In India, the construction industry is the second largest and a fast growing sector. Transnational companies have been competing in the construction industry since the mid-1990s, engaging in both large public-sector infrastructure projects and private sector industrial projects India’s construction labour force is estimated at 30 million people; about half are women. There has been a reduction of demand for unskilled labor since mid-1990s; one estimate suggests 1.5 million jobs are lost per year. Women in Construction in India. Women account for half (51%) of the total construction labour force. Women workers are almost exclusively unskilled, casual, manual laborers: carrying bricks, cement, sand, and water digging earth, mixing cement, breaking stones. Women are rarely found in male-dominated skilled trades: carpentry, masonry, plumbing, electrical wiring.

KEYWORDS: construction industry, infrastructure, employment, workers, expenditure