labor standards as per international labor organization (ilo)

Labor Standards as per International Labor Organization (ILO)

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What is International Labour Organization (ILO)

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations system which seeks the promotion of social justice and internationally recognized human and labour rights.

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When & Why ILO was created

The ILO was created in response to the consciousness that followed the First World War at the Peace Conference, which convened first in Paris and then in Versailles. The ILO is the only major surviving outcome of the Treaty of Versailles on 11 April 1919.

The ILO provides technical assistance, mainly in the following fields:

• vocational training and vocational rehabilitation;

• employment policy;

• labour administration;

• labour law and industrial relations;

• conditions of work;

• management development;

• cooperatives; • social security;

• labour statistics, and occupational safety & health.

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The ILO formulates international labour standards . These standards take the form of Conventions and Recommendations, which set minimum standards in the field of fundamental labour rights: freedom of association, the right to organize, the right to collective bargaining, the abolition of forced labour, equality of opportunity and treatment, as well as other standards addressing conditions spanning across the entire spectrum of work-related issues.

International labour standards are legal instruments drawn up by the ILO’s constituents (governments, employers and workers) which set out basic principles and rights at work.

When & Why ILO was created(cont…)

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When & Why ILO was created(cont…)

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ILO in IndiaIndia – A statistical profile

Population: 1 Billion. Plus

Workforce: 384 Million Plus

Organized labour force: 28 Million

Unionized labour force: 16 Million Plus

Unemployment: 40 Million Plus

Educated unemployment increasing

Incidence of poverty poor among employed than unemployed!6

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India and International Trade

India’s share in FDI very less

India’s share in international trade declined from 1.5% at the time of independence to 0.67% in 2000

300 Japanese investment in India against 3000 in Singapore

Major exports: textiles, gems & jewellery and software

Exports: volumes up but revenues down

Imports: revenue outgo increasing faster than volume7

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India & International Labour Standards

ILO Member since 1919

Ratified 38 out of 182 conventions

Ratified only 3 of the 8 core conventions: 29,100 and 111

Will soon ratify 182 conventions

Still has reservations about ratifying 87 and 98

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Child Labor in India India is sadly the home to the largest number of child labourers

in the world. The census found an increase in the number of child labourers from 11.28 million in 1991 to 12.59 million in 2001.

The problem of child labour continues to pose a challenge before the nation. Government has been taking various pro-active measures to tackle this problem. However, considering the magnitude and extent of the problem and that it is essentially a socio-economic problem inextricably linked to poverty and illiteracy, it requires concerted efforts from all sections of the society to make a dent in the problem. 9

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The Action Plan

Legislative Action Plan for strict enforcement of Child Labour Act and other labour laws to ensure that children are not employed in hazardous employments, and that the working conditions of children working in non-hazardous areas are regulated in accordance with the provisions of the Child Labour Act. It also entails further identification of additional occupations and processes, which are detrimental to the health and safety of the children.

Focusing of General Developmental Programmes for Benefiting Child Labour - As poverty is the root cause of child labour, the action plan emphasizes the need to cover these children and their families also under various poverty alleviation and employment generation schemes of the Government. 10

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Project Based Plan of Action envisages starting of projects in areas of high concentration of child labour. Pursuant to this, in 1988, the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme was launched in 9 districts of high child labour endemicity in the country. The Scheme envisages running of special schools for child labour withdrawn from work. In the special schools, these children are provided formal/non-formal education along with vocational training, a stipend of Rs.150 per month, supplementary nutrition and regular health check ups so as to prepare them to join regular mainstream schools. Under the Scheme, funds are given to the District Collectors for running special schools for child labour. Most of these schools are run by the NGOs in the district.

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The Action Plan(cont...)

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Provisions for Child LabourConstitutional Provisions

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Article Title Description

21A Right to Education

The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of 6 to 14 years in such manner as the State, by law, may determine.

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Prohibition of Employment of Children’s in Factories

No child below the age fourteen years shall be employed in work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment.

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The state shall in Particular direct its policy

towards securing

That the health and strength of workers, men and women, and the tender age of children are not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength

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As per the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 “child” means a person who has not completed his 14th year of age.

The Act prohibits employment of children in 18 occupations and 65 processes contained in Part A & B of the Schedule to the Act (Section 3).

Under the Act, a Technical Advisory Committee is constituted to advice for inclusion of further occupations & processes in the Schedule.

The Act regulates the condition of employment in all occupations and processes not prohibited under the Act (Part III).

Any person who employs any child in contravention of the provisions of section 3 of the Act is liable for punishment with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than three months but which may extend to one year or with fine which shall not be less than Rs. 10,000 but which may extend to Rs 20,000 or both. (Section 14).

The Central and the State Governments enforce the provisions of the Act in their respective spheres.

Central Government is the appropriate authority for enforcement of Child Labour (P&R) Act in respect of establishments under the control of Central Government or a railway administration or a major port or a mine or oil field and in all other cases, the State Government.

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Provisions for Child Labour Legislative Provisions

Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986

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Child Labour Policies

The Policy of the Government on the issue of Child Labour The National Policy

on Child Labour declared in August, 1987,contains the action plan for tackling

the problem of Child Labour. It envisages:

A legislative action plan: The Government has enacted the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 to prohibit the engagement of children in certain employments and to regulate the conditions of work of children in certain other employments.

Focusing and convergence of general development programmes for benefiting children wherever possible, A Core Group on convergence of various welfare schemes of the Government has been constituted in the Ministry of Labour & Employment to ensure that, the families of the Child Labour are given priority for their upliftment.

Project-based action plan of action for launching of projects for the welfare of working children in areas of high concentration of Child Labour. 14

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CHILDLINE India FoundationThe calls would come late in the night:

"Didi, can you come? There's been a fight at the station." "Didi, can you help? The police have battered Raju."

And a CHILDLINE volunteer would get up and rush out to where a street child was waiting. On one of those dashes across the sleeping city of Mumbai , an idea was born.

What street children in Mumbai needed was a helpline, their own helpline.

In 1996, Mumbai launched CHILDLINE, the country's first toll-free tele-helpline for street children in distress. As of March 2011, total of 21 Million calls since inception have been serviced by CHILDLINE service and operates in 255 cities/districts in 30 States and UTs through its network of 415 partner organizations across India.

CHILDLINE Helpline No.: 1098 15

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Promoting Youth Entrepreneurship

The UN/ILO/World Bank High-Level Panel on Youth employment has identified Youth Entrepreneurship as one of four priorities for a National Youth employment Action Plan.

Youth Entrepreneurship - Making it easier to start and run enterprises so as to provide more and better jobs

for young women and men

The other complimentary areas being Employment Creation, Employability and Equal Opportunities.

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Why promote Youth Entrepreneurship

“Entrepreneurship and business creation are also a growing alternative for young people whose age group often faces a labour market with double digit unemployment rates. Traditional career paths and opportunities are disappearing rapidly. A growing number of young people are taking up the challenge of starting their own business.” (Juan Somavia, Director General ILO)

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Advantage of promoting youth entrepreneurship

More employers

Employees who better understand business

More innovative and socially responsible enterprises

More jobs (most likely jobs for other young people)

Better informed consumers

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Faces of Indian Women

“One of the most enduring cliches about India is that it is the country of contradictions. Like all cliches, this one too has a grain of truth in it. At the heart of the contradiction stand Indian women: for it is true to say that they are among the most oppressed in the world, and it is equally true to say that they are among the most liberated, the most articulate and perhaps even the most free. Can these two realities be simultaneously true?”Urvashi Butalia

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Place of women in Indian society:A (cultural) historical perspective

• The Goddess (Devi)

• The mother

• The sister

• The wife

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Indian Women in Modern Times

Education:

Literacy› Gender gaps:

Differences across states(Kerala has highest female literacy; Rajasthan, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have the lowest)

Differences between rural and urban areas

Parental preference for boys going to school

Higher dropout rate among girls

FemalFemalee

MaleMale

19711971 22%22% 46%46%

19911991 39%39% 64%64%

20032003 48%48% 70%70%

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Indian Women in Modern TimesEducation:

Gender gaps in higher education

About 1 percent of total women population has college education

Women account for a third of the students at college/university level

In engineering and business, the proportion of female students is much smaller

In education, nearly half of the students are women

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Barriers to Female Education:Poverty: one-fourth of India’s population lives below the

poverty line (2002)

Social values and parental preferences

Inadequate school facilities

Shortage of female teachers: 29 percent at the primary level and 22 percent at the university level (1993)

Gender bias in curriculum

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Employment

Difficult to get an overall picture of employment among women in IndiaMost women work in the informal sector

Women accounted for only 23 percent of the total workers in the formal sector in 1991

The number of female workers has increased faster than the number of male workers

Female unemployment rates are similar to male unemployment rates

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Barriers to Female Employment

Cultural RestrictionsHierarchical society (caste system)Purdah system: the veiling and seclusion of women

Discrimination at WorkplaceMore prevalent in fields where male competition is highLess prevalent in fields where competition is low

Lack of employment opportunities

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Empowerment• Social Empowerment

• Education • There is no direct relationship between education

and work force participation; but may affect their participation in household decision making

• Economic Independence: • Economic independence does not imply significant

improvement in social standing • Culture and tradition play an important role• A small fraction has opened up towards Western

values

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• Economic Empowerment

• Property Rights• Patriarchal society

• Economic Decision Making• In the household• In businesses

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• Political Empowerment

• Representation in democratic institutions• Government reservations policy for women: the

constitutional amendment of 1990s

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TRIVIA

Recognize Famous Faces

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Famous Faces

• Indira Gandhi• Mother Teresa• Mira Nair• Kalpana Chawla• Gurinder Chadha• Arundhati Roy• Jhumpa Lahiri• Aishwarya Rai• Sushmita Sen

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Introspection

Faces of an Indian woman• Wife• Mother• Sister• Bread earner• Compassionate member of the society

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Women and Legal Framework

Women specific Legislations Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 The Maternity Benefit Act 1961 The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 Indecent Representation of Women

(Prohibition) Act, 1986 The Commission of Sati (Prevention)Act,

1987 Protection of Women from Domestic

Violence Act, 2005

Evolution of Indian Initiatives

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Seventh Plan

• 1985- Ministry of Human Resource Development set up

Department for Women and Child Development constituted in HRD Ministry

• 27 major women specific schemes identified for monitoring to assess quantum of funds/benefits flowing to women

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Eighth Plan• The Eighth Plan (1992-97) for the first time highlighted the need

to ensure a definite flow of funds from general developmental sectors to women

• It commented:“ … … special programmes on women should complement the general special programmes on women should complement the general

development programmes. The latter in turn should reflect development programmes. The latter in turn should reflect greater gender sensitivitygreater gender sensitivity””

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Ninth Plan Women’s Component Plan- 30% of funds were

sought to be ear-marked in all women related sectors – inter-sectoral review and multi-sector approach

Special vigil to be kept on the flow of the earmarked funds/benefits

Quantifies performance under Women’s Component Plan in Ninth Plan-Approach Paper Tenth Plan indicates 42.9% of gross budgetary support in 15 women related Ministries/Departments has gone to women

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Tenth Plan Reinforces commitment to gender budgeting to establish its gender-

differential impact and to translate gender commitments into budgetary commitments.

• Aims at initiating immediate action in tying up the two effective concepts of Women Component Plan (WCP) and Gender Budgeting to play a complementary role to each other, and thus ensure both preventive and post-facto action in enabling women to receive their rightful share from all the women-related general development sectors.

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Holistic approach to Empowerment

Health& Nut.

Education

Water & San.

Skills

Technology Credit

PoliticalParticipation

Marketing

Asset base

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Action Areas

• Women availing servicesavailing services of public utilities like road transport, power, water and sanitation, telecommunication etc.

• Training Training of women as highly skilled workers- top end skills

• Research/TechnologyResearch/Technology for women• Women in the work force• Asset ownershipAsset ownership by women• Women as EntrepreneursEntrepreneurs

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• Implementation of Laws like• Equal remuneration• Minimum Wages • Factories Act

• Infrastructure for women like• Water and sanitation at workplace• Creches• Working Women Hostels• Transport services• Security

Gender Inequality and Women’s Empowerment

2005-06 National Family Health Survey2005-06 National Family Health Survey(NFHS-3)(NFHS-3)

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Gender Disparity in Media Exposure

Not only are fewer women than men literate but fewer are also regularly exposed to media

• Percentage of men and women age 15-19

regularly exposed to print media, TV, radio, or

cinema

• Men 88%

• Women 71%

• Gender Disparity 19%

The majority of employed women are engaged in agricultural work

Type of Type of workerworker

Occupational Distribution (%)Occupational Distribution (%)

WomenWomen MenMen

ProfessionalProfessional 77 77

SalesSales 44 1414

Service Service 77 55

Production Production 2222 3737

AgriculturalAgricultural 5959 3333

Other Other 22 44

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Control over Women’s Earnings as Reported by Currently Married Women and Men

24 20

57 63

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Women’s report about Women’s report about their own earningstheir own earnings

Men’s report about Men’s report about their wife’s earningstheir wife’s earnings

Mainly wife

Husband & wife jointly

Mainly husband

Percent

Are some women more likely than others to NOT participate in the use of their earnings?

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13 10

21 21

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15-19 40-49 Urban Rural None 12+ Lowest Highest

Percent of currently married women

ResidenceResidence Wealth IndexWealth IndexEducationEducationAgeAge

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What are some of the other hurdles that prevent women from attaining gender equality?

• Limited freedom of movement

• Gender norms that promote men’s control over women.

• Wife beating• A husband’s right to have sex with his wife irrespective

of his wife’s wishes

Percentage of women age 15-49 who are allowed to go alone to:

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Market

Health facility

Places outside thevillage/community

All three places

None of the threeplaces

The majority of women have little freedom of movement. Only one-third go alone to all three destinations: the market, health facility and outside the village or community.

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Percentage who agree that a husband is justified in hitting or beating his wife if she:

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35

30

14

20

25

4137

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13

8

26

29

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Goes out without telling him

Neglects the house or children

Argues with him

Refuses to have sex

Doesn’t cook properly

He suspects she is unfaithful

Shows disrespect for in-laws

Women Men

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Key Findings

• Women are disadvantaged absolutely and

relative to men in terms of access to education,

media exposure, and employment for cash.

• The majority of married women do not have the

final say on the use of their own earnings or all

other household decisions asked about.

• Traditional gender norms, particularly those

concerning wife beating, remain strongly

entrenched.

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Bibliography

http://www.childlineindia.org.in

http://www.labour.nic.in

http://www.ilo.org/global/lang--en/index.htm

http://www.ilo.org/newdelhi/lang--en/index.htm

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We would be happy to answer questions and receive comments

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