SPATIAL SEGMENTATION WITHIN METROPOLITAN LABOUR MARKET: MAPPING THE GENDER DIMENSIO

Year 2017, Volume: 2 Issue: 2, 4 - 17, 01.04.2017

Tanıa Debnath

Abstract

Spatial segmentation of the labour market of informal workers within the metropolitan is observed globally. In India it is not only compartmentalised on gender, caste, ethnic lines but also geographically segmented by the creation of spatially disjoined markets. The differential impact of this limited mobility on female and male labour remains largely unexplored. The present paper argues that the labour market for informal workers is segmented into smaller labour markets separated by commuting home-work distance. Whereas all the workers are spatially entrapped, women are in a more disadvantaged position because their choice of employment is also limited by gender division of labour. Hence, the present paper has two objectives. The first is to map spatially fragmented labour market of smaller scale within a big metropolitan market. Secondly to highlight the double disadvantage women face due to spatial along with gender constraints. This paper will also try to understand the underlying causes very briefly. The present paper is based on case study of labour market in Kolkata, the third largest metropolitan city in India. The labour market of Kolkata is dominated by informality of work which is segmented on the social, ethnic and gender line. This paper uses mixed methods based on data collected from field survey of 1000 households located in 4 different low income localities. The quantitative focus is on the variable like employment pattern, workers characteristics and human capital, commuting pattern travel-to-work distance taken from the survey. The qualitative part is focused on the perspective of selected worker to understand underlying causes. This paper will try to analyse the land use to understand how local availability affects market choice. The land use map used in this study is based on NATMO 1998 and Google Earth high resolution Map. In the study it is seen that the average commuting distance travel-to-work distance of workers are much shorter than the metropolitan-wide scale. This is true for all the locations surveyed. Often the employment field around these 4 localities residential areas are non-overlapping. It is indicating towards the fact that the workers in the informal employment are spatially constrained. It creates small, segmented highly localised markets within the metropolitan city. Even within these micro-scale markets, women’s spatial access is more constrained compared to men’s. Men’s choice is primarily influenced by the availability of jobs indicated by surrounding dominant land use pattern in the surrounding areas of their residential area. Moreover, a section of men casual wage workers have wide spatial access too. Women’s choice is highly influenced by gender division of labour. It is seen that women from all the locations are concentrated in female dominated jobs such as domestic help and they work closer to home. This is indicating their double disadvantage where their choice is extremely limited. From the worker’s response it is seen that this spatial segmentation is caused by the low wage rate that prevails all over the city and higher commuting costs further lowering the real wage. Another important reason is spatially restricted social capital with limited knowledge about distant locations. In women’s case their social capital is solely limited to the immediate neighbourhood, thus further restricting their spatial knowledge and choice. Besides they have household responsibilities and safety concerns. Where men often chose to work near home to increase real wage, women are forced to take the jobs within their accessible space. Therefore, in this situation where both the gender is spatially trapped, women are in doubly disadvantageous position

Keywords

Informal worker, Metropolitan labour market, Gender

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