Employment in Informal Sector: Wages and Health Analysis of Women Workers in Petrol Stations (Bangalore)

Author(s): Jayalakshmi Priya

Abstract:

The rapid growth of urban areas and infrastructure has lead to uncontrolled urbanization. Rise of transportation has lead to greater vehicular movement, traffic jams and the unbridled purchase of two wheelers and four wheelers leading to cascading economic effect of demand push for more fuel for vehicles. This has furthered the mushrooming of petrol stations in every nook and corners of cities in India. Here two areas Malleshwaram and Yeshwanthpur in Bangalore city are selected to study the employment of women labour in the traditionally male dominated workplaces regarding petrol stations. This is a direct fallout of rural urban migration to cities. Women labour in petrol bunks fall into unorganized labour they do not fall under the purview of protection by labour laws and commercial establishment regulations. But in the field survey everyone accepted that they were under CCTV surveillance during work hours and written mandatory consent to work night shifts, free transport and separate restrooms in the petrol stations were mandatory. The research gap shows us that the wages paid to them were not enough to cover their expenses as the standard of living is high, food prices are inflationary and they faced many health problems such as respiratory diseases due to inhalation of petrol fumes and problematic filthy restrooms. The combined sample size was 50 samples 25 from Malleshwaram and 25 from Yeswanthpur petrol stations. The research design adopted probability sampling technique where simple random was used, objectives framed and data analysis was done using percentage method and graphs. The research methodology used both primary and secondary data for analysis. All the petrol bunk workers were covered by Minimum wages Act of 1948. Despite the shortcomings such as long working hours absence of canteen and restroom facilities for women workers regarding their employment in petrol stations all the sampled respondents were happy that harassment at work place was lesser compared to other informal jobs.

keywords:
Wages health problems petrol pumps pulmonary infections welfare facilities. restrooms, hours of work, male dominated jobs, informal sector rapid urbanization

Pages: 86-90     |    20 View     |    1 Download