Gender, Technology, and Work

This article explores the problems faced by women workers and supervisors in the food processing industry in Manipur. Women employees not only play a subservient role, they are also accorded a status inferior to their male counterparts. Their subjugation can be attributed to their lack of educational qualifications, technical training, and physical capacity. Women are mostly assigned to unskilled and manual tasks, while men are given skilled and technical roles. We studied eight industries as an empirical case and supplemented our research with in-depth interviews and personal communication with workers and supervisors. We found that women are excluded from the mainstream work in the units, thereby denying them an equal status. It is in part fair because all the heavy machineries are manned by men, and also because most women employees do not possess the requisite educational qualifications and technical training.