Ruba Shankar of Arupathi village in Mayiladuthurai is hoeing banana fields, a task traditionally done by men. “It is strenuous work, and men get ₹600 for the same job, but we only receive ₹250. They think hiring two women instead of one man is cost-effective, but we have no choice since jobs are scarce,” she says.
V. Maruthammal, transplanting paddy in Tiruchi, explains, “I’ve never seen a man do paddy transplanting: it requires focus, precision, and the involvement of the full body. Which is why, it is left to women. Yet, we get ₹300 per day, while men are paid ₹700.” She wryly adds, “Maybe, it is for the liquor they consume in the evening.”
In agriculture, tasks that require precision and skill — such as transplanting, weeding, winnowing, and value-addition — are largely performed by women. But they get paid less. In contrast, men typically do bund-plastering, sowing, trimming, tractor-driving, and loading and unloading of agricultural inputs.
M. Chandra, 63, of Nagapattinam notes that women fully handle cotton-sowing and harvesting. “Men lack the patience required for picking,” she says. She earns only ₹250 for a full day’s work. So does R. Amudha, 35, an agricultural worker of Kandamangalam in Cuddalore district. She also balances fieldwork and household duties. They are not the only ones, unfortunately.
P. Velusamy, a farmer of Kangeyam in Tiruppur district, justifies the wage disparity: men are assigned more physically demanding tasks, for which they are paid ₹700, and women are paid only ₹400 daily in his region. Despite their skill and speed in transplanting and picking, women’s labour is often dismissed as “soft” work. Meanwhile, roles traditionally performed by both men and women are disappearing because of the prevailing labour shortage.
Across Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupattur, and Tiruvannamalai districts, women earn significantly less for agricultural work, receiving around ₹160 per day, compared with ₹350 for men. A similar wage gap is seen in other unorganised sectors like weaving and construction. Many of these women have taken small loans from microfinance companies to meet their immediate needs, but are burdened with high interest rates. Private microfinance companies often prefer lending to women, viewing them as more reliable in repayment of debts than men. With agriculture being seasonal, men often migrate to cities for a better pay, leaving women to shoulder the burden of lower wages. When farm work is scarce, women, like Ms. Ruba, seek jobs in small companies that make health mix and idly flour or at nurseries where they earn ₹150 per day.
Women in construction
“If the building is two or three storeys high, we are the ones carrying everything up,” says M. Rajamani of Kattaiyandipatti in Ponnamaravathi of Pudukkottai district. She describes how men are often given tasks that require them to remain in one place, with the women carrying materials to them. Despite working from 7.30 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. with a one-hour lunch break, Rajamani earns just ₹350 a day, while the men on the site earn ₹800. With work only available for four to five days a week, securing a stable income is a struggle for her and other labourers.
In construction, women are often tasked with labour-intensive roles such as carrying heavy loads of cement, sand, and bricks, and mixing concrete. They also frequently assist in electrical and centering work. In contrast, men are predominantly engaged for skilled masonry work, which includes laying bricks, applying concrete, and overseeing the loading and unloading of construction materials. Women are rarely seen in masonry roles. There have been several initiatives to train women as masons, but these efforts have seen limited success owing to the prevailing patriarchal dynamics in the workplace.
“Women can handle construction materials efficiently, which often helps lower the overall cost,” adds Kanagavalli S., a construction worker from Thogaimalai in Karur district with 25 years of experience. Despite travelling 30 km daily in search of work and enduring constant body pain and skin problems, she earns only ₹500 per day, compared with ₹800 for men. In the Coimbatore-Tiruppur belt, men earn over ₹800 per day, while women, mostly employed as helpers, earn around ₹500, according to Sundaram, a contractor.
Rural women in other jobs
Kavitha M., 29, who works in a textile shop at Aranthangi in Pudukkottai, and Thamizhazhagi P., 32, employed at a jewellery shop at Pattukkottai in Thanjavur district, share two commonalities: both are graduates and earn ₹2,000 less than their male counterparts for the same work. “Women are not paid above ₹5,000, whereas men earn up to ₹7,000 or ₹7,500 for the same job,” they say.
In Namakkal’s Veppadai, 85 modernised cotton mills employ around 600 workers each, largely avoiding male labour to prevent unionisation, according to S. Dhanapal, district secretary of the Tamil Nadu Textile Mills Labourers Federation. Male workers earn ₹400-₹450 a day, while male migrant labourers and female workers earn ₹310-₹320, well below the government- mandated ₹544. These mills operate in rural areas like Namakkal and Salem to avoid paying higher wages that the workers demand in districts such as Coimbatore and Tiruppur.
In Kanniyakumari’s rubber plantations, women have achieved equal pay since 1959, thanks to union efforts, says M. Valsakumar, general secretary of the Kanniyakumari District Rubber Estate Workers’ Union. Both men and women earn ₹630 per day in government estates, but contract workers face wage disparity, with women earning ₹150 less than men’s ₹615. The conditions in private estates are even worse. In rubber log sawmills, women earn ₹800 compared with men’s ₹1,000. The employers offer the same justification: men handle heavier work. In Thoothukudi’s salt pans, men and women earn similar wages for salt collection, but men receive ₹10 more when carrying larger quantities of salt. “While the men are given ₹600 a day, the women get ₹590 as the quantity of salt being carried by men to the shed is more,” says ARAS Dhanapalan, a salt manufacturer.
R. Parri, CITU secretary in Tiruvannamalai, adds that even in government-related work, private contractors often fail to provide the district-mandated wages. The Kancheepuram handloom silk sari industry is different. Here, women do not earn less than men for the same work. But others point out that this could be because only a few women are employed in the sector.
The Tamil Nadu Gazette classifies labourers as skilled and unskilled, revealing a gender bias by using traditional male pronouns for most job titles, such as cattleman and calf boy, implying only men perform these tasks. In the unskilled category, labour-intensive jobs like basket-making, beedi-rolling, cattle care, concrete-mixing, and cotton picking and harvesting are predominantly done by women. Despite the physical demands of these tasks, they are labelled as unskilled, reflecting deep-rooted biases in how women’s work is valued.
R. Geetha, general secretary of the Unorganised Workers’ Federation, criticises government policies for reinforcing patriarchal norms. She argues that men’s work is often labelled as skilled without proper study, while women’s work is dismissed as unskilled, deepening the gender pay gap in agriculture. “Despite women’s critical role in agricultural tasks, their work is consistently undervalued. Men primarily handle jobs like ploughing and sowing, which are classified as skilled,” she explains.
“There is a bias favouring man, with their work being labelled as hard or skilled when it suits the narrative. Even with recent improvements like the ‘right to sit in shops’ law, the wages and working conditions for women remain stagnant,” Ms. Geetha points.
Subashini Sridhar, CEO, Valanadu Sustainable Agriculture Producer Company, notes that while men complain about labour shortage owing to the MGNREGA, women earn better wages through the scheme. Equal pay could incentivise their return to agriculture.
N. Manimekalai, director of the Centre for Women’s Development Studies-ICSSR, Delhi, highlights socio-economic factors driving wage disparities: gender-biased labour division, concerns over absenteeism due to household duties, and cultural norms positioning men as primary earners, justifying higher wages for them. Societal expectations of men as breadwinners influence wage structures, making men’s higher pay seen as essential for family stability. In contrast, women rarely unionise or protest, leaving them vulnerable to lower wages. In agriculture, men handle tools, while women perform physically demanding tasks, risking their health, especially during pregnancy. The rising farming cost leads farmers to cut labour expenses, often affecting women’s wages the most.
Disconnect
The data from the State as well as Union governments highlight a clear gender pay gap, even when men and women perform similar tasks. Though Tamil Nadu has been a pioneer in introducing laws, including the Tamil Nadu Manual Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Work) Act, 1982, it has done little to address the gender pay gap.
The Government Orders (G.O.s) issued by the Labour Department paint a different picture. According to the 2022 G.O. for the construction sector, the daily wage for a mason in rural areas is ₹596, and for a head mazdoor (sithal), it is ₹454. In agriculture, the 2021 G.O. sets minimum wages at ₹500 and ₹400 for ploughing with and without bullocks respectively, and ₹229 for six hours of work for tasks like harvesting, sowing, and weeding. A 2019 G.O. for shops and establishments sets minimum monthly wages between ₹5,000 and ₹6,000, based on the zone and type of work.
“These, however, are not implemented,” explains R. Sujatha, senior SDG consultant, Tamil Nadu’s Planning and Development Department. She says the current wage structure often amounts to “robbing Peter to pay Paul”: men’s higher wages are offset by underpaying women. This skewed market resists inclusive policies, and the lack of effective regulatory mechanisms entrenches gender pay disparities. She also notes that a comparison of the minimum wage government orders with the Season and Crop Report reveals a stark disconnect between policy and reality. Sources in the Labour Department acknowledge that while district-level data on welfare measures for construction and agriculture workers exist, reliable data on unorganised workers are lacking. The Equal Remuneration Act addresses gender pay equality in the organised sector, but there are no regulations for the unorganised sector.
(With inputs from Deepa H. Ramakrishnan in Chennai, R. Krishnamoorthy in Coimbatore, P. Sudhakar in Tirunelveli, S. Prasad in Cuddalore, D. Madhavan in Vellore, and M. Sabari in Namakkal)
Published – October 13, 2024 01:05 am IST