Abstract

The Silk saree industry is one of the most female-dominated industries in the world, with more than eighty percent of the workforce being female and the second most direct and indirect employment generator after agriculture in India. Nevertheless, nowadays, as we know, the decrease in female workers in the global textile industry has positive and negative effects. The positive side is that women have become more empowered through improved economic conditions, the provision of formal employment, and the acquisition of digital skills through the Indian government schemes, Skills India and Digital India. Skills India is a government initiative to provide youth skill development and vocational training, and Digital India is a program to transform India into a digitally empowered society. These initiatives have significantly empowered women weavers by providing them with the necessary skills and formal employment opportunities. The negative side is that women face several problems. However, the increase in the number of female textile workers has exposed them to incidents of gender-based violence, harassment, overwork, poor working conditions, and underpayment. The paper will discuss the negative and positive points of working women in the Varanasi silk saree industry and women’s social and economic lives. For the study, 100 sample sizes were taken through purposive sampling, and an interview schedule was used to collect data. The paper finds that most women weavers face multiple layers of intermediate, unequal pay, and discrimination in the Varanasi saree industry. Women workers state that they were not recognized as workers and faced low wage problems and poor working and living conditions. The government’s role in ensuring recognition and support for these women as workers is not just essential

• 1.   Tiwari, D. (2017). The living condition of weaver: a case study of Varanasi, India International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology, Volume:4, Issue:12
• 2.   Singh, Amrita., & D. Naik, Shailaja. (2009). Status of Banaras weavers: a Profile, Karnataka Journal Agriculture Science 22 (2): (408-411).
• 3.   Saboor, N. (2020). ‘Not a Single Piece Sold in Past 5 Months’: Weavers of Varanasi. The Quint, 19 September 2020. Weavers of Varanasi Are Barely Making Ends Meet Amid the Pandemic (thequint.com)
• 4.   Bbismillah, A. (2008). Jhini-Jhini Bini Chadariya. Rajkamal Prakashan.
• 5.   Waheed, K.A. (2006). Muslim artisans, artisans, and traders: issues in entrepreneurship.
• 6.   Rai, S.K. (2004). Halaat-I-Zindagi or Ways of Being: The World of Weavers in Eastern Uttar Pradesh in the Nineteenth Century. UP Historical Review, 140–63.
• 7.   Singh, S.N., Singh, S.K., Pandey, V.C., & Giri, A. K. (2011). Fading Colours of a Glorious Past: A Discourse on the Socio-economic dimensions of marginalized Banarasi sari weaving community. Socioeconomic voices, 1-13
• 8.   Bose, T.K. (2008). Globalization Pushes Varanasi Weavers to Hunger & Death. Chaturdisha
• 9.   Raman, V. (2019). The World of the Banaras Weaver: A Culture in Crisis. Routledge India.
• 10.   Khakhlari, Parmita. (2018). A Study of women workforce in a weaving village of Assam, International Journal of Advanced Research, Volume: 6(6): (510-514)
• 11.   Faisal, Sana. (2016). The Decline of Varanasi Silk Handloom Cottage Industry: A Case Study of Brocade Weaving Community in Varanasi, Chitrolekha International Magazine on Art and Design (ISSN 2231-4822), Vol. 6, No. 2, 2016.
• 12.   Kumar, Rai, Santosh. (2021), Weaving Hierarchies: Handloom Weavers in Early Twentieth Century United Provinces (Delhi: Primus, 2021), xx + 515 pp., `1,595, ISBN:9789390737758 (Hardback)

Funding