INDIA TO REFORM LAWS ON WORKING WOMEN

By Jo Johnson And Ray Marcelo, Financial Times, March 31, 2005

Women will soon be allowed to work through the night in Indian factories
under a long-awaited labour market reform that will increase the country's
competitiveness and strike a blow for gender equality in the sub-continent.

The government will bring an amendment before the next session of
parliament that overhauls the 1948 Factories Act. The proposed changes
will allow state governments to permit companies with more than 10
employees to deploy women in night shifts between 10pm and 6am.

The apparel and information technology sectors, which employ large numbers
of young women as seamstresses and call centre operators, would be the
principal beneficiaries of the new law.

"It's a great recognition of our needs and will make us more competitive
vis-a`-vis China in the long run," said John Chiramel, chief executive of
Intimate Fashions, a lingerie manufacturer in Chennai that supplies bras
to Victoria's Secret, the US brand.

He said: "Adding a night shift would increase our capacity by 50 per cent,
so it makes tremendous sense. We will now study whether it is feasible, in
terms of getting permission from families, spouses and the girls
themselves."

Ranjana Kumari, director of the Delhi-based Centre for Social Research, a
non-governmental organisation for the empowerment of women, said she was
pleased that the right to work had been protected but was concerned by the
lack of detail on proposed safeguards.

Ms Kumari said: "This legislation is employer-driven, as women account for
the majority of cheap labour available, and motivated by the ideology of
making labour markets ever more flexible."

She added: "In an environment where women are denied maternity and
childcare protection, and where rape is becoming ever more common on
journeys to and from work, such a law will give a blanket to employers to
exploit women labour if safeguards are not properly monitored."

K. Chandrasekhar Rao, labour minister, said comp-anies would be obliged to
offer door-to-door transport for female employees, a key concern for many
women's groups.

Dilip Chenoy, director-general of the Society of Indian Automotive
Manufacturers, said: "This is very significant because it shows the
government has an open mind about changing labour laws to enable industry
to improve productivity."