Incomes of women in garment industry halved in a year: World Bank

Female employment in export-oriented industries soared over recent decades and export sector layoffs in the current crisis are significant, the multilateral lending agency said in a report.
"In India, self-employed women in the garment sector have seen their monthly earnings drop by 50 per cent and days of work reduced by 69 per cent since November 2008," it said.
The country's USD 45-billion garment industry is heavily dependant on exports and with demand recession in major economies like the US and the European Union, the sector has been hit hard.
India's garments exports tumbled by over six per cent to USD 879 million in July over same month last year due to the ongoing  global economic slowdown, according to data available with apparel exporters body AEPC.
The country's share in the USD 373-billion global clothing industry has fallen from 3.3 per cent to 2.6 per cent in 2008-09.
Further, the study said women are also particularly vulnerable to any credit crunch in the micro finance sector where they comprise 85 per cent of the poorest 93 million microfinance borrowers across the globe.