Women employment on the rise in manufacturing units

They constitute nearly 30 % of the workforce in the textile mills

Ravi Kumar, who has an engineering micro unit at Velandipalayam, manages the facility with his wife Thilagamani, aged 42. His wife not only takes care of the unit when he has to go out but also operates the machinery. “She started operating the cutting machine three or four years ago. Now, she can operate the heavy lathe,” he says.

Many micro unit owners are involving their family members, including the women, in operating the machinery. This trend in micro units started two years ago as migrant workers started moving to other jobs. “They (migrant workers) used to quit in groups and join larger units. We cannot increase the salary every month. There are minor works where women were initially employed. Now, they (women) are into lathe operation too,” says Mr. Ravi Kumar. However, they cannot be employed for loading or unloading and need support in the engineering units, he adds.

According to J. James, president of Tamil Nadu Association of Micro and Tiny Enterprises, women are employed for various jobs in the micro units. But, they are just 10 % to 15 % of the total workers in the micro industries. “Employment of local women started because of labour shortage,” he says. Earlier, micro units went in for group insurance (medical) for their workers. It was discontinued as the annual premium amount went up. In an effort to ensure safety to the workers, especially women, “We are trying to bring the insurance scheme back,” he says.

It is not just the micro units, but several manufacturing industries across industrial verticals in Coimbatore that are employing women at shop floor, mainly to address worker shortage.

In the pumpset units, two factories are operated only by women and others are increasingly employing women. “We are having plans for employing more women, especially for jobs such as motor winding. We take ITI candidates. We need to provide initial training,” says V. Krishnakumar, president of Southern India Engineering Manufacturers’ Association, who is also the vice-president – Marketing of Aquasub Engineering. Industries need to ensure they provide basic facilities when women are employed. Some factories have health centres too, he says.

K.V. Karthik, vice-president of the association, says that foundries face nearly 30 % worker shortage while pump industries face nearly 25 % shortage during peak season for skilled jobs. Factories employ women to tide over worker shortage and also because of reliability. They can do only specific jobs but women employment is on the rise and most of them are aged below 35, he says.

In the textile mills, women employment to operate the machinery started in the 1990s.

Initially, they were trained by the machinery operators at the mills. Since 2000, there are structured training programmes for all jobs and they are employed for all the three shifts. Women constitute nearly 30 % of the workforce in the mills.

Earlier the number was higher. It has reduced now as more women in rural areas opt for higher education. Further, the State has nearly 2,500 textile mills and worker requirement has increased. In order to meet the requirement, mills started employing workers from other States. They are almost 50 % of the workers at the mills, says an official of the Southern India Mills’ Association.

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