Poverty Eradication through Inclusive Growth: A Case of Punjab

The presence of hunger and poverty in India and other parts of the world is in large measure to the subjugation, marginalization and disempowerment of women. Women suffer from hunger and poverty in greater numbers and to a great degree than men. Women work participation in the country as whole has been significantly lower than that of men. Women work participation rate has shown increasing trend from 1981 onwards. It was 36.7 percent in 1981, improved to 37.7 percent in 1991 and further improved to 39.2 percent in 2001 and 39.8 in 2011. Increase in work participation rate is more percentiles in rural areas than urban. There has been a decline in percentage of workers engaged in agricultural sector from 38.9% in 2001 to 35.5% in 2011. Amongst the total workers in Punjab, the largest proportion of workers is engaged in ‘Other’ work i.e. 60.5%. This percentage is the second highest among major states in the country, next only to Kerala, i.e. 80.5%.

On the basis of preliminary examination of data on female occupational participation from 1981–2011 census, it was felt necessary to probe into the crucial policy question: are the majority of women workers in Punjab relegated to performing hard labour or do they continue to be engaged in low productivity-cum low social status-cum low pay work? With this idea, an attempt was made to devise a tentative scale of pay-cum-socio-economic status rank of various occupations. The highest status job was give rank 1 and various occupational groups are arranged according to decreasing rank order. Due consideration was also paid to substantial evidences that were available in regard to pay and income levels of different occupations and these were applied to determine the relative status of particular occupational group with respect to all other groups. In Punjab, high levels of development did not translate into progress of women. Society remained feudal and women's development abysmal, resulting in a low gender development index. The state, with one of the highest per capita incomes in the country at Rs 18,862, has a much lower sex ratio as compared with less ‘developed’ Bihar which has a per capita income Rs 5531, and sex ratio of 921. This paper finds that women in Punjab are engaged in low status jobs. If a woman with appropriate capabilities is excluded from the labor market because of her gender, she cannot maximize her abilities, which can lead to loss of output for the society and impose costs on economic development. Restrictions on women in access to opportunity can also indirectly affect the power relationship between men and women. This can result in the misallocation of resources even at the household level. Meanwhile, gender inequality in capabilities lowers the average level of human capital and productivity, which can subsequently hinder economic growth. Improving women's capabilities as well as their access to economic opportunity appear to be the key to enhancing progress toward gender equality, and ultimately to inclusive growth.