Automation cuts women’s jobs by 80% in Ahmedabad construction industry: Study

By Jag Jivan

Automation in India’s construction industry is deepening gender disparities and eroding livelihoods for thousands of women workers, particularly those from marginalised communities, according to a new study titled Building Futures: Automation and Gender Disparities in Construction – The Case of Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

Conducted by and , and led by researchers and , the study draws on feminist participatory action research between 2023 and 2025 to map how technological change is reshaping labour hierarchies in one of the country’s largest employment sectors.

The report notes that India’s construction industry contributes “nearly 9 per cent to GDP and employs around 68 million workers, including 7.6 million women,” making it the second-largest employer after agriculture.

Yet, “women’s participation in construction has shown a secular decline,” reflecting broader national trends of falling female labour force participation. Women, typically employed as unskilled helpers, remain at the bottom of a rigid hierarchy, performing physically demanding and hazardous work that is undervalued and invisible.

Technological adoption — from automated machinery and concrete batching plants to Building Information Modelling (BIM), drones, and precast systems — is accelerating in Ahmedabad and . But instead of expanding opportunities, these innovations have “reduced on-site labour demand and deepened fragmentation by extending contractual chains,” the study finds.

“Formwork, concrete production, use of automated equipment, shift from bricks to AAC blocks, and pre-cast technologies lead to a decline of up to 80 per cent in the use of female low-skilled labour,” the authors observe.

As automation spreads, women’s roles in material handling, plastering, and concrete mixing have been largely displaced. “In one large precast factory, hundreds of single male migrants from and dominated production roles, while only 40 migrant families were present, with women confined to cleaning,” the report documents.

Even as the workforce shifts towards skilled machine operators, “the consistent exclusion of women workers from both skilled trades and emerging technical roles illustrates how technological change perpetuates rather than disrupts gendered divisions of labour.”

The research also highlights how gendered exclusion interacts with migration patterns. Builders increasingly prefer long-distance male migrants from northern and eastern states, marginalising from Gujarat, , and who “have historically sustained the industry.” Women’s employment is further constrained by “,” where couples are recruited together, undermining women’s independent work status, and by a lack of childcare, sanitation, and safety provisions.

While automation has been promoted as a solution to worker shortages, the report argues that “technological change unfolds within a stratified labour market structured by gender, ethnicity, and migration.” The result is “more precarious employment, limited visibility, and reduced access to rights, protections, and grievance mechanisms.”

Yet the study also records agency and resilience among women workers. “Despite these challenges, women are not passive subjects of automation,” it notes. “They display ambivalent responses, ranging from adjustment and informal learning to collective organising.” Many continue to aspire for training and inclusion in skilled roles, reflecting “a complex interplay of structural constraints and agency.”

The report calls for a reimagined policy framework that couples technological progress with gender equity. It urges the state, industry, and civil society to invest in women’s training in new technologies, set inclusion targets in public projects, and ensure social protection and workplace safety.

“A more equitable future of work in construction,” it concludes, “will require not only inclusive training and employment practices but also structural support in the form of care infrastructure, social protection, and recognition of women’s labour, regardless of automation’s pace or reach.”

As India’s construction sector grows increasingly mechanised, Building Futures delivers a stark warning: without deliberate intervention, the risks reinforcing, rather than reducing, gender inequality at the very foundations of the country’s urban development.

Comments

Modi’s Israel visit strengthened Pakistan’s hand in US–Iran truce: Ex-Indian diplomat

By Jag Jivan M. K. Bhadrakumar , a career diplomat with three decades of service in postings across the former Soviet Union, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Germany, and Turkey, has warned that the current truce in the US–Iran war is “fragile and ridden with contradictions.” Writing in his blog India Punchline , Bhadrakumar argues that while Pakistan has emerged as a surprising broker of dialogue, the durability of the ceasefire remains uncertain.

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”

Why Indo-Pak relations have been on 'knife’s edge' , hostilities may remain for long

By Utkarsh Bajpai* The past few decades have seen strides being made in all aspects of life – from sticks and stones to weaponry. The extreme case of this phenomenon has been nuclear weapons. The menace caused by nuclear weapons in the past is unforgettable. Images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from 1945 come to mind, after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities.

Manufacturing, services: India's low-skill, middle-skill labour remains underemployed

By Francis Kuriakose* The Indian economy was in a state of deceleration well before Covid-19 made its impact in early 2020. This can be inferred from the declining trends of four important macroeconomic variables that indicate the health of the economy in the last quarter of 2019.

Food security? Gujarat govt puts more than 5 lakh ration cards in the 'silent' category

By Pankti Jog* A new statistical report uploaded by the Gujarat government on the national food security portal shows that ensuring food security for the marginalized community is still not a priority of the state. The statistical report, uploaded on December 24, highlights many weaknesses in implementing the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in state.

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.

Lata Mangeshkar, a Dalit from Devdasi family, 'refused to sing a song' about Ambedkar

By Pramod Ranjan* An artist is known and respected for her art. But she is equally, or even more so known and respected for her social concerns. An artist's social concerns or in other words, her worldview, give a direction and purpose to her art. History remembers only such artists whose social concerns are deep, reasoned and of durable importance. Lata Mangeshkar (28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was a celebrated playback singer of the Hindi film industry. She was the uncrowned queen of Indian music for over seven decades. Her popularity was unmatched. Her songs were heard and admired not only in India but also in Pakistan, Bangladesh and many other South Asian countries. In this article, we will focus on her social concerns. Lata lived for 92 long years. Music ran in her blood. Her father also belonged to the world of music. Her two sisters, Asha Bhonsle and Usha Mangeshkar, are well-known singers. Lata might have been born in Indore but the blood of a famous Devdasi family...

'Batteries now cheap enough for solar to meet India's 90% demand': Expert quotes Ember study

By A Representative Shankar Sharma, Power & Climate Policy Analyst, has urged India’s top policymakers to reconsider the financial and ecological implications of the country’s energy transition strategy in light of recent global developments. In a letter dated April 10, 2026, addressed to the Union Ministers of Finance, Power, New & Renewable Energy, Environment, Forest & Climate Change, and the Vice Chair of NITI Aayog, with a copy to the Prime Minister, Sharma highlighted concerns over India’s ambitious plans for coal gasification and the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR).

Health Day ads spark row as NAPi targets Britannia campaign, criticizes celebrity endorsement

By A Representative The advocacy group Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest (NAPi) has raised concerns over what it describes as misleading advertising of ultra-processed food products (UPFs), particularly those high in sugar, fat and salt, calling for stricter regulations and an end to such promotions across media platforms.

Search This Blog