Annette, B (2008) A study on gender discrimination among construction workers and the means of empowering women construction workers with special reference to Tiruchirappalli. PhD thesis, Bharathidasan University, India.
Abstract
The construction sector is the largest employer in India after agricultural labour in the unorganised sector. However women construction workers are not allowed to acquire skills and become masons. Women join as unskilled workers and remain unskilled till the end of their working life. Men, on the other hand, are trained and given an opportunity to up-grade their construction skills while working and become masons, supervisors and contractors. This study analyses the causes which lead to gender discrimination, and the problems and constraints at home and workplace which affect women's participation in the construction sector in India and the barriers for women in the construction sector to acquire skills for masonry work and how they could be trained to become masons. In this study, a total of 440 men construction workers and 440 women construction workers and 51 contractors were studied. The findings of the study show that many women construction workers are illiterate, widows, only earning members of the family and from low income families when compared to men construction workers. Women construction workers face harassment at home and work place. There is also gender discrimination in work, wages and in promotion opportunities. The findings also show that the important barrier for women being promoted as masons is the gender bias which men and women have, and women construction workers are not given an opportunity to be trained informally like men in construction sector. It is found that women are willing to become masons, and men, especially the contractors, are willing to accept them, train them and give them placements in the construction sector. This study analyses the methodology of training offered to men in the construction sector and proposes a methodology of training that would empower women construction workers in India.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | D, J A |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | bias; construction sector; discrimination; gender; skills; income; masonry; wages; participation; training; employer; India; women; construction worker; mason |
| Index terms: | wages, placement, face, methodology, bias, construction sector, discrimination, promotion, gender discrimination, mason, women, income, construction worker, India, supervisor |
| Subjects: | psychology, economic analysis, practitioner, business economics, sociology, industry analysis, professional ethics, management, research methods, Geography, probability and distributions |
| Topics: | Geographical Context, Legal Issues, Roles and Professions, Business Strategy, Research Practice, Organizational Design, Human Resources |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here