Women and work: issues and concerns

Using maternity as a reason to reduce career opportunity can be discrimination. In exams write maternity protection.

A women’s self-help group strengthens members’ collective bargaining power. It can help women negotiate better wages or fair prices by building direct links with buyers, employers and markets. Stopping work may create temporary pressure, but collective bargaining and market information provide a more sustainable solution to low payment. Exam tip: For remedies to low wages, mention organisation, bargaining and market linkages.

Without knowledge of online-fraud protection, a woman may be deceived through phishing links, fake calls, fraudulent apps, or sharing an OTP. This can cause financial loss and increase the risk of digital exploitation, so option A is correct. Knowing how to make a digital payment does not automatically make every transaction safe; therefore, option B is incorrect. Exam tip: When writing about digital literacy, include cyber safety and privacy along with payment skills.

Women workers’ attendance can be affected by several structural and social factors. Unsafe travel or workplaces, lack of reliable transport, childcare or dependent-care responsibilities, and health concerns may prevent regular attendance. Therefore, it is incorrect to explain absence only as laziness. Option D is also wrong because low wages and poor working conditions can affect attendance. Exam tip: In such questions, focus on social, economic, and workplace barriers rather than blaming the individual.

Property rights can become a base of economic power. In exams connect property and livelihood.

If a woman is prevented from putting her name on her product, her skill, labour and contribution do not receive public recognition or credit. Therefore, the concern is lack of recognition and credit for her labour. Customer trust and pricing transparency are not the direct issue here. Exam tip: identify whether the situation makes a woman’s work invisible or denies her due credit.

Fear of retaliation can stop women from complaining. In exams write confidential and safe complaint.

The correct answer is to create a safe travel plan and support system. Preventing a woman from working or travelling is not a safety solution; safe transport, trusted contacts, emergency support, and workplace assistance protect both safety and opportunity. Treating family permission as the final decision limits her autonomy. Exam tip: In questions on women and work, connect safety with equal opportunity and independent mobility.

Without child care, women with young children may have to arrange care during training hours. This can make regular attendance difficult and may even lead them to discontinue the course. Therefore, reduced participation and regular attendance is the most direct effect. Improved training quality is not a consequence of lacking child care. Exam tip: Remember child care as a support service that enables women’s participation in training and work.

Receiving minimum wage is necessary, but wages alone do not ensure fair working conditions. Very long working hours may cause fatigue, health problems, difficulty in meeting family responsibilities, and undignified conditions of work. Therefore, the concern about working hours, health, and decent work remains. Social security is a separate issue; even if it is available, it does not automatically solve the problem of excessive hours. Exam tip: Decent work includes fair wages as well as safe, healthy working conditions and reasonable working hours.

Registration gives a woman worker formal recognition and creates a record of her employment. This can help her access social security, maternity benefits, insurance, pension and other labour-welfare schemes. Options B and C are incorrect because registration supports the documentation of rights and claims rather than denying or removing them. Exam tip: link registration with “identity + social security + labour rights.”

Entrepreneurship needs business skills along with production. In exams write holistic enterprise training.

Economic agency includes control over income and decision power. In exams write income control.

Calling women’s work merely “supportive” can make its real economic and social contribution invisible. Lack of wages and ownership of property or resources limits economic independence and decision-making power. Therefore, the key issue is lack of recognition and rights for their contribution. Equal pay is important, but this question also highlights ownership and recognition, not wages alone. Exam tip: Link unpaid work with property rights and economic empowerment in such questions.

Women may have to manage paid work along with household and caregiving responsibilities. Dual responsibilities, discrimination, unsafe workplaces, or work pressure can increase stress, anxiety, and exhaustion. Mental health support, such as counselling, supportive workplaces, and stress-management measures, improves wellbeing and work capacity. Option B is not a solution: support is meant to help women work safely and healthily, not to make them leave work. Exam tip: Use terms such as ‘dual burden’, ‘stress’, and ‘mental wellbeing’ in your answer.

The correct answer is occupational health perspective. A health camp should inform women workers about job-related hazards, such as exposure to chemicals or dust, heavy lifting, and unsafe working conditions, along with preventive measures. Recording attendance alone does not identify or prevent workplace risks. Exam tip: For questions linking work hazards with health and safety, use the term ‘occupational health’.

Direct interaction with customers helps a woman understand their needs, preferences, prices, and market demand. This information supports fair pricing and stronger bargaining. Without such contact, she may have to depend on information provided by intermediaries, which can weaken her market understanding and negotiating ability. Exam tip: Link customer contact with market information and economic decision-making power.

Work done from home is also labour and deserves fair payment. In exams write value of home-based work.

When safe and affordable accommodation is unavailable, many women may be unable to join training programmes or accept jobs located away from home. Therefore, it becomes a barrier to accessing distant training and employment. Lack of accommodation does not cause higher wages. Exam tip: Remember safe housing, safe transport, and workplace safety as important issues affecting women’s work.

Knowing the technical language of a job helps a worker understand instructions, machines or work processes and express her views in workplace decisions. If a woman worker is not taught this language, she may be excluded from information and decision-making; therefore, option A is correct. Expertise, leadership and equal wages do not arise automatically from technical language alone; they also require training, opportunities and equitable policies. Exam tip: Link access to workplace language and skills with women’s empowerment and participation in decision-making.