Interfacing Women's Work with Development in ICT: An Exploratory Exposition Sucharita Sen Saraswati Raju Centre for the Study of Regional Deveopment School of Social Sciences Jawaharlal Nehru University

The Larger Scenario ICT has been a important catalyst in transforming Fordist mode of production system to a post-Fordist mode. Important transformations: More flexible production methods- Labour more ‘flexibly’ deployed. Vertical disintegration of large corporations- spatial reorganizations of production and trade. JUST-IN-TIME production- closer integration of development, production, marketing. Production systems have become significantly more capital intensive. Digital Divides across class, caste, gender and regions would have significant bearing on the way in which the transformation shapes up.

The Indian Context Contribution of knowledge-based work in ICTs remains small in developing countries and India. Relevance of this exploratory study can be situated as follows: – ICT is a fast growing sector with future potentials for employment. The size of the work force in ICT enabled sectors is far higher, however, and the patterns in these areas are likely to be driven by similar processes as in direct ICT employment. – ICT sector provides a relevant platform for understanding impact of new technology on societal processes at large and female employment in particular. – The enclave-like development patterns that characterize not only the ICT service sector in India, but also increasingly other sectors in the post Fordist mode of production on employment has a bearing on gender.

The Gender Context Although optimistic and ‘gender-neutral’ studies see significant possibilities of contributions of the ICT sector to economic development in general or to poverty alleviation in particular, others see technology as socially-contextualised and thus gendered. Men and women have differential barriers to access and use of ICTs as women’s relationship with technology, including ICT is unequal (Arun, Heeks and Morgan 2004). The nature of jobs in ITC being completely restricted to urban upper classes is such that it requires English speaking educated and skilled work force. Such demands has the possibility of excluding large sections of the potential workforce, more so in case of women, given the higher levels of deprivation among them. Increasingly flexible labour markets and changing international division of labour provide an important analytical frame for issues of gender and employment, more so for the ICT sector in developing countries (Arun and Arun 2002). increased feminization of export oriented industries including the ICT sector in some Asian countries, has been associated with flexible and poorer working conditions, lower wages and less secure job contracts (Ghosh 2001).

Exploratory Contours of the Study ICT has two main dimensions: a) direct production side and b) indirect consumption side This study deals with the former aspect. The three major questions are: 1.Is the spatiality of participation of women in the ICT sector explained more by development of ICT in India or the larger social context in the country? 2.Is the participation of women in the ICT sector associated with lower wages, and unfavourable work conditions compared with men? 3.Is the location of women in ICT work significantly more exclusive compared to that of men? In other words, is it restricted to a greater extent by location, caste, class and education parameters for women compared with men?

Data and Concepts 1.Used unit level data of NSSO Employment unemployment (66 th ) Round ( ). 2.NCAER e-readiness reports for state level ICT development. Alternative data sources with a wider coverage are Annual Survey of Industries for organized manufacturing sector, NSSO informal sector (66 th round), NSSO service sector (63 rd round). The reasons for using the former dataset: – Estimates possible for ICT sector as a whole. – Possible to look at ICT employment vis-à-vis total /non-ICT employment. Limitations: – Sample sizes small in many cases, as wage rates – Some of the analysis done at the country level as a result of this. Manufacturing and service sectors taken together due to small sample size.

Data and Concepts NIC 2004 five digit codes used to identify ICT manufacturing (16 codes) and services (24 codes) made as comparable with International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) as possible. These are direct ICT sectors. All ICT enabled sectors cannot be isolated from NIC 2004 codes. For example, it leaves out ICT enabled jobs created in other sectors as health, education, finance etc.

Fast Growing ICT Services Indicators Share of ICT mfg to mfg sector GDP (in %) Share of ICT services GDP to Services sector GDP ( %) Share of ICT sector to total GDP (in %) Share of ICT mfg to total ICT GDP (in %) Share of ICT services to total ICT GDP (in %)re Source: Value Addition & Employment Generation in the ICT Sector in India, Government of India, Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation, National Statistical Organisation, Central Statistics Office

Employment Dimension much smaller than its Value addition Categories% to total workers% of ICT workers ICT workers Both Usual Principal and Subsidiary Status ICT workers Only Principal status Only Subsidiary status Not working in ICT99.26 All workers100 Categories% of non-ICT workers Non ICT workers Both Usual Principal and Subsidiary Status ICT workers15.93 Only Principal status77.15 Only Subsidiary status6.92

ICT Development e-Readiness Index Outline e-Readiness Index Environment Readiness Usage Market Environment Policy Environment Infrastructure Environment Individual Readiness Business Readiness Individual Usage Business Usage Government Usage Government Readiness Environment Promoted by the Government and the private sector Readiness Skill formation and access to relevant infrastructure of the individual and industry with government as a facilitator Usage Actual use of ICT given the base environment and readiness e-Readiness growth path

e-Readiness: Regional Perspective Closely follows the general levels of development. ICT has not succeeded in bridging the development divides The north-east largely left out of e development efforts.

The social spatiality

SPATIALITY OF WOMEN’S WORK IN ICT SECTOR

Women’s presence even smaller than that of men in ICT work sex Total malefemale ICT SectorN Male Female composition88.9%11.1%100.0% ICT/Non-ICT Composition.9%.3%.7% OthersN Male Female composition71.8%28.2%100.0% ICT/Non-ICT Composition99.1%99.7%99.3%

Female and Male work in ICT in relation to their respective total work closely follows e development pattern across states

Skewed spatial patterns biased in favour urban pockets more for females than males at the sub regional levels

Concentration of work participation in ICT does not match general work force participation of women

A different measure: relative numerical strength of women vis-à-vis men shows a different spatial pattern

IS WOMEN’S WORK ASSOCIATED WITH LOWER WAGES AND UNFAVOURABLE WORK CONDITIONS COMPARED TO THAT OF MEN?

ICT work better paying, but women get lower pay than men All pairs of wages are significantly different at 1 % level of significance.

Women are not worse off in terms of other parameters related to working conditions

Greater shares of Females work as Regular salaried workers than males

ARE WOMEN’S JOBS MORE EXCLUSIVE THAN THAT OF MEN’S IN THE ICT SECTOR?

ICT work more Urbanized for women

Exclusivity of female ICT workers in terms of Social Groups Social Groups ICTNon ICT male female male female scheduled tribe %.7%8.8%13.3% scheduled caste %6.3%20.0%22.1% other backward class %31.5%41.2%43.4% others %61.5%30.0%21.1% Social Groups ICTNon ICT male female male female scheduled tribe %.7%2.6%4.3% scheduled caste %6.6%14.8%19.0% other backward class %26.3%39.4%41.9% others %66.4%43.2%34.9% Total workers Urban workers

Higher Female ICT workers are Graduates and above compared to Males

Younger women than men work in the ICT sector All pairs of ages are significantly different at 1 % level of significance.

Findings Though work concentration follows e development patterns, the female-male ratio in ICT in relation to total work is located in the larger social context. Feminisation in ICT work is far lower than general work. ICT work regionally skewed, more so for women. ICT work pays more, even controlling for the urban contexts. Within this women get paid significantly less compared to men, as in case of other work. However, the conditions of work for women is not necessarily worse compared to that of men. ICT work opportunities more restricted to a select few, more so in case of women than men. Urban locations, access to higher education, belonging to higher social groups and younger age groups are necessary preconditions for getting into the ICT sector.

Some Concluding Thoughts Impact of ICTs on work is far less than its value addition in the economy and is certainly not gender neutral. ICTs as a form of new technology are socially contexualized, and have excluded very large sections of women from the opportunities provided by this fast- growing sector. Going by the current trend, the future opportunities of work created by the sector is likely to be far more for men compared to women. For the women who are in ICT work, however, there are mixed evidences of the sector taking advantages of labour market flexibilities more for women than men.

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