ABSTRACT
Women in the formal labour market provide a site to explore the intriguing interplay of entrenched gender codes, space and work. Labour theories on women repeatedly point to how women were traditionally never seen to constitute part of the labour force. Even as they entered the labour market, there were certain preconditions where they were always treated as a reserve army or a supplementary component. This was because women’s responsibilities have been historically and traditionally embedded and constructed in and around the home and hearth. These women remained either indoors or worked near their homes, thereby reducing their activity space in terms of their mobility between the private and the public spaces (Agarwal 1988; Becker 1985; Beechey 1987; Blunt 1999; Bondi and Davidson 2005; Coverman 1983; Desai 2007; Niranjana 2001; Oakley 1979; Sangari 1993; Soja 1989; Spain 1993; West and Zimmerman 1987). 1 The result of this social construction of feminine and masculine roles is an articulation resulting in a contentious concept of ‘separateness’ — the public and the private realm which can also be seen as a control mechanism. 2
