WOMEN IN THE SEAFOOD PROCESSING SECTOR IN THE POST GLOBALIZATION
SCENARIO- AN ANALYSIS
Nikita Gopal*, Senior Scientist
Geethalakshmi, V., Senior Scientist
Unnithan, G. R., Principal Scientist
Murthy, L.N., Scientist
Jeyanthi, P., Scientist
Central Institute of Fisheries Technology
Matsyapuri P.O., Cochin – 682 029, Kerala, India
Tel: +91-484-2666845
Fax:+91-484-2668212
Corresponding author email id: nikiajith@gmail.com
ABSTRACT: Women have always dominated the floor level in the seafood processing
industry in India. With increasing consumer awareness on the quality of food, the demands of
the importing countries for safe and good quality products also increased and this has led to
considerable improvement in the overall working environment, especially in the EU approved
processing units. However the trend of casualization of the workforce remains and more and
more women workers come in the ‘contract’ or ‘temporary’ category. This deprives the
women form many social security benefits and no job security. Despite advancement in the
industry as a whole, women continue to remain in low end jobs, have only limited role in
decision making process and have very little scope for career advancement. This paper
presents the status of women in the sector as well as discusses issues like casualization and
migrating.
Introduction
Trade liberalization as an effect of globalization process has been taking place since
the early 1990s in India. Liberalization leads to changes in production patterns and exporting
countries use those factors of production which have a competitive advantage. Globalization
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has triggered competitiveness, enlarged the consumer base, and brought about product and
market diversification. It has helped in the evolution of new marketing strategies and aided in
the development of quality based management techniques. The Indian seafood industry has
been almost entirely export oriented right from its inception in the early 1950s. It has risen
from very rudimentary freezing and packing in its early stages to the present high technology
level of producing products like IQF, breaded and battered products and imitation or
analogue products. The industry supplied 0.61 million metric tonnes (mt) of seafood in 200607 to over 100 countries, including US, EU, Japan, China and the Middle East. Food safety
requirements of importing countries have become more stringent and consequently the
industry has been forced to upgrade its infrastructure to meet these standards. India today has
399 processing plants, 215 of them EU approved, meeting all international quality standards.
Women dominate the seafood processing sector the world over (http://ec.europa.eu
fisheries/publications/studies/women/summary_en.pdf accessed October 9, 2007; Tomoda,
2000). The manual dexterity required in processing seafood which involves activities like
sorting, grading, peeling, gutting, slicing etc., is the primary reason for this dominance.
However, women have been confined to the lower rungs of the production process. Though
skill is defined as the ability or talent to perform a task well or better than average, the work
done by women technically comes under the ‘unskilled’ or ‘semiskilled’ category as their
employment does not require a formal education or education only upto some basic level.
An estimated 0.15 million women are engaged in the seafood processing sector in
India, mostly at the floor level in the units. The industry has been a major source of
employment for women in the coastal regions of the country and has significantly contributed
to the socio-economic conditions of the poor fisher folk in the country. Besides being
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involved in the actual processing work they are also seen, though in very few numbers, in
supervisory and technical categories, especially in quality control laboratories. They play a
key role in the sector.
This paper attempts to look at the women workforce in the organized processing
sector, discusses the increasing casualization and the issue of labour migration, and the
subsequent gender implications.
The Methodology of the Research Study
This work was carried out as part of a research project of the Central Institute of
Fisheries Technology (CIFT) studying the various parameters that affect the sustainability of
the seafood industry. The specific focus of this particular paper is to assess the status of the
women workforce and the role played by them in the growth of the fish processing sector.
Cross sectional data was collected from 128 randomly selected women working in five EU
approved processing factories in Veraval, Gujarat state. This is one of the major centres
engaged in fish processing and allied activities and is an important state as far as seafood
exports are concerned. The average production capacity of the processing plants was 43.05
mt per day. EU approved units have to meet the most stringent quality standards, including
captive pre-processing. The assumption was that the women workforce in these units would
be better off than in other non-EU units as far as the working environment is concerned.
The methodology of collection of data included personal interviews of the women
workers and collection of information based on a questionnaire prepared to get relevant
details necessary for the study. Other details about the units were collected from the
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management and macro details were collected from secondary sources like published data
from the Marine Products Export Development Authority.
Growth of the seafood processing sector
The seafood processing industry in India is spread all along the maritime states of the
country. The total export has touched 612641 mt valued at Rs. 83640 million (US $ 1853
million) during 2006-07. Gujarat is a major seafood exporting state and the export during
2006-07 from the state was 188166 mt worth Rs. 12650 million (US $ 281 million). The
state’s share in the total exports was 30.71 percent in terms of quantity and 15.12 percent in
terms of value. Twenty two of the total 64 processing units in Gujarat are EU approved.
The workforce
The quantum of work in the seafood industry is directly related to the availability of
raw material and tends to be seasonal (Anon, 2001). In the present study it was observed that
the peak period is from September to April and the lean season from June to August. The preprocessing work includes grading, sorting, distribution, evisceration, cutting, slicing and
cleaning in case of fish, peeling, cleaning and grading in case of shrimp, evisceration,
cleaning and grading in case of cephalopods and cleaning of the processing hall. The
processing work involves grading, slicing in cephalopods, packing in trays and cartons,
loading, freezing, and cold storage.
Distribution of work force by gender
The distribution of work force in the units studied is given in table 1. The data clearly
indicates that the participation of women is mostly confined to the floor level which is
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categorized as unskilled, but there is more drudgery. Their participation in other higher
categories, where there is more responsibility or decision making involved, is negligible. At
the floor level, the male female ratio in the processing sector is 1:1.74, with the ratio being
higher for the contract or temporary category where for every man, two women are
employed. In the regular or permanent category the ratio is 1:1.66. Further 53.13 percent of
the respondents reported that their immediate seniors were male and 46.88 percent reported
having female supervisors. This is also an indication of the gender differentiation as far as
specific jobs are concerned, and more men than women are dominant in the supervisory
categories. At the managerial level the participation of women was just 4 percent. Women are
also seen in the quality control sector mainly as technologists.
Table 1. Distribution of workers by category in processing plants
S.No
Category
Average number of men
Average number of women
workers
workers
Regular
Contract
Regular
Contract
1
Administrative
14
1
1
0
2
Quality control
5
0
2
0
3
Plant level
10
5
0
0
4
Floor level
13
88
21
153
5
Others
8
8
5
0
5
Socio-personal characteristics of the women workers
The women who work in this sector generally belong to the coastal areas of
the country and come from poor socio-economic backgrounds. The average per capita
monthly income of these families is Rs. 1483 (approx. US $ 33). Sustenance of the family
was the main reason cited for their taking up this employment and their share in the family
income was on an average 42.5 percent.
Studies in various other labour intensive export oriented sectors have shown that there
is a distinct preference for young, unmarried women at the floor level (Bhattacharya and
Rehman, 1998; Hisano, 2000). A similar trend was observed in seafood processing industry,
with this study revealing that the average age of women workers was 25 both in the
processing and pre-processing units and 63.28 percent of the respondents were below 25
years of age. The level of education ranged from illiterate to the tenth standard and 64.8
percent of the respondents had attended school upto some level, many of them drop outs .
Out of the total respondents’, 64.1 percent women in the processing units and 57.14
percent in the pre-processing units were single, this despite the fact that almost all the preprocessing workers belonged to the same area. The majority of the workforce was thus
without reproductive responsibilities. Dewan (2000) observes that apart from social reasons
like not returning to work after marriage and the unwillingness of the employer to
accommodate them is a major reason for this, allowing the employers the ‘benefit’ of not
providing maternity benefits or their requirement for leave which comes with it. The average
work experience was 2.6 and 3.8 years respectively for processing and pre-processing
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workers respectively, substantiating the fact that marriage acted as a deterrent for
continuation of the employment.
The working hours were from 9.00 am to 6.00 pm with breaks for lunch and tea in
between. However with work being dependent on the raw material arrival, the working hours
tended to be flexile. The regular or permanent employees had fixed working hours and had
overtime benefits for work beyond this period.
Casualization in the sector
The dependence on large numbers of temporary women labour is one of the ways to
reduce the cost of production and increase export-competitiveness. Increasing casualization
of the workforce in export oriented units as a result of the globalization of trade and increased
global competition has been reported in studies in other developing country in sectors like
garments and textiles, manufacturing etc. (UN, 2004; Jhabvala & Sinha, 2002; Jhabvala,
2007; Weerahewa & Ariyawardana, 2007). They also reveal that the women are generally
low-paid and compliant work force that aids in these sectors becoming highly competitive in
the export market. The supply of this workforce is highly elastic and can be replaced
continuously. This is true for the seafood processing sector as well.
The present study reveals that there is a high degree of casualization in the processing
industry. 88.39 percent of all the women workforce was in the contract or temporary
category. Among the respondents only 7.59 percent of the women interviewed were falling
in the regular or permanent category, with an average experience of eight years. However
experience gained has not contributed to career advancement and they continue to do the
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same work they have been doing all these years. Among the migrants, 90 percent were
contract or temporary workers. The entire local workforce was also observed to be in the
contract or temporary category. Though the dependence on the contract workforce is high,
the responsibility of the industry towards them is only partial as the main responsibility rests
with the contractor or person who recruits them for the job. An important issue here is that of
social security benefits. The responsibility to provide social security benefits like the
Provident Fund and ESI are mandatory on the part of the employer (i.e., the industry) only in
case of the regular employees. It is generally a percentage of the wages as fixed by the
Government from time to time. In the case of contract labour, the industry has no such
responsibility and in the present study it was observed that the contract or temporary
workforce was not enjoying any of these social security benefits. This has been one of the
major effects of the casualization in the sector, besides the absence of job security, which is
still elusive and there is no assurance that the work will remain the next season.
The migrant workforce
Labour migration is the displacement of a person from his/her place of birth or
original area of residence for the purpose of employment. Migrant women labour has been an
integral part of the seafood processing sector. The present study observed that 46.1 percent of
the respondents were migrants. Women from Kerala dominate the migrant labour workforce
in the seafood processing sector (Anon, 2003) and 66.1 percent of the migrant women
workers in processing units in Veraval were from Kerala. There is a shift from some years
ago with the predominance of women workforce from Kerala reducing and 32.2 percent of
workers are now from Tamil Nadu and the rest from other states.
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The local to migrants’ ratio in units in Veraval is 1:3 in the processing. Interestingly
all the workers in the pre-processing sector are locals. 64.41 percent of the migrant woman
workforce is below 25 years of age.
Migration is a serious issue, especially in the unorganized labour sector, as the women
employed in these sectors can be subject to various forms and levels of exploitation. The
generally exploited status of migrant workers in the seafood industry has been an area of
study in many countries, especially Asian countries (Siason et al, 2001; Nayak, 2001;
Khrumanee, 2007). The migrant workers in India are protected under the ‘Inter-State Migrant
Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act in 1979’ (Ministry of
Labour, Govt. of India). The Act applies to any establishment or contractor which/who
employs five or more inter-State workers and ensures the workers’ minimum wages, equality,
health care, proper accommodation, protective clothing, displacement allowance at the time
of recruitment, journey allowance and prevents gender discrimination. A court verdict in
1998, specifically for the women in the seafood processing sector, also ensures them all
benefits under The Minimum Wages Act, 1948, Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition)
Act, 1970, The Factories Act, 1948, The Employees State Insurance Act, 1948, The
Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provision Act, 1996, The Maternity Benefits
Act, 1961, Industrial Employment (Standing Order) Act, 1946 and all other Labour Welfare
Legislation (Anon, 2000).
The recruitment of the migrant workers is usually done by contractors or agents who
have a link with the processing units. According to the Act all contractors must have valid
licenses and must ensure that the women receive the benefits assured under the Act. The
contractors recruit the women after wage negotiations and the ultimate responsibility of the
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worker rests with the contractor and not with the industry. The wage is also generally routed
through the contractor. In the present study, it was observed the women received the
allowances during journey as well as for displacement. However the extent of allowance
actually received by the women could not be ascertained. Since most of the migrant workers
come under the temporary category they received no other social security benefits, though
they were provided a medical check up before the start of the season as it was mandatory for
EU approved units. Accommodation in the form of dormitories, within the factory premises,
housing six persons in a room are provided with minimum facilities like bedding and space
for keeping their personal belongings.
Wages
The average monthly wage received by the women workers at the floor level in the
processing sector is Rs. 2594 (approx. US $ 57), and in the pre-processing sector it was Rs.
2525 (approx. US$ 56). The wages conform to the Minimum Wages prescribed for the
fisheries and seafood industry in Gujarat under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948. However, an
interesting point to note is that the wage is just the minimum that the Act prescribes and not
higher than it. Apparently no gender based wage differential was observed in this sector. One
of the reasons could be that men and women are not engaged in comparable jobs. Women are
engaged in processing activities while men are assigned jobs in other supervisory and higher
categories. Low end jobs for men include loading and unloading, packing, transportation etc.
which are ‘heavy jobs’ that women cannot undertake. Therefore the segregation in the job
seems to be the main reason for the absence of a wage differential.
At the macro level, it is observed that the seafood exports from Gujarat has risen from
Rs. 4993.7 million (approx. US $ 113 million) in 1996 to Rs. 8538.2 million (approx. US $
10
193 million) in 2005, an increase of 7.1 percent per annum. A parallel analysis of the wages
of women in the sector, however, has shown that it has not risen appreciably during the same
period. The percentage increase in wage was around 4.1 percent for the workers in the
processing sector and a meager 1.7 percent in the pre-processing sector. Apparently the
women workforce in the processing sector seem to have benefited, but since the duration of
employment in the sector is low the actual trickle down of benefits has not taken place. When
the wages are related to the price indices we find that the increase in wages has not been
commensurate with the rise in prices, thus their overall socio-economic conditions have not
been appreciably affected by the increase in wages. While the rise in all India Consumer
Price Indices for industrial workers (the seafood processing workers fall under this category)
was 60.48 percent the rise in food index was 44.85 percent (Anon, 2005).
Perceptions of the women workforce towards work related factors
99 percent of the respondents felt that the work environment has improved
significantly with the changes taking place in the export oriented seafood processing units.
The physical working conditions like ventilation, proper flooring and drainage, protective
gear, individual work space etc. are provided by the EU approved units. The improvement in
the working conditions has been a direct result of the quality requirements of the importing
countries that forced the sector to make improvements in the conditions and hence has
positively affected the women making their work environment hygienic and safe.
The provision of health check ups once a year for women at the floor level is
mandatory for EU approved units to be arranged by the employers as per quality assurance
requirements with the provision of a health card to be maintained by the employer. All the
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respondents confirmed the health check up before the start of the season, after which 58.73
percent of the respondents underwent a checkup every month, while for the rest it was once
in two or three months.
Majority of the labour force have poor job satisfaction and continue to work because
of family compulsions as their income is a major source of sustenance for the family. Though
the income the women earn is a significant contributor to the family income, they have no say
in deciding the family expenditure. It was either the father or husband who decided matters in
the family.
Human Resource Development
Another question that affects the productivity of the worker is the human resource
development. It has been observed that there is no gender oriented investment in HRD in the
sector and the women being trained are mostly in the quality control departments of the
processing units where technological changes and demands are higher with increasing stress
by importing countries on the quality assurance of the products. There, however, seems to be
no clear cut policy for ensuring skill development of the women employed in the sector, with
only the mandatory minimum workplace training in EU approved units on basic and
operational hygiene and sanitation being provided to the workers at the floor level. 73 percent
of the women also felt that there was no scope for skill development and they would continue
doing the jobs that they are doing without any change in the method of work, with boredom a
major factor and with no other incentives either, so much so that the overtime pay seemed to
be an incentive to many of them. The women labour force thus continues to occupy the lower
rungs of the sector, involved in work that has fixed work postures, drudgery and low wages.
There is practically no scope for improvement and rising up the ladder as their skill and
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training are not sufficient enough to make that happen. Women at other levels seen in the
quality control laboratories and their work requirements are different from the majority of
women labour force,
The seafood sector in many other countries, like Vietnam, Thailand etc. have
comparable production environment to India, including cheap labour and are already posing a
challenge as serious competitors. The industry has to shift its strategy to bettering its
production processes for value addition and simultaneous upgradation of the skill of its
women through training and opportunities for career advancement. This will improve its
productivity and competitiveness and promote gender equality.
Gender implications
According to the United Nations (2004) the quality of employment and conditions of
work includes regularity of employment, social protection, working time, intensity of work,
possibility of career advancement or skill upgrading.
Laws are already in place to protect the women from exploitation and ensure them
fair wages and social security. A proactive implementation strategy can ensure that these are
actually passed on to the women workforce, including the contract labour. Employment in the
sector per se has not led to any true empowerment of the women or ensured gender equality.
The women have weak bargaining power and cannot counter the forces where producers will
try and depress wages.. A first step would be to change the definition of their job into a
‘skilled activity’. While during the initial years of the industry there was considerable
wastage of raw material, now the activity is very refined and the women are able to extract
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the maximum possible yield from the raw material. With the job becoming a ‘skilled’, the
women will become entitled to additional benefits, including an increase in wages. With
contractual labour being the norm rather than the exception, many benefits under the various
Acts will not be available to the women as a matter of right. Steps to regularize their status of
employment even if it is a contractual one would be needed to ensure that they are also
entitled to all the benefits. Proper interventions at the Government level, including fine
focusing policy, will be necessary to bring in these changes. Rao (2006) has mentioned the
lack of sex-disaggregated data even on tangible variables for tracking the implementation of
women centric programmes. This lacuna has also to be filled. Regular scientific audit of the
industry is carried out to ensure implementation of mandatory quality requirements guided by
the ever changing requirements of the importing countries. A social audit by the Labour
Officers can also be made mandatory to see that the women get all the benefits that have been
assured to them by Law of the land. Simultaneously, a provision to impart legal literacy along
with the social audit must be ensured so that the women themselves are aware of the rights
they are entitled to.
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to Dr. K. Devadasan, Director, CIFT for permission to publish this
paper. They also gratefully acknowledge the processing units and women workers who
extended their kind cooperation by providing us the base data for this work.
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