Biased labour law stopped me from tying the knot

Either marriage or a job – this was the tough choice that 53-year-old Anne D’Costa faced 25 years ago when her father, a cook at the state-run JJ hospital died. She opted for the ayah’s job to support her mother, sister and herself..

“Labour laws in the eighties prevented a married woman from taking up a deceased parent’s government job,” said D’Costa who never ended up marrying because of family responsibilities.

Her three brothers died within a few years of one another. “One died of jaundice, the other fell off a balcony and the third suffered a stroke,” she recalls, speaking of the discriminatory labour laws.

Labour law experts agree that, until a few years ago, labour laws were highly discriminatory and against women. But instructions have been issued by the courts to allow married women to take up a deceased family member’s job by giving an undertaking to take care of living parents.

Labour-law activist Ramesh Harlankar said that despite changes introduced recently to laws, there are numerous women who do not marry as they are not aware of circulars issued by the courts or the state. “The administration fails to convey these changes to the labour class in government organizations,” says Harlankar.

Presently, D’Costa’s immediate family comprises her 14-year-old niece Mary Ann. “This job I inherited from my dad gives us our basic needs... I pray that my niece does not have to face the same predicament as I did after I retire or am no more,” says D’costa.