Elderly Women Working in Unorganised Sector: A Glimpse

Abstract

A major part of life of an elderly woman is spent in doing household work, particularly in rural sector. As they spend most of their time in doing household chores, they do excel in it, but they are less exposed to other vocational skills. To get an employment in organised sector is far reaching, and to survive in the society, the elderly women need some work or the other. It is easy and accessible for the elderly women to enrol in unorganised sector and to gain minimum wages for livelihood. The term unorganised refers to different kinds of work such as home-based occupation, self-employment, agricultural work, domestic work, working in cottage industries, small-scale industries, mills and factories. Elderly women get themselves engaged in work even during old age and face challenges to run their day-to-day activities. In unorganised sector, they experience discrimination in wages, exploitation of work, assignment of hard tasks and no privileges or consideration in their work life. Hence, this article focuses on the insights of elderly women engaged in unorganised sector.