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The four labour codes replace 29 older laws and introduce stronger safeguards, better pay structures, and new opportunities for women across sectors
The new labour codes collectively point to a more structured and inclusive workplace environment for women across both formal and informal sectors. (AI Generated/News18 Hindi)
India has brought four major labour codes into force from 21 November, replacing and rationalising 29 older laws in what the government calls a landmark overhaul of the country’s labour framework. These older laws were crafted between the 1930s and 1950s, an era when the nature of work, technology, and the role of women in the economy were dramatically different.
The Ministry of Labour and Employment has said the new system modernises outdated regulations and aims to ensure “dignity for every worker,” with several provisions focused specifically on improving opportunities, safety and equality for women.
Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya described the rollout as transformative. He said: “These reforms are not just ordinary changes, but a major step taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the welfare of the workforce.” He added: “These new labour reforms are an important step towards a self-reliant India and will give new momentum to the goal of a developed India by 2047.”
The four codes now in effect are the Code on Wages, 2019, the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, the Code on Social Security, 2020, and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code (OSHWC), 2020.
Together, they overhaul India’s rules on wages, working conditions, hiring systems, social security and workplace safety. Embedded within these reforms are several measures that directly strengthen the rights and protections available to women workers.
How Do The New Codes Expand Opportunities For Women?
A central feature of the new framework is that women are now allowed to work night shifts across all establishments and sectors, including those involving heavy machinery and even underground mining. This change removes long-standing restrictions that limited women’s participation in higher-earning shift-based roles, particularly in manufacturing and export-oriented industries. The codes make night work conditional on written consent and require employers to provide a safe working environment. This includes secure transportation, CCTV surveillance, and adequate security arrangements for women who work late hours.
For workers in export sectors, for instance, night-shift eligibility combined with safety guarantees offers the chance to earn higher incomes in roles that rely heavily on round-the-clock operations.
Equal Pay, Anti-Discrimination And Women’s Representation
The reforms mark a significant shift in how the law treats workplace equality. Under the Code on Wages, equal pay for equal work is now a legal guarantee. This removes earlier ambiguities that allowed wage gaps to persist based on job classification or workplace practice.
Employers will no longer be able to justify lower wages for women on arbitrary grounds, and the compliance responsibility now sits directly with organisations.
Gender discrimination is also explicitly prohibited. This includes discriminatory treatment in hiring, pay, work allocation, career progression or any other aspect of employment. By carrying a clear legal mandate, these protections seek to make workplaces more equitable and broaden women’s access to skilled and better-paid roles.
Another reform aimed at strengthening women’s voice in the workplace is the requirement for mandatory representation of women in grievance redressal committees. This means women must be part of the internal bodies that examine complaints related to workplace conduct, discrimination or service matters, ensuring that issues raised by women are reviewed with adequate gender representation.
A More Inclusive Definition Of Family And Expanded Social-Security Coverage
The Code on Social Security introduces a notable change for women employees: the inclusion of parents-in-law in the definition of “family.” This expands the circle of dependents covered under social-security benefits and acknowledges caregiving responsibilities that many women shoulder.
The code also extends social-security benefits, such as provident fund, ESIC coverage and insurance, to gig workers, platform workers and those in unorganised sectors. Women are disproportionately represented in such informal and insecure forms of work. As a result, widening social-security access, enforcing digital employment records and applying uniform standards across establishments are expected to improve job stability and formalisation for many women.
Mandatory appointment letters are another shift towards transparency. Written appointment letters will ensure clarity of employment terms and serve as proof of job status, an important safeguard for workers, particularly women in informal roles.
What Safety Measures And Working-Condition Protections Do The Codes Require?
The OSHWC Code introduces a range of safeguards that apply across industries but carry particular significance for women.
- Free annual health check-ups for workers above 40
- Regulated working hours
- Double wages for overtime
- Paid leave provisions
- Safety committees in establishments with more than 500 workers
- A National OSH Board to harmonise safety and health standards across hazardous sectors
These measures aim to ensure that workplaces meet minimum safety standards and follow consistent rules across industries.
Why Were These Codes Introduced?
According to the Ministry of Labour and Employment, India’s earlier labour laws were designed for a very different economic era. The new codes aim to streamline compliance, improve workers’ access to social security and formalise employment across sectors.
They also seek to bring millions of gig, platform and informal-sector workers—many of whom are women—into the protective fold of labour regulations.
Snapshot Of Major Guarantees Across The New Labour Codes
- Timely minimum wages for all workers
- Mandatory appointment letters for every employee
- Equal pay for women and safe night-shift provisions
- Social-security coverage for 40 crore workers, including gig and platform workers (PF, ESIC, insurance)
- Gratuity eligibility after one year for fixed-term and contract workers
- Free annual health check-ups for workers above 40
- Double wages for overtime and regulated working hours
- 100 per cent health protection in hazardous sectors through a National OSH Board
- Mandatory safety committees in establishments employing more than 500 workers
What Do These Reforms Mean For Women Workers?
Taken together, the new labour codes create a clearer legal framework for equal pay, safer working conditions, expanded opportunities and broader social-security coverage for women. Experts note that the transition may unfold in stages as rules and schemes are implemented, but the changes collectively point to a more structured and inclusive workplace environment for women across both formal and informal sectors.
Karishma Jain, Chief Sub Editor at News18.com, writes and edits opinion pieces on a variety of subjects, including Indian politics and policy, culture and the arts, technology and social change. Follow her @kar…Read More
Karishma Jain, Chief Sub Editor at News18.com, writes and edits opinion pieces on a variety of subjects, including Indian politics and policy, culture and the arts, technology and social change. Follow her @kar… Read More
November 22, 2025, 14:30 IST
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