Back in 2016, many women in Kerala were
recruited as bus conductors under the state government's Kudumbashree scheme
meant to eradicate poverty.
But
6 months later, the Hindu reports,
most of these women who were trained and hired to be conductors under the
scheme are opting out.
While
government statistics maintain that 26 out of the 90 women originally hired are
still employed, the Hindu quotes
a woman conductor, who quit recently, as
saying that all except one have quit.
The
reason according to the women is discriminatory pay. As one woman conductor explained on condition of anonymity, there was a
huge gap between the wages that the male and female conductors received. While
the men received ₹800
or ₹900 per day, the
most a woman could earn was ₹500
per day despite putting in 12 hours of work.
The Kerala State Private Bus Operators'
Federation did not acknowledge wage discrimination as the reason why women were
quitting their jobs as conductors. A spokesman for the federation cited various
other reasons such as inconvenient hours and the lack of facilities for women
at bus stops.
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