Feminization of Labor and Women Workers of Kerala’s Handloom Sector

The handloom industry in Kerala is the second-largest source of employment, among the traditional industries, after coir.This industry provides livelihoods to over two lakh people and occupies a distinctive place in the state's economy and cultural heritage.In 2023-24, the sector engaged 14,642 active weavers working across 16,660 looms and producing 525.4 lakh meters of cloth, with women constituting nearly 78% of this workforce.This gendered composition reflects wider global trends captured by the concept of the 'feminization of labor,' which highlights systemic inequalities, undervaluation of women's work, and the intersections of gender, class, and economic precarity.Drawing on an exploratory study of three major handloom clusters in Kerala, India, this paper examines how the theoretical framework of feminization of labor demonstrates the lived realities of women weavers.The findings highlight an ageing female workforce confronted with insecure earnings, weak social protections, and ongoing vulnerabilities linked to informalization.While women continue to shoulder the dual burden of productive labor within cooperatives and domestic responsibilities, they actively negotiate these constraints through everyday forms of agency, resistance, and survival strategies.However, these negotiations occur within enduring structural gendered hierarchies that shape the organization of work and reproduce inequalities.By situating these dynamics within broader debates on labor markets structured by gender, the paper contributes to feminist scholarship on work, inequality, and social justice in the Global South.