"Women Are 70% Of Workers In Tamil Nadu's Fireworks Factories, But Are Paid Half Men's Wages", 5 April 2021

Tamil Nadu has one of the highest female labour force participation rates (30%), higher than the national average (19%). Yet, women workers who make for 75% of the workforce in industries such as fireworks, automobile and garments work under extremely exploitative conditions, with no safety nets, social security or labour rights.

Today, Sivakasi's 1,070 medium and small-scale units account for nearly 90% of the country's firecracker production. The industry directly employs 300,000 workers and through allied sectors, another 500,000.

After stringent laws were passed to curb its infamous use of child labour... Women now constitute 74% of the total workforce employed in the safety matches industry in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, according to the 2014-15 labour ministry report. Tamil Nadu alone contributes about 75% of the country's total safety matches output.

Women workers in Sivakasi's fireworks industry are typically paid half the daily wages men get: A woman worker earns around Rs 300 as daily wage, very rarely Rs 500, but the men in her family--entire families are often engaged in this work--earn Rs 600-Rs 800, we found.

...Workers in these units, 75% of whom are women--as we were told by multiple employees at OEMs--are recruited by third-party agencies that pay them salaries and are responsible for ensuring other benefits to contract employees working in these hubs...

Increasing contractualisation of India's labour force is leading to a decline in wages, benefits and work conditions, and reduced accountability for companies even as they increase their profit...