Impact of Discrimination on Women in Unorganised Labour Market of Rajasthan

Discrimination is denial of rights on basis of factors other than merits, which ultimately result in the loss of the employer and hinders the growth of society. Women empowerment and equal status for women were enshrined in the Indian Constitution since it came into force. The year 2001 was declared as ‘Women Empowerment Year' by the Indian Government when the National Policy for Women Empowerment (2001) was introduced that set various goals for the development and empowerment of women but a lot needs to be done. Largest number of women labor force being employed in the unorganized sector, the study of unorganized sector becomes important. The survey used stratified sampling to categorize the cities and manual workers in groups. Interview method was used to conduct surveys through prepared schedule, from the sampled workers. The workers in the informal sector of Rajasthan are a part of the population of this research. The data shows that females of lower caste are less educated than females of higher castes which in turn points to double discrimination towards female workers of lower castes in Rajasthan's labor market. The survey data of this research suggests that 40% of the unorganized labor market is captured by those belonging to the Scheduled Castes while only 25% of the people belonging to General category are present in this market. This indicates that 74% of the workers of the Reserved Category form the major part of this market. It also shows the segregation of occupation; substantiated through Blinder – Oaxaca decomposition where caste is an important independent variable for determining occupation and individual income. For the females working in the unorganized sector of Rajasthan, the basis of their segregation from the job market is due to gender and caste apart from the endowment factor. Hence a large portion of the difference between the income gaps is due to the explanatory variable by the decomposition technique but a significant part of difference in income remains due to unexplained component which is accounted by the ‘labor market discrimination'