GNLU To Organise 'Women At Work' International Conference On Women In The Unorganised Sector

The Conference is being organised in collaboration with the Gender Resource Centre (GRC) & Department of Women and Child Development, Government of Gujarat.

The two-day Conference seeks to create an action-oriented platform to deliberate on the structural challenges faced by women in the unorganised and informal sectors of the economy. While women's labour participation remains central to India's economic and social framework, the realities of wage insecurity, unsafe workspaces, unpaid care burdens, migration vulnerabilities, and limited access to welfare continue to shape their everyday experiences. The Conference aims to foreground these realities through interdisciplinary dialogue and policy-oriented engagement.

The Conference is structured around three broad themes:

1. Making Workspaces Inclusive – including equal pay, violence and harassment at work, gender non-discrimination, maternity protection, and menstrual leave;

2. Domestic Housework – addressing paid and unpaid care work, placement agencies, wage theft, and migrant domestic labour;

3. Sex Work – examining decriminalisation debates, trafficking conflations, health and safety, and access to welfare entitlements.

The event brings together academicians, policymakers, legal practitioners, researchers, civil society representatives, and community stakeholders to facilitate cross-sectoral conversations. Distinguished speakers include former labour administrators, senior advocates, professors from leading institutions, and practitioners working directly with women workers across India.

Policy Drafting Competition

A key highlight of the Conference is the Policy Drafting Competition, with a prize pool of ₹60,000. Winning teams will also receive an opportunity to intern with the Migration & Asylum Project (MAP), India's first dedicated law centre for forced migration and displacement.

What distinguishes “Women at Work” is its participatory design. Alongside panel discussions, the Conference will host policy presentations, moderated discussions, and interactive sessions aimed at building sustainable collaborations between academia, government bodies, and civil society. The initiative forms part of CWCR's continued engagement with gender justice, labour rights, and social protection frameworks at the state and national level.

The Conference is open to students, academicians, researchers, lawyers, and practitioners
interested in labour law, gender justice, and public policy. The attendee fee is ₹1000, which includes lunch, high tea, and a certificate of participation.

For registration and further details, interested participants may contact:

Nidhi Suman (+91- 6372697671)

Convenor

Centre for Women and Child Rights, Gujarat National Law University

Email: cwcr@gnlu.ac.in