India fares poorly in terms of the female workforce participation rate, ranking 145^th in the world. For Kerala, the southernmost federal state, the anachronistic labour laws including the Factories Act, 1948, and the Kerala Factories Rules, 1957, contain archaic provisions, detrimental to women’s workforce participation in the night. The project aims to enable women to work at night in factories and undertake certain jobs that were deemed as hazardous in the old times and are presently prohibited. A policy report and a policy brief will be submitted to the Kerala government as a guiding document to initiate these essential labour reforms to expand women’s economic inclusion in Kerala. The project is supported by the Atlas Network, USA.

The main objectives of the project are:

1. identify and assess the viability of provisions that hinder women’s workforce participation;
2. propose an improved version of the legislation, incorporating alternative solutions, based on a sectoral case study;
3. petition the Kerala State government by highlighting the prevalent issues and advocate for reforms;
4. create awareness on the barriers faced by women in gaining economic empowerment through employment; and
5. partner with trade and business networks, CSOs and women’s organizations in the state to engage in policy discourse and advocacy efforts.