This Mother’s Day, as two working mothers at Upaya, we reflected on what it would take to create dignified jobs for mothers from extremely poor households. Despite their hardships, these women have the strength and ability to address the difficult battle of being a worker, a woman, and a mother, but they can’t do it alone.

95% of working women in India are informal workers who work in labor-intensive, low-paying jobs in highly precarious conditions, and with no social protection. They mostly work as daily-wage agricultural laborers, at construction sites, as self-employed micro-entrepreneurs, or engaged in home-based work. Gender discrimination is more severe in the informal sector than in the formal sector, with women informal workers receiving less than half the male wage rate. 

Upaya’s data from jobholder surveys last year reflected gender wage disparity across different sectors with agriculture reporting the highest gender wage disparity at 250%, followed by skill development and employability (62%), waste management and sanitation (61%), rural manufacturing (41%), textiles and handicrafts (22%).

Struck by the double whammy of gender discrimination and poverty, mothers in the informal economy must continue to bring back income to the household, be the primary caregivers for the children, care for their own physical and mental health after childbirth, and attempt to breastfeed to provide essential nutrition. All this without any childcare support at their workplaces, let alone the restrictive social norms  that dictate their role in the communities and families.

At Upaya we are committed to creating dignified jobs for the extremely poor. We define dignified jobs as those providing consistent, predictable income at par or more than their next best alternatives. We do this by supporting early-stage entrepreneurs who are building businesses in marginalized communities and employing families in need. Our impact dashboard shows jobs created by our portfolio companies, and we are proud to have generated almost 25,000 jobs so far. That said, we recognize that there is a long way to go in supporting the unique needs of working mothers, and in shifting the mindset of what a dignified, sustainable job for this group looks like. 

As we consider our own (and every mother’s) balancing act of building a meaningful career while raising and nurturing our children, we asked ourselves, what support systems do we need to see in order for working mothers living in extreme poverty to have the space to achieve both?

Committed entrepreneurs with gender centric business models that target employing women from extremely poor households and help them transition from informal to formal job structures.

Through our investments we are validating everyday that enterprises and, in particular, social enterprises have the potential to create jobs for those coming from extremely poor households and vulnerable contexts. Enterprises are best positioned to create jobs at scale and enable better incomes to their jobholders. Because women are more likely than men to bear childcare responsibilities, lack of childcare is a major barrier to women’s full and equal participation in paid work. There is a business case for enterprises to design operating models that acknowledge the need of women employees, especially mothers. Even small enterprises outside of the regulatory compliance mandate can support childcare and get benefits such as lower absenteeism turnover, increased productivity, and higher employee engagement. Employers can opt from a range of options such as having workplace crèches, providing information and referral services, flexible work hours, paternity leaves, and back-up care benefits. Enterprises can create a child-care support plan in consultation with the employees and in alignment with available resources.

More investments in childcare services and support for the elderly, aka “the care economy”

From a supply of capital standpoint, more investment and intent is required to strengthen the care economy agenda, the breakthrough pathway for building a better and equal world of work. A recent report from ILO suggests that plugging the existing and significant gaps in care services could generate almost 300 million jobs globally and create a continuum of care that would help to alleviate poverty, encourage gender equality by giving working mothers the ability to work the hours they need and/or desire, and support care for children and the elderly.

Bridging the skill gap for women enabling them to earn higher incomes

Women tend to be trained for jobs close to their traditional gender roles, which leads to them getting left out of better-paying job opportunities. Skills training for women also often fail to achieve expected outcomes as programmes struggle to recruit and retain women in training courses and in employment. To be effective, these programmes need to be gender-sensitive in design and cognisant of social norms. Skilling must integrate women into sectors that are dominated by men, which can help improve their incomes and help reduce the gender wage gap. There is also a need to integrate life skills into skilling programmes, such as teaching interpersonal communication, training in decision-making methods, and helping them build self confidence by reinforcing their strengths and capabilities. We have heard first hand from women jobholders, like Nagamma at Nugu Handmade, how skilling and pay parity has given her more agency in her life as a worker and single mother.

Provisioning of more comprehensive childcare support systems in the country

Accessibility to childcare is important for ensuring both economic and gender equality. It can ease the burden of work responsibilities for women, specifically those belonging to low-income and marginalised communities and households. Policy action in the form of well-resourced childcare support programmes for women from extremely poor households is essential to seeing long lasting improvement in the futures of working mothers living in poverty. 

At Upaya, we believe in not only generating jobs for the extreme poor, but supporting women and working mothers in having access to jobs that provide the growth and support they need to be happy and secure employees and mothers. This is why we are committed to supporting more women entrepreneurs who understand and prioritise better working conditions for their women employees. But the changes needed are bigger than one organisation or small business.   And so our sincere wish is that mothers experience the sense of accomplishment that comes with a fulfilling job, as well the confidence that they are supported by a  larger system that values their place in our communities. 

Happy Mothers Day to all the moms doing what they can every day to raise their children and contribute to their communities. We see you and we salute you!

This post is co-written by Shruti Goel and Suman Bhat-Kincaid

MEDIA CONTACT:

Madlin D’silva
mdsilva@upayasv.org