The promise of formality, dignity, and efficiency offered by on-demand apps for domestic workers mask the fact that they only reorganise old labour circuits and exacerbate its inequalities and exploitation

Armed with nothing more than government issue caps to protect them in record heatwave conditions, frontline health workers in Mumbai are struggling with the additional load of Census work

Self help groups in Chamba forged an FPO and found ways to rejuvenate dying mountain springs, diversify farming practices and explore alternate sources of livelihood

Women form the backbone of Indian agriculture, yet remain unrecognised as farmers. Without land titles, they are excluded from vital schemes and support, exposing a deep gap between policy and reality

The KMUT scheme reaches 1.31 crore women with a monthly cash transfer as a partial recompense for unpaid carework. How does it transform their lives?

In Bhimavaram, a massive hub for shrimp exports, the continuing uncertainty over US trade tariffs has left a devastating impact on the lives of women workers

‘Capital expenditure’, ‘development’, ‘welfare delivery’ but not ‘care work’ or ‘domestic workers’. Care remains a hidden infrastructure in the Budget, receiving platitudes and not long-term reforms, experts say

Chikankaari has provided income to millions of women, but it systematically avoids changing the things that actually constitute empowerment: control over production and bargaining power

Social work in India is commonly associated with altruism, moral duty and ‘social upliftment’ but it often masks the unequal power structures within which it is practised.

The imperilled Act made it easier for ordinary people to make claims on the State, to negotiate with local power structures, form friendships and networks on worksites

In colonial data factories, the knowledge of women and young people is being systematically devalued and aspirations never allowed to scale

Gig workers are compelled to take on tasks even during severe pollution episodes, without hazard pay, adjusted shifts or protection gear

She dreamt of becoming a nurse, but it would take decades for Mini to realise a version of her childhood dream – when she became an […]

The dismantling of the rural livelihood scheme will impact legal guarantee of employment, fair wages and accessible work – all critical for women’s rights

Dipa Sinha, an economist, explains the perils of centralisation and funding constraints under the new VB-GRAMG Bill

Lack of clarity and delayed wages has plagued the state’s community healthcare worker programme for over a year now. Workers are leading a fragmented fight in demanding better wages and regularisation into NHM

Women make up for a significant portion of the workforce in India’s four key US export sectors. From long-term wage cuts to increased debt burden, they will be most affected by the 50% tariffs

The few voices that spoke of the flight of threatened Bengali-speaking workers out of cities mostly complained of the inconvenience it caused. No one rallied for us, say workers

Mumbai’s historic red light district sits in a premium locality and the sex workers who live and work here have no documents to establish ownership of property

A deep dive into government hostel schemes reveals a drop in numbers, falling funds, and missed opportunities to support women migrants

Hawking flowers at almost every street corner, women are the most visible faces of the flower business in Tamil Nadu. But they occupy the last and least profitable rung of the trade even as they battle precarity, heat, exhaustion and eviction

Last month, BluSmart, an all-electric ride hailing service abruptly halted its operations. The company was a unique opportunity for its women drivers but lack of labour rights have left them in a lurch

As beneficiaries become data points on the dashboard, Anganwadi workers in Tamil Nadu grapple with an overload of digital labor, being data collectors building a state’s health repository, and being subjects of surveillance

In Tamil Nadu, migrant working women struggle to find safe and affordable accommodation in cities. The state-run Thozhi hostel chain offers an alternative but there just are not enough of them

What does Urban Company’s ‘Insta Help’ service mean for India’s unique domestic labour market? We spoke to scholar Sai Amulya Komarraju for answers

Migrant female construction workers in Ahmedabad face immense challenges accessing maternity benefits and healthcare due to lack of documentation, poor living conditions, and exploitation by contractors

Our weekly newsletter BehanVox brings you our top stories, gender news from the world, and our team’s reading recommendations. Hello, and welcome back to BehanVox. We […]

Last month, the government released a factsheet of the key findings from the Time Use Survey conducted in 2024. The survey, with crucial data on how women spend their days is also sensitive to errors

Since 1959, multiple bills have been introduced to provide legal protection for domestic workers, but all of them have failed. Lack of political will and conflict of interest erode the rights of the most marginalised women in India

From containing viral outbreaks to collecting data for its various projects, ASHA workers are a critical part of Kerala’s lauded public health system. But the state does not value their work enough, say the health workers now on strike

For five years now, Arya Pujari, a trans woman, has been relentlessly pursuing her dream of joining the police. Her struggle ties in with the transgender community’s demand for reservations in government jobs

Despite 30 years of local resistance, the government has pushed through the approvals for India’s largest port. Behind it lie systemic efforts to dismantle special protection given to an eco-fragile area

Improved soil health is one of the key reasons for promoting natural farming. But women who do most of the work on farms, have limited control over land and are unable to invest successfully in it

The manner in which the young garland seller from the NT-DNT community was harassed and ultimately forced to flee the Kumbh Mela shows a disregard for their right to dignity, privacy and a safe workplace

The government’s push for natural farming is rooted in cow-centric policies. But creating a science-based information ecosystem is key to empowering women farmers

Most women interviewed for a study said they had little say in a range of issues from contraception to pre natal care

The recent death of a beauty worker with Urban Company has raised questions about the practices at aggregator platforms – the promise of flexibility and freedom comes bundled with exploitative and coercive work conditions

Four dancers have been booked and 21 have been virtually banned over accusations of ‘obscenity’. Despite court rulings, obscenity laws continue to police women’s bodies

Does the entrenched notion of masculine solidarity in the military create room for misogynistic behaviour? In view of a recent case, we look at how these attitudes impact the effective application of sexual harassment laws

The findings in the latest labour force survey indicate that the rising aspirations of educated rural women are not matched by opportunities in non-agricultural work

A polythene bag clasped over their head is all the protection many domestic workers and women vendors have against heavy coastal monsoons

It took nearly a year for Virginia* and her husband to bring home the four siblings they had asked to adopt. The children were aged between […]

Delhi’s anganwadi workers (AWW) and helpers (AWH), who ended their 38-day strike on March 9, will move court against the state government order terminating the services […]

A sea of red flags rises up along Flagstaff Road in north Delhi’s Civil Lines area, just a few metres from the home of chief minister […]

It is a wintery February morning and a dense fog has descended over Palia, a town 100 km from Lakhimpur town in northern Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur […]

The Mitanins that BehanBox spoke to have either received no or partial payments since January 2020. Worse, in districts where the women received some money, the state has been recovering part of the compensation paid to them.

On May 14, 2021, while encouraging farmers to take up organic farming as he released the 8th instalment of the Pradhan Mantri- Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), […]

Lassu Ben, 38, is an outspoken and resolute woman but even she sometimes hesitates to trade with the men at the local farm market. ‘Bahas mat […]

ASHA workers in Kashmir have been instrumental in countering misinformation and addressing vaccine hesitancy. But chronic delays in honorariums have forced many into debt and financial instability.

As Karnataka begins to ease state-wide restrictions imposed since May 10, 2021 to control the spread of COVID-19 virus, industries have been allowed to function with […]

S. Rathinam (39) had escaped death by a whisker that afternoon.  On February 13, 2021, she, along with hundreds of others, had to run for their […]

On 24 October, 2020, 1300 women garment workers of  Euro Clothing Company– 2 (ECC-2) of a unit of Gokaldas Exports in Srirangapatna, in Mandya district of […]

“I have been rolling beedis since I was fifteen. Our whole community is dependent on the profession. Our employers underpay us, our pension never arrives without […]

“These capitalists will ruin us,” thundered Charanjeet Kaur, a thirty nine year old farmer with a medium landholding of 12 acres (4 hectares) from Wara Bhaika […]

Neeta (name changed), a cane cutter in one of the many sugarcane farms in Beed district of central Maharashtra, was only in her early 30s when […]

On 27 September 2020,  three Farm Bills became law after receiving presidential assent. The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill […]

When ASHAs demanded better pay, protective gear and fixed tenures, Haryana and Delhi filed police cases and Madhya Pradesh threatened dismissal. We chronicle the criminalisation of their dissent.

For over a month now, over 600 women garment workers have been sitting in protest against the illegal layoffs in the factory premises of the  ECC […]

” We are unable to sell Mahul flowers in the market due to the lockdown. Lockdown has taken our  livelihood away”, said Baijanti Kalo of Bamandagarh […]

Our 16-state survey found that in Kerala, women health workers at the frontlines of India’s resistance to Covid-19 feel empowered and respected. Yet, their demands of being treated as a regularised workforce are ignored.

In this three-part series, we look at the crucial work of India’s ASHAs, and their fight for recognition as they face delayed payments, meager wages, and growing workloads during the COVID-19 pandemic.

असम की रहने वालीं 33 साल की मीनारा बेगम चार बच्चों की मां हैं. उनका सबसे छोटा बेटा दो साल का है. वह रोते हुए कहती […]

Without them, it would be impossible to track, test and monitor Covid-19 patients across India’s villages and cities. But over a million women health workers must now work with minimal protection, frequent abuse and attacks.

रात के 9 बज रहे हैं. दिनभर की भाग-दौड़ के बाद अब लक्ष्मी सिंह खाने बैठी ही थीं कि सरपंच ने उन्हें बुला लिया.कई दिनों से […]

The recent industrial fire at an electronic assembly unit of Cofe Impex Pvt Ltd in west Delhi’s Mundka village has exposed the social and economic precarity […]

Leela had been a binding assistant at the Kerala Books and Publications Society, a state-owned textbook publishing house, for 19 years when she was overlooked for […]

After a year-long campaign by a Dalit women’s union in Tamil Nadu, the multinational fast-fashion brand H&M and its Tamil Nadu-based supplier, Eastman Exports Global Clothing […]

With the state indifferent to their demands for better wages and their workload heavier by one more scheme, Anganwadi workers in Maharashtra are protesting again. But their resistance tactics have changed

Rs 4 to feather a dozen shuttlecocks, Rs 35 to stitch a football, Rs 62 to tack together six panels of a rugby ball – that is what home-based women workers are paid to keep the booming sports good industry of the city in business.

Indian beauticians occupy a cultural niche in the beauty salons of Paris. This provides vulnerable migrant women an entry into a labour market that is otherwise inhospitable to them

A single mother of two, this e-rickshaw driver in Tinsukia says life is a daily struggle to balance earnings and expense

The catchy title apart, the Lakhpati Didi initiative has not really been able to increase income generation among beneficiaries

Odisha’s scheme to increase workdays under MGNREGA has run into systemic challenges, resulting in poor uptake, especially of women workers

The only way to fob off matrimony and find independence is to ensure that you land a government job, say young women at a Rohtak campus

Job insecurity, random transfers, non-payment of wages, and lack of benefits are hurting contractual teachers, of whom 55% are women

From women belonging to nomadic tribes to cane-cutters, small social and workers’ groups are presenting their charter of demands to politicians and parties contesting the ongoing elections

When politicians promise to pay for care work they are putting a value on unpaid labour but they also end up reinforcing social norms about ‘women’s work’

In 15 of the 86 constituencies where the general elections will be held tomorrow, more than 30% of voters are impacted by the Forest Rights Act. We look at how the loss of forests impacts the lives and livelihoods of Adivasi women

The taps and pipelines meant to carry water to the homes of hill-dwelling communities of the state have either not been installed or have no water supply. Women trudge miles and undertake risks to collect water

Whether it is putting off an urgent surgery or making do with 250 gm of fish for her family of four once a month, Lakhya Hira Phukon, like most other poorly-paid ASHA workers, has to balance her domestic budget with extreme care

In a London beauty salon run by women from the subcontinent, links between caste, food and odour echo the arguments in the debate in India over a ‘pure vegetarian’ delivery fleet

Our investigation across eight villages showed just one project available under MGNREGS, forcing women to migrate as far as Odisha in search of work

Initiatives to make the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana more effective has not quite worked out the way it should, we find

In Delhi, evictions get you resettlement housing but in areas with little access to job, services or essential facilities. And it is the women who struggle the most with travel and livelihood options

Striking sanitation workers in Delhi’s Burari Hospital have accused private hiring companies of corrupt practices and sexual harassment

Linking economic welfare schemes for women to their family size will further limit women’s participation in work and increase their vulnerabilities, argue experts

The relentless cycle of field and paperwork is affecting their mental health, leaving them prone to errors

Faced with termination and loss of salary, striking Anganwadi workers in the state are living in fear and anxiety

There is state pressure to dissuade frontline health workers from fighting for political office even though they are still hired as ‘honorary volunteers’

India has approximately 5.2 million domestic workers according to government data. However, the National Domestic Workers’ Movement (NDWM) estimates the total number in India from anywhere […]

Anganwadi workers says their role has gone from deliverers of schemes to being data collectors for the government

A unique sports event gives women from poor homes the chance to defy gender norms and find sisterhood in play

Rural women have few work options in the state and poverty does not allow them to study either

On World Toilet Day, here are the stories of two women who struggle to keep sanitation complexes in the slums of Mumbai clean and safe

After a 73-day protest, Haryana’s ASHA workers were able to negotiate for themselves a Rs 2,100 hike in their honorarium. But the union is determined to continue the movement for those working in other states too.

Despite the enervating humidity of the mid-October night in Mumbai, Bhimabai Zunjure, 40, is deftly working a mound of mango leaves into neat bunches. She sits on the bridge leading to the Dadar flower market, and looks up from her work to only sell the leaves which are in high demand for the ongoing Navratri rituals.

The frontline health workers have called for a 24-hour strike outside district offices and homes of political leaders

Culture is a powerful medium to collectivise and empower the working class, says the veteran union leader

Key Highlights Firms with a larger number of total employees had a higher proportion of female workers  For every 1 percent additional workers firms hire, the […]

In January 2021, when Jayasre Kathiravel, a 20-year old employee of a garment factory in Tamil Nadu’s Dindigul district was sexually assaulted and murdered by the […]