, Vol. 6 No. 2, pp. 123-135.
Mannino, C.A. and Deutsch, F.M. (2007), “Changing the division of household labour: a negotiated
process between partners”, Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, Vol. 56 Nos 5-6, pp. 309-324.
Mazumdar, I. (2018), Homebased Work in 21st Century India, Women Development Studies,
New Delhi.
Mehrotra, S. and Parida, J. (2017), “Why is the labour force participation of women declining in India?”,
World Development, Vol. 98, pp. 360-380.
Mincer, J. (1958), “Investment in human capital and personal income distribution”, The Journal of
Political Economy, Vol. 66, pp. 281-302.
Mincer, J. and Polachek, S. (1978), “An Exchange: the theory of human capital and the earnings of
women: women’s earnings re-examined”, The Journal of Human Resources, Vol. 13 No. 1,
pp. 118-134.
Mishra, N.K. and Kumar, M. (2016), “Homebased workers and homebased enterprises in
manufacturing in India”, Paper Presented at GIGA - CSRD (JNU) – IIDS, Workshop on
Causes of the Varying Performance of Indian States, JNU, New Delhi, pp. 21-22.
Mishra, N.K. and Kumar, M. (2019), “Determinants of home-based work in the non-agriculture sector
of India”, The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Vol. 62, pp. 451-472.
IJSSP Mishra Committee (2007), National Commission Religious and Linguistic Minorities, Ministry of
Minority Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi.
43,1/2
MSME Development Act (2006), “Rules - 26 September 2006, Ministry of micro, small and medium
enterprises. (2019)”, Msme.gov.in, available at: https://msme.gov.in/circulars/msme-
development-act-2006-rules-26-september-2006.
Munshi, K. (2019), “Caste and the Indian economy”, Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 57 No. 4,
pp. 781-834.
106
Neetha, N. (2010), “Estimating unpaid care work: methodological issues in Time use surveys”,
Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 45, pp. 73-80.
Nelson, E. and Bruijn, E. (2005), “The voluntary formation of enterprises in developing economy
economy the case of Tanzania”, Journal of International Development, Vol. 17, pp. 575-593.
Noponen, H. (1987), “Organizing women petty traders and homebased producers: case study study of
working women’s forum India”, in Andrea, M.S. and Anita, K.-V. (Eds), Invisible Hands: Women
in Homebased Production, Sage, New Delhi, pp. 207-228.
OECD (2014), Gender, Institutions and Development Database, OECD Publishing, Paris.
Pachauri, S. (2008), Discrimination and Violation against Dalit Women Engaged in Manual Scavenging:
Legal Remedies and Beyond, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague.
Pattanaik, F. and Singh, P. (2020), “Unequal reward for equal Work? Understanding women’s work
and wage discrimination in India through the meniscus of social hierarchy”, Contemporary
Voice of Dalit, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 19-36.
Polachek, S. (1975), “Differences in expected post-school investment as a determinant of market wage
differentials”, International Economic Review, Vol. 16, pp. 451-470.
Rustagi, P. (2010), “Employment trends for women in India”, Asia Pacific Working Paper Series, ILO
Subregional Office for South Asia, New Delhi.
Sachar Committee (2006), Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community of India,
Prime Minister’s High-Level Committee, Government of India, New Delhi.
Schultz, T.W. (1961), “Investment in human capital”, American Economic Review, Vol. 51, pp. 1-17.
Tipple, G. (2005), “The place of homebased enterprises in the informal sector: evidence from
Cochabamba, New Delhi, Surabaya and Pretoria”, Urban Studies, Vol. 42 No. 4, pp. 611-632.
Uma, R. and Unni, J. (2005), “Impact of recent policies in home-based work in India”, Human
Development Resource Centre, Discussion Paper Series -10, UNDP, New Delhi.
Uma, R. and Unni, J. (2009), “Do economic reforms influence home-based work? Evidence from India”,
Feminist Economics, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 191-225.
United Nations (2015), Resolution Adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015,
Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Walbly, W. (1990), Theorising Patriarchy, Blackwell, Oxford.
WIEGO (2021), “Homebased workers”, Wiego.Org, available at: https:/www.wiego.org/informals.
economy/occupational-groups/home-based-workers.
WIEGO (n.d), “Definition of homebased workers”, Wiego.Org, available at: https://www.wiego.org/
definition home-based-workers.

Corresponding author
Reetika Dadheech can be contacted at: [email protected]

For instructions on how to order reprints of this article, please visit our website:
www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/licensing/reprints.htm
Or contact us for further details: [email protected]
Reproduced with permission of copyright owner. Further
reproduction prohibited without permission.