3.3. Female Child Labour

Girls continue to provide free labour in home-based production system. Studies on rural girl child labour show that she works nine hours a day providing goods and services, which keep her out of school. She works on an average 318 days a year in the fields and at home providing free labour.

More girls are being inducted into work while more boys are sent to school thus widening the gap between boy’s and girl’s opportunities. They are employed in agricultural and related industries in large numbers. Girls are also employed in large numbers in carpet industry of Kashmir, in lock making in Aligarh, in gem polishing in Jaipur, in match industry in Sivakasi and in bidi rolling. In fact, in the match industry of Sivakasi, ninety per cent child workers are girls under the age of fourteen, working under hazardous conditions. Female children working in home based industries are beyond the purview of child labour laws. These laws are not enforced even in factory based industries. Even in piece-rate system, her labour is seen as an extension of her mother’s labour and is not given an independent value. Such work cuts them off from schooling, literacy, learning technical skills and improving their job prospects. These handicaps remain insurmountable throughout the life.