Working Conditions and Economic Vulnerability of Female Handloom Workers in India: A Descriptive-Analytical Study Based on Secondary Data

Abstract

Handlooms constitute one of India's oldest and most widely dispersed sources of non-farm rural livelihood, and women form the overwhelming majority of the workforce engaged in this sector. According to the Fourth All India Handloom Census (2019–2020), women accounted for 72.29 per cent of the country's 35.22 lakh handloom workers, yet their contribution remains poorly remunerated, largely informal, and analytically under-examined as a distinct category. This paper synthesises government census data, official scheme documents, and peer-reviewed empirical studies to examine the working conditions, income levels, occupational health status, and social position of female handloom workers in India. The review shows that a majority of female weaver households earn below the statutory minimum wage, that women disproportionately combine part-time weaving with unpaid domestic and caregiving responsibilities, and that musculoskeletal disorders, poor access to credit, and dependence on middlemen further compound their economic precarity. Government interventions such as the National Handloom Development Programme, the Handloom Weavers' Comprehensive Welfare Scheme, and the e-Shram portal have improved coverage of insurance and identity documentation, yet gaps persist in wage protection, occupational safety regulation, and gender-disaggregated data collection. The paper concludes that female handloom workers occupy a position of layered vulnerability arising from the intersection of informal employment, patriarchal household structures, and market dependence, and recommends targeted wage floors, health surveillance, credit access, and systematic gender-disaggregated monitoring to secure sustainable livelihoods in the sector.