The ‘invisible’ worker: women and work in the informal economy

The status of any given section of the population in a society has an intimate connection with its economic position which (itself) depends on rights, roles and participation in economic activities. It was the report of the Committee on the Status of Women in India (1975) that acted as an eye opener for planners and policy makers with regards to the “invisibility” and “underenumeration”, of women as workers. This paper broadly deals with the oretical perspectives on women'S labour force participation and the invisibility of women'S work in the Census of India. The methodology used in this paper is essentially a descriptive analysis of data obtained from secondary sources, mainly research articles and books and other published materials on invisibility of women'S work in the Indian economy.