Skip to main content

17 hrs work by Ahmedabad women building workers daily; carry 5,680 kg of load, climb 480 steps, walk 4 km: Study

Counterview Desk
Shantaben, 45, is one of the 75,000 women working at construction sites, 2,595 of them in Gujarat’s business capital, Ahmedabad. Migrated with her family from tribal-dominated Dahod 20 years ago, she gets up at 3:30 am, spends around an hour looking for a functional pay-and-use toilet. “If I’m delayed, I will not be able to finish my household chores in order to reach the labour naka in time to find work”, she says.
Thereafter, she must spend four hours collecting water, cooking for her family, washing clothes, and cleaning. “She wolfs down her breakfast in five minutes, and changes her clothes behind a parked car”, says an Aajivika Bureau study, released in Ahmedabad, which quotes her saying, even at the construction site, she is “expected to clean the site before work commences.”
At the work site, she is expected to lift and carry 10 bags of soil weighing 25 kg each, and some cement bags weighing 20 kg. She filters sand, fills soil in sacks, mixes material, lifts and carries the material, throughout the day. Even five minutes of rest after difficult work is rare, she says. For all this, she receives a paltry Rs 300, and no overtime for working more than eight hours.
Same is the case with Somaben, 24, who has migrated to Ahmedabad from Banswara, Rajasthan, with her husband and 3 young children, except that she has to additionally take care of her three children, who include her two-month-old baby, whom she must breast feed. At the construction site, she ties a swing from sheets of cloth for her baby to sleep near where she is works. She receives only Rs 250 for her work.
Based on interviews with 43 migrant women construction workers in Ahmedabad, the study uses the new time-use survey methodology to understand the burden of their work. It points out that women workers an average work for about 17 hours a day, carry 5,680 kg load, climb 480 steps, and walk four km taking loads as heavy as 35 kg at a time.
Compared to this, it underlines, male workers are not expected to lift and carry materials, they are only responsible for filling the materials, operating the machine, or helping the masons. On an average, male workers work for 12 to 14 hours.
As part of the drudgery at home, the study says, women workers spend half-an-hour collecting water, carrying heavy 20 litre canisters of water back and forth from their living spaces. For women who live in open spaces, time spent on water collection goes up to 45 minutes. They take water from taps in nearby private homes or apartment buildings, but this source of water is not guaranteed every day.
Of the around 2.25 lakh construction workers in Ahmedabad, 80% of them migrants hailing from Gujarat, southern Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, 30% are women.
According to the study, things are even more difficult for pregnant women, who spend up to eight months of their pregnancy working in the city, and are made to lift the same amount of weight and perform strenuous tasks. They go back to the village to perform their delivery, but in 15 days’ time must return to work, where there is no social support system.
Noting that during illness women avoid going to the hospital, as it means that their husband would also have to take a day off work, and forfeit wages, the study says, accessing healthcare costs them between Rs. 350 and Rs 1000 in the city for a single visit.
Women interviewed reported pain in their limbs and joints, severe headaches, and abdominal pain. They attribute this to the heavy weights that they have to lift throughout the day and lack of rest. Pregnant women often suffer miscarriages at construction sites, the study says, adding, yet, most of them remain completely invisible and outside the coverage of government mandated maternal and childcare, including ante or post-natal care and vaccinations.

Comments

Anonymous said…
✅લેખ રસપ્રદ છે.....વાસ્તવિકતા જાણતાં દુ:ખદ પણ છે......રોજ વહેલી સવારે હું મારા ઘર નજીક....સેટેલાઇટ રોડ ઉપર....AMC નાં રોડ સાઈડ પ્લાન્ટેશન ....જેમાં સમ ખાવા એક પણ ઝાડવું નથી તેમાં આદિવાસીઓ ...શ્રમજીવી પરિવારો ઉપર આભ અને નીચે ધરતી ....રહે છે....તેમનું જીવન કઠણ અને દયનિય છે....જાજરૂ બાથરૂમ નથી...પ્લાસ્ટિક નો પડદો કરી કામચલાઉ વ્યવસ્થા....ચૂલા ઈંટો મૂકીને...ભાત ખાતાં નથી...રોટલા શાક ચટણી વી.વી. .... પણ મેં એક બહુ જ મહત્વ ની વાતની નોંધ લીધી છે....તેમના સહુના ચ્હેરાઓ પર સંતોષ હોય છે.....વતન જાતી વખતે ઉત્સાહ હોય છે અને ચાલ ઝડપી હોય છે....બાળકો પણ રમતાં હોય છે સંપથી...કદી લડતાં નથી....

TRENDING

Loktantra Bachao Abhiyan raises concerns over Jharkhand Adivasis' plight in Assam, BJP policies

By Our Representative  The Loktantra Bachao Abhiyan (Save Democracy Campaign) has issued a pressing call to protect Adivasi rights in Jharkhand, highlighting serious concerns over the treatment of Jharkhandi Adivasis in Assam. During a press conference in Ranchi on November 9, representatives from Assam, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh criticized the current approach of BJP-led governments in these states, arguing it has exacerbated Adivasi struggles for rights, land, and cultural preservation.

Promoting love or instilling hate and fear: Why is RSS seeking a meeting with Rahul Gandhi?

By Ram Puniyani*  India's anti-colonial struggle was marked by a diverse range of social movements, one of the most significant being Hindu-Muslim unity and the emergence of a unified Indian identity among people of all religions. The nationalist, anti-colonial movement championed this unity, best embodied by Mahatma Gandhi, who ultimately gave his life for this cause. Gandhi once wrote, “The union that we want is not a patched-up thing but a union of hearts... Swaraj (self-rule) for India must be an impossible dream without an indissoluble union between the Hindus and Muslims of India. It must not be a mere truce... It must be a partnership between equals, each respecting the religion of the other.”

A Marxist intellectual who dwelt into complex areas of the Indian socio-political landscape

By Harsh Thakor*  Professor Manoranjan Mohanty has been a dedicated advocate for human rights over five decades. His work as a scholar and activist has supported revolutionary democratic movements, navigating complex areas of the Indian socio-political landscape. His balanced, non-partisan approach to human rights and social justice has made his books essential resources for advocates of democracy.

Right-arm fast bowler who helped West Indies shape arguably greatest Test team in cricket history

By Harsh Thakor*  Malcolm Marshall redefined what it meant to be a right-arm fast bowler, challenging the traditional laws of biomechanics with his unique skill. As we remember his 25th death anniversary on November 4th, we reflect on the legacy he left behind after his untimely death from colon cancer. For a significant part of his career, Marshall was considered one of the fastest and most formidable bowlers in the world, helping to shape the West Indies into arguably the greatest Test team in cricket history.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah  The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Will Left victory in Sri Lanka deliver economic sovereignty plan, go beyond 'tired' IMF agenda?

By Atul Chandra, Vijay Prashad*  On September 22, 2024, the Sri Lankan election authority announced that Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National People’s Power (NPP) alliance won the presidential election. Dissanayake, who has been the leader of the left-wing JVP since 2014, defeated 37 other candidates, including the incumbent president Ranil Wickremesinghe of the United National Party (UNP) and his closest challenger Sajith Premadasa of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya. 

Unlike other revolutionaries, Hindutva icon wrote 5 mercy petitions to British masters

By Shamsul Islam*  The Hindutva icon VD Savarkar of the RSS-BJP rulers of India submitted not one, two,or three but five mercy petitions to the British masters! Savarkarites argue: “There are no evidences to prove that Savarkar collaborated with the British for his release from jail. In fact, his appeal for release was a ruse. He was well aware of the political developments outside and wanted to be part of it. So he kept requesting for his release. But the British authorities did not trust him a bit” (YD Phadke, ‘A complex Hero’, "The Indian Expres"s, August 31, 2004)

Outreach programme in medical education: Band-aids for compound fractures

By Amitav Banerjee, MD*  Recently, the National Medical Commission (NMC) of India, introduced two curricular changes in medical education, both at the undergraduate and the postgraduate levels, ostensibly to offer opportunities for quality medical education and to improve health care accessibility among the underserved rural and urban population.

Will Bangladesh go Egypt way, where military ruler is in power for a decade?

By Vijay Prashad*  The day after former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left Dhaka, I was on the phone with a friend who had spent some time on the streets that day. He told me about the atmosphere in Dhaka, how people with little previous political experience had joined in the large protests alongside the students—who seemed to be leading the agitation. I asked him about the political infrastructure of the students and about their political orientation. He said that the protests seemed well-organized and that the students had escalated their demands from an end to certain quotas for government jobs to an end to the government of Sheikh Hasina. Even hours before she left the country, it did not seem that this would be the outcome.