Authors: Siddhi Tanje, Deep Murzello
Abstract: The presence of women in the retail and service economy in India has grown with urbanisation, increased education, digitalisation and increased customer-facing jobs (organised retail, hospitality, banking/finance, healthcare, education and IT-enabled service). Meanwhile, employment of women in these industries is still divided into classes, caste, geography and formality, and the barriers continue to be unpaid care burdens, safety and mobility, segmented hiring (frontline jobs: a esthetic jobs vs. back-end jobs) compensational penalties, as well as limited upward mobility. In this paper, the synthesis of peer-reviewed evidence regarding the role of Indian women in retail and services and its integration into a mechanism-based framework (i) as the drivers of entry (education, dynamic household income, aspirations, and digital exposure), (ii) job characteristics (formalisation, scheduling, emotional/aesthetic labour and customer interaction) and (iii) outcomes (income, empowerment, wellbeing, retention and mobility) are presented. Taking the contextual evidence of the recent official labour statistics, the paper brings into focus that the participation of female labour force in the last few years has increased yet the sectoral gains have to be accompanied with the quality-of-work reforms, particularly in the retail and urban services where working odd hours, surveillance work experience, risk of harassment, and a lack of childcare facilities characterizes the experiences of women. The paper ends with a policy roadmap involving employers and government to make their work environments safer, more predictable in scheduling, allowing employees to have time with their children and breastfeed, ensuring no sexual harassment occurs, certifying skills in sectors of the Indian economy that are rapidly expanding, and encouraging career advancement that decreases occupational segregation and enhances productivity and retention.
