“As a woman, you should not touch machines,” Deeptiben (name changed), a 30-year-old worker from Dahod, described how she was denied opportunities to learn at a large construction site. Sugunaben (name changed), another 35-year-old migrant worker with over 15 years of experience in masonry assistance, said she has been told repeatedly how they (women) are only meant to be a helper. Other women workers shared: “While we work, we have to take a ghunghat (veil), otherwise people will say we do not have sharam (shame) .our husbands say that we won’t be able to learn so it is better to work together”. Such rebukes echoed across construction sites reflecting the gender bias that bars women from skill development and upward mobility, according to the Aajeevika Bureau-Work Fair and Free (WFF) research report titled ‘Building Futures: Women Workers at the Margins of Construction Automation, The Case of Ahmedabad, Gujarat’ released on Tuesday. Aajeevika Bureau is a public service organisation working on the rights and well being of migrant workers and Work Fair and Free (WFF) is the knowledge institution conceived and incubated by the bureau. Authored by Geeta Thatra and Saloni Mundra, the report said that automation has reduced women’s participation by nearly 80 per cent in tasks such as material handling and concrete production. Highlighting how automation and industrialisation of construction are reshaping the labour processes and deepening the exclusion of women workers in the city’s booming industry, the report states that in high-rise buildings and precast projects, contractors increasingly recruit migrant men workers, marginalising Bhil Adivasis and women workers who have historically sustained Ahmedabad’s construction industry. “Automation and industrialisation are leading to greater outsourcing of construction activities, with contractors bringing their trained men workers. Bhil Adivasis and women workers are the worst affected with the shift to long-distance male migrants,” said Saloni Mundra, executive at Aajeevika Bureau. The study, conducted between December 2023 and February 2025 in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, adopted a Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) methodology to foreground the experiences of migrant women workers. Four projects – two residential, one commercial, and one government-funded infrastructure project ranging from Rs 100–500 crore – were studied to analyse automation across project types and stages alongside off-site construction – two autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) block factories, a precast concrete factory, and a precast yard. The sites were selected based on accessibility and to capture variations in project type and scale. Research participants, including workers, contractors and professionals were approached through existing networks and snowball referrals, ensuring voluntary participation. “There is a general perception that women cannot work and only raise kids, but it is not true. We can operate machines and work more than men, but we need opportunities. Since big machines have come, Adivasi women like us don’t get much work. But if we are given the chance to learn new skills, we too can advance in construction,” said Savitaben Bilvad, a 48-year-old construction worker, a native of Dahod, who has been working in Ahmedabad for the last 30 years. The report pointed out that despite years of experience, women earn 10–20 per cent less than male “helpers” and 40-50 per cent less than “skilled” male workers from the same regions. Wages are often paid to male family members, rendering women’s contribution invisible. “We don’t want to spend energy on matters like harassment and women’s safety,” a supervisor at a precast yard told researchers, underscoring persistent gender bias in hiring and workplace practices. “I work as a mazdoor (helper) because the contractor does not see me as a karigar (mason). I go to the site as a jodi (pair) with my husband and don’t find work alone. Even though I know plastering and can operate a breaker machine, I earn only half of what my husband gets,” said Surekhaben Maida, a 38-year-old migrant construction worker from Dahod. Another migrant construction worker Sharmaben Bhuria from Dahod said contractors deny work to women with children. “We are told what these women with kids do. Where should we keep our toddlers then. If we are denied work, how will we support our family? There should be facilities for our children at the work site. We have come for work in Ahmedabad, but due to our children we don’t get work,” she told The Indian Express. The research urges the state’s labour department and construction industry to ensure that technological progress does not deepen gender inequality. “Automation need not always mean displacement. Now is the time for the construction industry to reimagine women’s inclusion. With access to training, recognition, and support systems, women’s participation can be sustained, and they can move to technical and better-paying roles,” said Geeta Thatra, associate director at Work Fair and Free. Findings of the study: Rise of automation in Ahmedabad since the 2010s when automation and industrialised construction have expanded added with growth of precast and prefabricated construction, especially after COVID-19 -Modular construction, BIM, drones, and IoT devices are gaining traction, while emerging technologies such as AI, robotics, 3D printing, and digital twins remain experimental -Technological adoption is uneven across building and infrastructure projects. However, even incremental changes reduce on-site labour demand Recommendations of the study: Gender-responsive skilling in new technologies and skilled trades Targets for women’s employment in publicly funded infrastructure projects Workplace dignity and safety, including enforcement of the POSH Act and provision of crèches and sanitation facilities Universal social protection and portability for migrant construction workers
