Women, Working Conditions and Efficiency : The Indian Experience

Contents: Preface. I. Women in agriculture: 1. Organic farming: concerns and issues/Kanak Chauhan. 2. Energy expenditure of mountain women involved in organic farming/Meeta Agarwal, Veena Gandotra and L.P. Gite. 3. Technology to enhance organic agriculture in mountain region of Uttaranchal/Promila Sharma. 4. Maize shellers: an effective tool for drudgery reduction of farm women/Suman Singh, Puja Mathur and Madhur Rathore. 5. Ergonomic considerations in designing tools for agricultural operations in organic farming/V.S. Dhyani and Promila Sharma. 6. Physiological cost of work in organic farming in Tarai region of Uttaranchal/S.N. Kashyap and Promila Sharma. 7. Physiological cost of technologies used by women in organic farming/Veena Gandotra and Kanak Chauhan. 8. Physiological cost of weeding with traditional tool and available weeding technologies/Veena Gandotra and Sonia Thakur. II. Women in non-agricultural occupations:  9. Assessment of video display terminals (VDTs) on health of users/Suman Singh, Jyoti Wadhwa and Neelima Sinwal. 10. Well-designed workstations, efficiency and productivity/Suman Singh and Neelima Sinwal. 11. Ergonomic assessment of kitchen work centres/Puja Mathur and Jatinder Kishtwaria. 12. Physiological stress on women workers in tea industry/Nandita Bhattacharya, Ruplekha Borah and S.C. Baruah. 13. Occupational health and safety survey of Indian women workers in food processing industries/Meeta Agarwal and Promila Sharma. 14. Ergonomic assessment of muscular stress experienced by Indian women workers in food processing industries/Meeta Agarwal and Promila Sharma. 15. Ergonomics at household level through specially-designed training module for housewives/Nidhi Chaudhary and Deepa Vinay. 16. Physiological cost of work of healthcare workers in selected hospitals/Veena Gandotra and Smriti Krishna. Index.

"The study of anatomical, physiological and psychological aspects of human beings in their working environment is important to ensure that the work fits the job to the man rather than the man to the job. In a semi-industrialized country like India, the working class is one of the weakest sections of society. And society being male-dominated, women workers receive still poor recognition/value. It is not that there are no statutory provisions to ensure fair working conditions for women in India. In fact, the constitution of India provides equal rights and opportunities to both the genders. In addition, there are specific provisions for protection and welfare of working women in many of the labour laws. However, most of these legislations do not cover agriculture and units in small and informal sectors which are the predominant workplaces of women.

The present work deals with working conditions of women in India. It examines in detail the activities and work methods of women workers." (jacket)