Global value chains (GVCs) provide significant female employment opportunities. However, women predominantly work in lower tiers of GVCs and face highly unequal and exploitative conditions. They are concentrated in informal, casual jobs with no benefits and face occupational segregation, gender-based discrimination, and lack of career progression. Addressing these challenges through ensuring equal access to skills, resources, technology, and promoting women's empowerment and representation can help maximize the benefits of GVC participation for women.

1. GLOBAL VALUE CHAIN AND ITS IMPACT ON
GENDER
Caroline C. Neriamparampil

2. GLOBAL VALUE CHAIN; INDIAN SCENARIO
 In India, the GVC participation reached its pinnacle in
2008 (41.6%) and started decreasing since 2015.
 Considering the recent developments, it is beneficial for
an emerging economy like India to focus on improving the
participation and deepening the reforms as it supports inparticipation and deepening the reforms as it supports in
poverty reduction and employment growth. World
Development Report 2020 provides evidences for this.
 Ultimately increased GVC participation may help India to
stabilize economy.
 In a pandemic recovery context, steps are needed to attain
a balance between localization and globalization.

3. THE PROBLEM: GENDER AND GLOBAL VALUE
CHAIN(GVC)
 Unlike the traditional firms, the GVC firms offers more
female employment. But highly invisible too.
 Female employment in GVC helps in women empowerment
and poverty reduction
 In GVC women engaged in every tier and sectors.
 Suggests that out of the female employment in GVC, 42 % is Suggests that out of the female employment in GVC, 42 % is
held by women.
 Women’s participation in GVC provides them greater
control over economic resources and thereby increases their
capability and potential for economic,political and social
empowerment.
 GVC employment is highly gendered and 42% of total
employment is occupied by women as reported by (World
Economic Forum, 2018)

4. THE GENDER FACE OF GVC EMPLOYMENT
 In Global Value Chain, women participates largely through
subcontracting and concentrated in labour intensive lower tiers of
value chain, predominantly services.
 More engaged in indirect channels and in services.(Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development, n.d.)
 Like in many other countries, the female participation in GVC in India
are more concentrated in menial casual jobs than women as the
managers, administrators or owners.
 Home Based Workers comprises of major share of female
employment National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) reports
about 37.4 million home based workers in India in2011-2012. As
reported by(Chen and Sinha,2016) they comprises of 14% urban
employment and 31.7 % of women in informal employment in India.
 In garment industry alone 5 million home based workers (UN
Women, 2018)

5. GENDER AND GLOBAL VALUE CHAIN; THE
INEQUALITY LENS
 Placed in the lowest levels, the female workers are connected with
the factories, contractors, subcontractors , workshops across the
globe in highly unfair terms and experiences higher levels of
inequality . Women are considered as soft natured. This adds to
the exploitation dimension.
 In India, the female labour contribution has been traditionally In India, the female labour contribution has been traditionally
restricted by gender norms and the existing discriminative nature of
socio-cultural norms and regulations specific to women put them in
higher disadvantages while participating in GVC . Limited or non
access to assets, finance, education, skills, experience, social capital,
networks and the burden of household responsibility solely levied
on women attracts more difficulties in GVC participation
 Labour inequality in GVC adds to the inequality in labour and
economic activities among women, already existed in India

6. GENDER AND GLOBAL VALUE CHAIN; THE
INEQUALITY LENS CONT…
 Firms mostly outsource production activities to them with
fluctuating demands, hoping to reduce non-wage cost of production
and to benefit from the specialized skills which is not possible to
mechanize. Absorbing this valuable labour, firms get benefit in
multiple ways. But in return these women labourers are denied
basic human rights. Women take up jobs in GVC because of gender
norms andconstraints limiting their mobility, household
responibilities and limited potential to takeup non GVC jobs.responibilities and limited potential to takeup non GVC jobs.
 Complex relationship with supervisors/ contractors/ employees.
Very rarely they have a fixed employee. Mostly working on irregular
contracts.
 GVC firms makes the best use of the female specific skills such as
tailoring and weaving. But their contribution are not recognized.
Work arrangements are majorly informal and insecure. This result
in large discrimination in pay and work conditions among women.

7. GENDER AND GLOBAL VALUE CHAIN; THE
INEQUALITY LENS CONT….
 Gender specific constraints also comprises of occupational
segregation (mostly limiting them to lower tiers), involvement in
perilous jobs than men, informal work arrangements, poor access to
social security provisions including maternity and child care benefits,
yet burdened with long working hours and shouldering significant
responsibilities, poor and limited opportunities for skill development,
training, education, financial inclusion and constrained access to
technology. They are not provided career enhancement opportunitiestechnology. They are not provided career enhancement opportunities
as they are in the lower ladder. Above all they undergo discrimination,
exploitation and violence on the basis of their gender.
 A study conducted by (UN Women, 2018) in India identified the
challenges of women participating in value chain which includes non-
written contracts, average earning lower than national minimal wage,
irregulalr payments and working conditions, delayed payments,
precarious and vulnerable jobs, consecutive changes in work
requirements, alteration in payments, and terms.
 Women labourers are at the risk of facing challenges of automation

8. ADDITIONAL CHALLENGES AS ENTERPRENEURS
 Women as entrepreneurs in GVC face
additional challenges such as the
constraints in property ownership, land
ownership, accessing financial resources
and credit, availing procurement and
contract with government as well ascontract with government as well as
multinational companies, managing
inefficiency in bureaucracy and corruption
and meeting rigid quality standards.

9. SNAPSHOT OF GENDER BASED CONSTRAINTS IN
GVC

10. SOLUTIONS OVERVIEW

11. SOLUTIONS
 Treat men and women labourers equally
 Facilitate women’s better access to technical, economic and social resources
 Ensure equal access to women for skill development, leadership
development, equal pay and career progression, social security care , access
to varied economic resources including property, financial resources and
the prevention of rigid social norms can attract more women in the higher
to varied economic resources including property, financial resources and
the prevention of rigid social norms can attract more women in the higher
ladder of GVC including their role as entrepreneurs. It also make the labour
availability sustainable
 Give special focus to women’s access to modern technology so as to prepare
them for future automation
 Increasing the participation of more and varied firms in the value chain
should be considered as a priority of Government. Advocacy initiatives for
this needs to be carried out.

12. SOLOUTIONS CONT……
 Implementation of policies specially beneficial to groom women as
entrepreneurs
 Promoting initiatives to support equitable and decent work conditions
 Carry out preparations for cultural and behaviour change at household
and community level to remove rigid social norms
 Promote representation of women through various forums. Carry
focused efforts to organizing women in GVC to make them capable of thefocused efforts to organizing women in GVC to make them capable of the
challenges they face.
 Linking labour rights and social protection is also necessary
 Prioritize collective action and global partnership
 While developing strategies, placing the systems so that the firms gives
priority to carry out consultation and collaboration for business
development. The private players and contractors needs to acknowledge
the valuable and specific contribution of women. Their economic and
social empowerment also benefits the company through increased
performance in profitability, innovation and market growth

13. CHALLENGES
 lack of reliable and systematic data
 Cultural background
 Political will and environment
Economic resources as an emerging economy Economic resources as an emerging economy

14. REFERENCES
 Chen Martha A and Sinha Shalini.(2016). Home Based Workers and
Cities, Environment and Urbanization 28(2)
https://doi.org/10.1177/0956247816649865
 Organization for Economic Cooperation an Development (n.d.), women
in Global Value Chains , https://www.oecd.org/sdd/its/Women-in-
GVCs.pdf
 World Economic Forum.(2018). Global Value Chain Policy Series
Gender,Gender,
http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_51129_WP_Global_Value_Ch
ain_Policy_Series_Gender_report_2018.pdf
 UN Women. (2018). Homework, Gender and Inequality in Global
Supply Chains , https://hnsa.org.in/sites/default/files/Homework-
Gender-%20and%20Inequality%20in%20Global%20Supply%20Chains-
Discussion%20Paper-Final-WEB.pdf
 World Bank (2020). World Development Report 2020, Trading for
Development in the Age of Global Value Chains
https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2020