116 SOCIAL SCIENTIST form the most flexible labour pool no matter how laborious, dull, badly paid and physically harmful the work may be. That these women are socially and economically vulnerable adds to their attraction as pliable. The same can be said about ethnic minorities living in the first world. The latter are made vulnerable due to race and colour prejudice. India with its emphasis on self-reliance and planned diversification stands somewhat apart, and its export earnings are therefore small (8 per cent to 10 per cent of N1). International capital does not have an uncontrolled field of operation and Indian labour laws compare well with those in the industrial world. Socially, early marriage and a tradition that has kept women out of industrial employment, makes Indian women workers weaker in comparison with other Asian countries. However in the climate of a constant BOP crisis, Indian policy is increasing its emphasis on promoting the growth of exports which means developing "non-traditional" avenues, such as garments, leather goods, food products, toys and jewellery. Here there is a tendency to use unorganised (female) labour at piece rate or as home-based worker.Thus the macro level pattern of women's employment is bound to reflect such an emphasis. However, their share is meagre at not more than 8 per cent of the workforce. Another significant shift has been a sharp fall in self-employment which indicates that women are engaged in the search for wage work in preference to decentralised production, which is more demanding and less rewarding. Rao and Husain's study of the garment industry in Delhi concentrates on how the family militates against this shift in the preference of the women themselves. Contrasted is Pore's study of the garment industry in the Thane-Pune belt, which focuses on sexual division of labour, discrimination against women and the problem of the double burden. Baud also studies women workers in Coimbatore, an area which has an old tradition of women industrial workers, studies the impact of technological change on the tradition of gender roles. Banerjee selects five separate export industries and looks at the use of the women workers in relation to choice of technology and market conditions. We can therefore conclude that footloose industries or aspecific industries will seek cheap and vulnerable labour; the traditional industries on the other hand have found a fresh use for traditional skills of women. This is found to have an impact on the sexual division of labour. However Baud cautions that equal pay for equal work will remain an issue for women workers. Similarly, casual/temporary status, which undermines the productive role of women, will continue to be the practice of employers, who will also continue to put in the way of women workers tasks which are cruder and not energised. Banerjee indicts both management and workers for the lack of perception on the issues highlighted above, and there is some truth in her accusation. Unions, while offering collective benefits, are extremely lax, if not downright disinterested in the problems of women