A recent report by Annual Survey of Industries for 2019-20 points to Tamil Nadu topping in women employment in industries. This is not new to the state. For several years, industries in Tamil Nadu have taken pride in having all-women or majority women campuses. While it started with traditional industries like footwear, textiles, etc., today, it has spread to hi-tech sectors like semiconductor assembly, automobile and other advanced manufacturing. Industries like footwear and textiles are low skill requiring jobs that help to capture the population that migrate out of agriculture. All these industries are located in such areas where the transition is taking place. In a visit to a shoe factory in the state, we witnessed huge lines of women workers making world class shoes, ready for export. The company provides them food, transportation and child care benefits. A woman employee pointed out that during pregnancy, they get a special diet that is nutrition rich. Post pregnancy, when they resume work, the company offers a quality day care within the campus where employees are encouraged even to go breast feed their child. this has indeed brought about a social revolution in these villages.
Tamil Nadu boasts of a high gross enrollment ratio in higher education, of 46.9 per cent. It is the highest among all states and more than double the national average. Of these, women outpace men by 48.6 per cent to 45.4 per cent. This creates a need to match jobs that meet the higher aspiration levels. While making low-skilled jobs available at one end, the state is also focusing to create more high skilled jobs in research, development, IT services, etc.
To dwell deep in and to further the participation of women in workforce, IE reached out to academicians and corporates.
