Survival and Struggles of female casual labourers in Gujarat

The present study is on female workers in Casual Labour Markets (CLMB). We have covered 31 CLMB in six districts of South and parts of Gujarat State. The study revolves round two major domains or activity spheres of females, namely (1) domestic; and (ii) workplace outside home. The study explores socio-economic and cultural relations of female casual labourers, and their perceptions or world view.

We are thankful to the Ministry of Human Resource Development, New Delhi, for financial support. We are indeed grateful to Shri P.N. Jha, Joint Director, for his constant inspiration. But for his patience and kindness, we could not have completed this report in a present elaborate format.

We are indebted to our colleagues in faculty and administration for their unstinted cooperation, and to Bhavsar, Dayanandan and Murali for their excellent computer aided output. Our thanks are also due to our team of field investigators and coders/tabulators who worked strenuously at the field and in office.

We have a word of gratitude to our female respondents and their family members; and other cross-section of society who gave us warm reception and spared their valuable time in this assignment.

Lastly, we owe it to our readers who may come across many errors of judgement or interpretations in this study report. We feel confident that their criticism and comments will enable us to relook into our position.