94% women construction workers never raise voice against air pollution due to the fear of losing job: Survey

24th May, 2022, New Delhi: A survey by Mahila Housing Trust and the Help Delhi Breathe campaign done in the national capital among women construction workers, has helped uncover knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of these women construction workers around air pollution so as to ultimately support them better, understand the effectiveness of mobilization activities and spotlight them to all clean air stakeholders. Currently women workers are disproportionately affected due to the ill impacts of construction activities but lack representation in the conversation around the topic.

The study was part of a bigger campaigned called “Help Delhi Breathe” and included mobilisation activities, and focused group discussions (FGDs) done among 390 female construction workers in the Bakkarwala, Gokulpuri, and Sawda Ghevra areas of the national capital from August 2021 to April 2022.

The idea was to assess women workers’ knowledge acquisition, attitudinal change, and behavioural modification regarding air pollution. The two parts of the study – baseline and endline – focused on ‘pre-and post-campaign perception change’ among the women construction workers.

The study focused on the urgent need to bring affected communities, such as women construction workers, to the heart of decision-making on air pollution to ensure there are equitable, sustainable, and long-term solutions.

The survey on the perception of women construction workers on issues concerning air pollution urges the government and civil society to do more for the construction workers as “a whopping 87 percent of them were not aware of the actions and efforts taken by the two to mitigate the impact of bad air quality.” The finding of the study will go a long way in seeking policy support from the local and state governments on the issue.

Among other major findings, the survey revealed that 94 percent of women construction workers never raised their voice or took any steps to prevent the negative impact of air pollution due to the fear of losing their jobs. This was despite the fact that the same number of women (94 percent) believe that air pollution is an urgent issue that must be addressed on a priority basis.

The women told the surveyors that they expect the government to take urgent steps to mitigate the impact of climate change and air pollution on vulnerable communities, even as 68% of the respondents believe that a focus on pollution may limit their employment opportunities.

When the air quality became poor, nearly 75% of respondents reported feeling sick and uncomfortable, and more than 73% of women reported problems with breathing, asthma, coughing, skin allergy, redness, or eye irritation. A whopping 96 percent of respondents stated that the air pollution affected them to a large extent.

The workers believed that the local governments—MCD and the state government should step up waste reduction and collection mechanisms to lessen the impact of air pollution on the people.
Around 93 percent of the respondents felt that public transportation systems should be improved so that more middle class people shun their personal vehicles and cars to commute, as 80 percent of the respondents felt that motor vehicles are the primary source of pollution in the national capital.

Among the key findings, the survey found that female workers’ awareness of air pollution increased by 21 percentage points during the six-month campaign, rising from 76 percent to 97 percent. The findings provide ground for launching similar campaigns across the country to build awareness of climate change and air pollution.

In a startling revelation, around 40 percent of female workers said they “fear to discuss air pollution at their workplaces” due to fear of losing their jobs, fear of being reprimanded, and fear of being judged by the builders and their contractors.

The survey said that only 26 percent of women were aware of the Green Delhi App. Among those who were aware of the green app, less than half (48%) said they had downloaded it, and only 16% said they had used it to file complaints.

“The contractors discourage us, and have asked us not to download the apps or make complaints about them.” We fear losing our job, so we avoid discussing the issue of pollution or the environment at the construction sites, “a woman worker was quoted as saying,” even as they said that about 33 percent of builders and contractors are taking steps like sprinkling water, to reduce the impacts of air pollution.

The percentage of women stating that government bodies actively implemented precautionary measures increased from 13 percent to 17 percent.

“The six-month campaign among the construction workers also saw private builders and government agencies behaving more responsibly on issues concerning air pollution.” About 17 percent of women said that agencies are taking positive steps, while 43 per cent of contractors are taking steps to mitigate the impact of air pollution, “one official said.

Similarly, understanding of AQI (air quality index) has also witnessed a sharp increase among the female construction workers (from 14% during baseline to 47% at endline).

A greater number of respondents (60%) were willing to take responsibility for mitigating the impact of air pollution as compared to the baseline (46%).

About 15 percent of respondents were forced to take their children to the construction sites as no one was at home to take care of them. The focus group discussion revealed that women are now more cautious about their little children and do not allow them to play in the mud. They also make it a point to keep their infants in baskets covered with cloth.

Other measures followed to a lesser extent were preferred to stay indoors during bad air quality days (36%), “go out of the house only in case of emergency” (34%), and keeping doors and windows closed (26%). Interestingly, those who reported not taking any measures to combat air pollution was 20 percent during baseline which reduced to less than 3 percent during the endline.

According to the pre-post analysis, few of the challenges faced by female construction workers decreased, while others worsened.

The major challenges faced by female construction workers were lack of toilet facilities, lack of potable water, air pollution, long working hours, having to work under extreme weather conditions, corruption at work, workplace harassment, sexual harassment etc.

More than 90 percent of the female construction workers informed us that they stopped burning waste/garbage after being a part of the awareness activities.

Sectoral Background

Construction is one of the world’s biggest industrial sectors and one of the most hazardous industries (International Labour Organization, 2015). In India, the construction industry is the second biggest next to agriculture, significantly contributing to the country’s economy.

According to the most recent Ministry of Labour and Employment 2022 data, there were more than 40 million workers in this sector, with 49 percent of them being women. Among those registered on the E-shram platform, about 66 percent of registered workers belong to the age group of 16-40 years and the rest are above 40 years of age.

The sample households were characterised by respondents majorly in the age groups of 36 years and above, mostly illiterate or low educational levels, predominance of Scheduled Castes, followed by OBC; and a majority (87%) were married.