Centre for Gender and Labour Studies has been set up with the objective of addressing and strengthening the understanding of gender issues in the world of work. Gender equality and empowerment of women has been the cornerstone of developmental policies of many countries across the globe. The recent Sustainable Development goals 2015 recognizes the centrality of women’s empowerment and gender equality for elimination of poverty and hunger and the achievement of truly sustainable development. Gender gap in labour force participation rates and unemployment rates are persistent features of global labour markets. These issues need to be addressed to ensure gender equity in the labour market, which requires concerted efforts both at academic and policy level.
Labour market gender gaps are more pronounced in developing countries, and often exacerbated by gendered patterns in occupational segregation with the majority of women’s work being concentrated in a narrow range of sectors that remain vulnerable and insecure. These workers are mostly engaged in the informal employment as domestic workers, self-employed, casual workers, piece-rated workers, home based workers and migrants workers with poor skills, less earnings and low productivity. Further, the gender pay gap and wage differentials remains a serious concern that needs to be addressed. Apart from this, the contribution of women to the national economy is still subject to more under reporting and misrepresentation in comparison to the contribution of men. The statistics available are partial and contribute to maintaining a distorted perception of the nature of a country’s economy and its human resources thereby perpetrating a vicious circle of inequality between men and women caused by inappropriate perceptions, policies and programmes. Given the challenges women are facing in the labour market, promoting gender equality and empowering women is fundamental for achieving the new targets of full productive employment and social inclusion to mark the global goals on sustainable development.
For achieving inclusive growth and substantive equality, awareness on policies, skill development, capacity building, social dialogue and empowerment through training and research would be some of main activities undertaken by the Centre for Gender and Labour Studies. Within this framework the activities of the centre are envisaged to upgrade the status of .V.V. Giri National Labour Institute in the area of research, education, training and advocacy on various dimensions of gender and the labour market
Research Advisory Group
The Research Advisory Group of the Centre comprises of the following members:
- Prof. Ratna M. Sudarshan
Advisor, Research and Projects, Institute of Social Studies Trust
New Delhi - Dr. Preet Rustagi
Senior Fellow
Institute for Human Development
New Delhi - Ms. Chitra Chopra
Member Secretary (Retd.)
Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment
New Delhi - Ms. Amarjeet Kaur
National Secretary
AITUC
New Delhi - Ms. Indrani Mazumdar
Associate Professor
Centre for Women’s Development Studies
New Delhi - Dr. Renuka Singh
Professor
Centre for Study of Social Systems
School of Social Sciences
Jawahar Lal Nehru University (JNU)
New Delhi - Prof. Saraswati Raju
Professor
Centre for the Study of Regional Development
Jawahar Lal Nehru University (JNU)
New Delhi
Centre Co-Ordinator
- Dr. Shashi Bala, Senior Fellow and Dr. Ellina Samantroy Jena, Fellow
