Hurdles aplenty for women construction workers in Tiruchi

The city’s booming real estate business ignores the basic needs of its women labourers

As the city’s real estate sector returns to normality after the COVID-19 lockdown, women construction workers, drawn from rural areas near Tiruchi, continue to suffer without basic amenities such as toilets and regulated transport, activists have said.

Tiruchi’s building projects are estimated to employ at least 10,000 women from the surrounding villages as daily wage earners, with experienced workers earning ₹500 per day.

“Despite this huge numbers, they have few guarantees in terms of employment or safety. Every (male) mason has a team of up to four women assistants who mix the concrete, carry the bricks, sand and stones. Though their day begins very early, they are often forced to relieve themselves in the open or in badly-maintained unisex facilities. Several women limit their fluid intake and choose to use the toilet only after they return home, which can affect their health in the long run. The lack of privacy makes it very difficult for women to manage their menstrual hygiene, as a result of which many of them abstain from working,” V. K. Rajendran, district president, Construction Workers Welfare Union affiliated to Communist Party of India (Marxist), told The Hindu.

A recent study by Bharathidasan University’s Department of Women’s studies supported by Indian Institute of Human Settlements recommended that the Tiruchi Corporation should make women-friendly public toilets mandatory on construction sites.

Female workers travel to Tiruchi daily from Thuvarankurichi, Manapparai, Marungapuri, Viralimalai, Iluppur, Thuraiyur and Musiri among other places to assemble at various points in the city, where they are picked up for piecemeal contracts by manpower agents. “I get up at 4 a.m. and catch a bus or hitch a ride on a truck to Tiruchi. If I do not get a job by 9 a.m., I just return home,” said Sarasu, who travels from Kodumbalur village and waits for jobs at the Mannarpuram underpass. “There are some 20 women from my locality who work in the construction sector all over Tiruchi, up to suburbs like Thuvakudi. During the day, we look out for public toilets; otherwise we use any available ground nearby,” she said.

Work ends for the women by 5.30 p.m., but due to a shortage of buses to their villages, many of them can be seen trying to get a lift from passing vehicles on the highways.

“The personal security of women is at risk when they hitch rides from unknown persons. Female labourers do not speak up when they are molested for fear of losing their livelihood. Facilities such as public toilets and transport can be provided only by the government,” said Mr. Rajendran.