Legal systems and laws have not kept pace with the evolving social situation and it is necessary to modify them in keeping with the changing social and economic scenario. Rita Rupal had put forth an ideal work situation for women at the workplace in the United Kingdom. She envisaged:
 

• places having nurseries and the same amount of paternity leave for partners;
• an environment totally free of sexual and racial harassment; good wages for women, at least equal to that paid for men,if not more;
• exemplary health and safety standards;
• frequent training opportunities;
• women to be equally represented at all levels of management;
• counselling therapy to be freely available courtesy the employer;
• fewer hours of work per week and the option to fluctuate at different times of the year between full-time and part-time work; and
• paid sabbatical leave every three years.

At the symposium, the commonalities of the situation of women at work and the discrimination that they face in the UK and in India were obvious. A disturbing trend noted was the increasing informalisation of work, both in India and UK due to global restructuring.

The UK Sex Discrimination Act of 1975 (See Annexure 3) renders unlawful, certain kinds of sex discrimination and discrimination on the ground of marriage and establishes a commission with the function of working towards the elimination of such discrimination and promoting equality of opportunity between men and women generally.

The 'shramshakti' report of the National Commission on Self Employed Women and Women in the Informal Sector, had also recommended the establishment of a permanent Equal Opportunities Commission and also of tripartite boards to settle disputes.

From the various presentations and the discussions at the Symposium and from the Indian and UK experiences, the following critical areas of concern and recommendations for legal interventions have emerged. These have to be taken into consideration while policy planning and recommending proposals for legal interventions to empower women at workplace.

1. A Policy for Employment of Women

Women have multiple identities and they have many roles which they play and several of these identities are, at times, contradictory and not always complementary. They have to divide their time between domestic work and wage work. This division takes place over the course of women's lifetime and results in heavy penalties as women lose their place in the labour market hierarchy. Biologically, the two sexes are different but as far as the qualities of work are concerned, it has never been proved that women are in anyway inferior.

The government does not seem to have a clear-cut policy as to what should be the priority legislations relating to women's rights at the workplace and how they should be implemented. What the government has been doing is ad hoc depending on the demands of the public, the ILO recommendations and, at. times, depending on what the courts say and also sometimes depending on the convenience of the government. None of the legislations including the Indian Penal Code tries to address the issue of gender bias. Protective legislations promulgated by the State often express social norms and restrict the entry of women into certain sectors which are deemed hazardous to women's security or to women's reproductive roles.

Social rules and distribution of resources underlying a supposedly gender neutral market actually systematically per-petuates gender inequalities ensuring that men and women are brought to them as bearers of gender. It is not intrinsic to the occupational structure but it enters through recruitment and allocation practices. With the new technology, women tend to lose their jobs first because it is believed that they are fit for only unskilled jobs, even in the organised sector. Even on machines, they do mechanical jobs. Liberalisation is largely a political and economic phenomenon, but in order to achieve it, the government may have to approve a degree of deregulation and employers will have to be competitive. With liberalisation, the organised sector is diminishing or rather changing its form and in this sector, we have to consider worker as a worker per se and not as a worker in a particular industry or factory. She may be a sub-contracted worker, piece-rated worker, but she is a worker and that is important.

Due to downsizing and dismantling of large industries and the resultant job losses in the organised sector, there will be further pressure on the unorganised sectors. The males, who lose their jobs in the organised sector will 'flock' into the unorganised sector, thus further marginalising the women. Women are generally not re-employed in relocated industries.

A clear-cut policy is needed for the employment of women which includes recruitment, training, promotions and social security.

2. Registration of Women Workers
There should be a registry which registers all women workers of the organised as well as unorganised sectors. In the case of the unorganised workers, there should be sectoral laws like the Beedi and Cigar Workers Act, you could have legislations for the construction workers, the domestic workers, the plastic industry, the diamond industry and so on.

In the case of home-based workers, registration could be for a particular occupation. Once you register for a particular occupation, many more employers could employ you, so that the possibility of getting regular employment everyday, is increased.. There could be some kind of employment guarantee scheme for home-based workers. Perhaps, an identity card for all workers with a certain experience will give an identity to these workers.

There should be equal rights and protection for all workers irrespective of their patterns of work or status. Part-timers, contract labourers and domestic workers should also be entitled to legal protection. For piece-rate women workers, there should be fall-back wages.

There should be a provision of social security benefits which assures a woman, a minimal survival and livelihood even when she works in a job that is threatened. India should ratify the ILO Convention on home-based workers.

3. Women Employees' Special Needs
Women employees' career, in some ways, is restricted because of the need to take responsibility for the care of a person who is sick, disabled or elderly. There should be a reconciliation of employment and family responsibilities. There should be family leave or career break schemes for such female employees.

Many women are discriminated against when they become pregnant and leave to have. children. The right to return to work should be a choice (if the returnee. A reform in the existing provision of maternity leave is required.

There should be statutory parental leave for both parents for greater sharing of family responsibilities between men and women. This will encourage and facilitate a culture of shared responsibility between men and women.

The Employees State Insurance Act and the Maternity Benefit Act should also include mothers who have adopted children.

4. Creche Facilities
There is a tendency, especially among multinationals, to employ either very young women or very old men as they want to avoid setting up creches, or they employ less than 30 women as this obliterates the necessity of setting up the creche. When these issues come up, they are taken as gender issues for cutting costs. Even the trade unions agree to it because child care is something a only woman is supposed to do. Creches should be provided for children of all workers and not merely women workers.

There could be a common creche for each industry. A fund/cess/tax could be collected from employers areawise/ regionwise/industrywise and services provided to women employees. For instance, the entire industry, whether it is small scale, large scale or export promotion zones, contributes to the fund. This fund can be used to provide maternity benefits, pension, child care services, and so on. to all women workers of that industry. It should be considered to be fulfilling a social need. There is no legislation providing for creche facilities in the service sector which employ women. Creche facilities must be extended to the service sector and also to women working in shifts.

5. Sexual Harassment at Workplace
Women are not sure what is sexual harassment or whether it is part of the work culture. This can be very disempowering to women. Certain women are actually more vulnerable to be subjected to sexual harassment, for instance the divorced, the separated, the widowed, single women and lesbians, women from minority ethnic groups, women who have a physical or non-physical disability, women working in predominantly male jobs, and new entrants to the work force.

In the UK, majority of employees are actually women, but there is still an increasing problem of sexual harassment. Just having plenty of women in an organisation does not mean you can eradicate sexual harassment. The feminist perspective is that it is an issue around power. As long as you are going to have men in a position of power, there will always be sexual harassment at the workplace.

There is no sexual harassment law in India. Sexual harassment at the workplace should be given a legal definition. Any behaviour that is unwelcome, as perceived by women, should be regarded as sexual harassment whether a man intended it or not. Sexual harassment should be perceived as a violence against women which is discriminatory. A hostile working environment should also Be regarded as sexual harassment. Article 21 of the Constitution is the right to life with dignity. When an environment impacts on women's privacy or her sense of dignity that should also be regarded as sexual harassment. The employers must be statutorily liable to provide a 'safe' working environment for their employees. All employers must be under a vicarious liability that anything done by a person in the course of his employment shall be the responsibility of the employer.

The threat of legal action and bad publicity will act as a deterrent for employers and will persuade them to prevent sexual harassment at the workplace by formulating a sexual harassment policy which enables women to complain to their organisation. The women's sexual history should not be considered in sexual harassment cases. In sex discrimination cases, the burden of proof should be on the employer to prove that he had not discriminated against the employee. There should be some restriction in media reporting in sexual harassment cases.

6. Night Work for Women
Recently, there has been a move from .the Government of Maharashtra, to restrict the working hours of bar girls. Lady bar workers, including waitresses, dancers and singers have been barred from serving in hotels beyond 8.30 p.m. This rule has led to a lot of controversy and several affected women workers are finding it unfair as it deprives them of their livelihood. The participants of the Symposium were of the view that working in night shifts and overtime should be left to the discretion of the women concerned and adequate security should be provided by the employer.

7. Wages for Housework
Remuneration for housewives has been a subject of a longstanding debate in Parliament. Feminists say that researchers studying monetisation of housework are of the opinion that the value of a woman's labour is definitely more than what her husband earns at the end of the day. Therefore, housework should be recognised as an economic activity and wages should be paid for it.

8. Women in Construction Industry
Employment is very casual and employment relations are not very permanent in the construction industry as the product is stationary while the production unit is mobile.

Different Acts are applicable to the construction industry like the Inter-State Migrant Workmen's Act, Contract Labour Act, Minimum Wages Act, Equal Remuneration Act. But no equal wages or minimum wages are given to women construction workers. All these Acts are implemented by different departments and there is no coordination between the various departments nor among the workers and because of the very nature of the industry like shifting employer-employee relationship, seasonal and discontinuing nature of employment, the general apathy and indifference of labour administration and lack of labour organisation, the existing legislations cannot be implemented.

There has to be a larger public debate on the issue of construction workers focussing the attention of the public on what should be done for construction workers.

9. Women in Plastic and Diamond Industries
Women workers are totally absent in large-scale plastic industries. Some of the serious problems of women in these industries are as follows:

• In the plastic industry sub-contracting exists at every level especially for finishing and packing processes. The sub- contracting is actually a gross exploitation of women.
• Minimum wages are not paid in the plastic industry and for piece-rate wages, there is no 'fall back wages'. If the em- ployer cannot provide work, then piece-rate workers are not paid.
• The occupational health hazards in the plastic industry relate to backaches, skin diseases, chest congestion and accidents due to burning for which there is no protection. In the diamond industry , there is a terrible strain on backs and eyes.
• It is significant that most of the units in the plastic industry are not unionised and the ones that are unionised do not have women.
• It was pointed out that there is a lot of serious sexual harassment that takes place in the diamond industry which has to be noted. If a woman takes up a leadership role, she is more vulnerable to sexual harassment.

The double standards, as far as women's employment are concerned, exist in the Export Promotion Zones. The foreign exchange earning export promotion zones should be brought under the ambit of strict labour legislations.

11. Women Domestic Workers
The women domestic workers are a very vulnerable group. They are victims of 'hire and fire' policy and sexual harassment by the employers. The amendments to the Domestic Workers, Conditions of Service Bill 1994, are as follows :
 

• The jurisdiction of the court dealing with disputes should be clarified.
• The definition of housework should be an inclusive definition;'  .
• The concept of misconduct should be clearly defined. " The appointment of inspectors and sub-inspectors should not be left entirely to the State Government.
• Provision relating to sexual harassment of domestic workers at the workplace should be strengthened.
• An alternative dispute resolution machinery should be provided.
• A complaints procedure should be drawn up.
• The bill should be passed into an Act.

The recommendations (PITA) are as follows:

• Deletion of discretionary powers to magistrates to grant  lesser punishments below the minimum seven years.
• There should be a focus on the sexual abuse of commercial sex workers.
• Provision to be included .to bring the corrupt implementing authorities to book.
• Gender sensitisation programmes for all levels of implementing authorities.
• Rescue and rehabilitation of commercial sex workers to be tied up.
• Provision for rehabilitation to be included in PITA.

14. Debureaucratisation
If you want to open a shop or a multi-storied department store, it is possible to do so very easily but if you want to sell vegetables or fruits you have to face the Bombay Municipal Corporation Act, the Bombay Police Act, and so on. Cooperatives of the rural poor are increasingly under bureaucratic control. There should be debu- reaucratisation of sectors to which women need access.

15. Role of Trade Unions
Unionism itself is at some sort of crossroads today. Many women workers are of the view that the union is never around when you need it most. Trade unions have a very strong male bias.

Women workers are generally looked as dependents and easily retrenchable. In the current union definition, it is always a woman who is supposed to be maintained. This interpretation should be changed.

It is a question of membership that matters as far as women's issues are concerned and that is why many of the trade unions do not take up women's issues. In the traditional trade unions, there are very few women in the leadership. It is necessary to have separate women's unions otherwise their problems are not focussed on. When a trade union is taking up a cause, it looks into the number of members who are going to be affected by that. That certain sections of the membership are discriminated against is something that is not within the purview of the union.

Membership of women is low because of fear of reprisals, fear of being retrenched and of being victimised. The right to organise exist in the statute but it is very difficult to implement. Many workers who have come to form a union have to go immetiately to the courts to get a stay of the termination of their jobs. After a couple of months, they are trying to file a case of closure. Infringement of the right to organise should be treated very seriously almost in terms of a criminal penalty . The traditional trade union movement looks at a separate women's union as something `anti-working class' because they are `spitting' the workers.

The trade unions should not be for regulating wages, labour and capital relations, Its scope should be expanded. Unions must look at livelihood and not employment. Representatives from the unorganised and domestic sectors must be invited at national labour conferences.

16. Punishment for Non-compliance
There is no difference in multionational, public or private companies as far as exploitation of women is concerned. Exploitation of women is common to all. The biggest infringer of the Contract labour Act is the government itself. The bureaucrats who are supposed to implement the laws are the same peope who would like to violate them.

All laws should be applicable equally irrespective of the number of workers. Punishment should be a deterrent for non-compliance of labour legislations and ignorace of law should be no excuse. Generally, legislations have a penalty or fine or imprisonment for its violation. Normally, it is the penalty that is imposed, and, hence, employers get away with it. If imprisonment was imposed, people would take it more seriously. The power of discretion given to the magistrate to impose either a fine or imprisonment should be done away with and imprisonment for violating women's rights at the workplace should be imposed more often.

17. Enforcement of Laws
There are hardly any prosecutions against any employers, particularly in the unorganised/informal sectors. There is not a single known case, where an inspector has actually gone and checked
whether 30 women are employed in a factory ,so that a creche can be provided.

There should be special courts / commissions to deal with issues relating to women's rights at workplace. These courts should be headed and conducted, preferably, only by women.

There could be a Common Code for women's rights at the workplace with one authority to implement it and the National and State Commissions for Women to monitor it. This authority should be accessible even in the remotest areas.

The offices of the Labour Commissioner and other Labour Law enforcement machinery should be institutions for social change and the personnel working in it should have a welfare perspective.

There has to be some sort of an understanding or dialogue between trade unions and NGOs who are active in the field of women's rights at workplace. NGOs should form part of a watchdog body to see that women's rights are implemented. They should I have a right which is beyond just complaining. They could also organise mobile creches, hospitals and kitchens. All legislations should have a provision that its violation, as regards women workers, can be pursued by women's organisations.

18. Accountability
Accountability should be fixed for non-implementation of the legislations. Laws are not being implemented because the bureaucracy, the police, the judiciary and the elected representatives are not accountable. To have better control over these institutions, women should have the right to information, the right to recall elected representatives and to make attempts to cancel foreign debt. For instance, the public sector units or the multinational companies which sign understandings should have some accountability as to what the company is doing for women who are employed in it. There should be some statutory obligation placed on them.

19. Education and Training
The education of girls should be taken up seriously to meet the challenges of exploitation and marginalisation. All education policies for the girl child should include education to develop their skills.

Training schemes for women need to be reviewed. Normally women's training is looked at from the frame of sexual division of labour. Only certain traditional skills are taught to women. Retraining should be with a view for genuine absorption in the market. Women should be taught new skills which have a market.

We do not have a gender sensitive syllabi for professionals like judges, doctors, lawyers and police. There should be compulsory specialised training for judges, police, tribunal and labour court, trade union personnel and senior government officials, to deal with women's rights at the workplace. All those who are decision-makers on issues relating to women's rights at workplace, should be sensitised. More funds and resources for this purpose should be allocated.

20. Legal Aid and Representation
Women employees are generally faced by barristers and specialists in employment law. There should be simplified and accessible laws and procedures protecting women's rights at workplace.

Legal aid should be made available in the form of advice, assistance and representation.

21. Legal Literacy for Women Employees
No legislation will be effective if the persons for whom they are made are not aware of it. Women workers should be made aware of their rights by legal literacy programmes.

In conclusion, I would like to reiterate that liberalisation should be with a human face. We cannot afford to say 'no' to big capital or multinationals. But, there should be absolute ban on entry of big capitalln those areas where we can generate livelihood.

India inherited a British legal system at Independence, at least in form, if not in content. In spite of constitutional guarantees and prevalent legislations, justice for women at the workplace, is still a dream. Many a times the legislations which are supposed to protect women employees, work against their interests. The ILO convention which forms the social clause could be used to protect workers, especially in the unorganised sector.

We also need an Equal Opportunities Commission as in the UK to monitor and promote equal opportunities at the workplace and combat discrimination against women.

The participants of the Symposium were strongly of the view
that all laws should be applicable equally to all organisations irrespective of the number of workers.

It is hoped that the above recommendations will provide a broad legal framework for future course of action and will be useful to initiate dialogues with the governement and the concerned authorities. It will also provide a base for promoting legal literacy to women employees. This legal strategy, along with the concept of community of propoerty, will go a long way to empower the women at workplace.