Puducherry has quietly changed a long-standing restriction. Under a notification issued using the proviso to Section 66 of the Factories Act, 1948, women may now be employed in factories up to 10pm, while employment between 10pm and 5am remains prohibited. The move joins a wave of relaxations across the Union Territory aimed at expanding women’s access to industrial work beyond the old 7pm cutoff. The government framed the change as a step to boost women’s employment and equality, and the notification includes requirements for employer-provided transport and safety measures.
What this actually means for women on the shop floor is important. It extends permissible hours, opens up more shifts, offers potentially higher pay with overtime, along with flexibility for those juggling household responsibilities. A growing body of economic evidence suggests removing formal curbs on women’s night-time work increases labour-force participation and the share of night hours women can access. This can translate into tangible income gains and career options. But lifts in legal restrictions don’t automatically translate into safe, sustainable work.
Safety and transport are the elephant in the room. Studies and recent surveys across Indian cities repeatedly show that women face high levels of harassment on public transport, which deters night commuting. Inadequate lighting, intermittent CCTV coverage, and poor last-mile options amplify risk. In other words, allowing later shifts without robust, enforceable travel safeguards shifts the burden of safety onto individual women instead of the state and employers.
Health, family rhythms, and childcare also matter. Working late hours impacts sleep, reproductive health, and psychological well-being. These are issues that disproportionately affect women who often shoulder household and caregiving responsibilities in addition to paid work. Night schedules can therefore create a double burden, unless employers and policymakers design supports such as predictable rosters, compensatory rest, and accessible childcare.
Making The Change Meaningful
1. Employer-provided safe transport: The official change references free transport for women working late shifts. That’s a start, but quality and accountability are crucial along with GPS-tracked vehicles, vetted drivers, fixed pick-up and drop points with lighting, and employer liability for transfers.
2. Workplace safety: Factories must upgrade perimeter lighting, install and maintain CCTV with privacy safeguards, ensure secure entry and exit points and well-lit pathways to transport nodes, and have trained female welfare officers and functioning grievance redressal under POSH frameworks. Regular safety audits that include female workers’ feedback should be made mandatory.
3. Health protections: Employers should implement rotating rosters that limit prolonged night work, provide access to occupational health checks, and respect rest and compensatory leave rules. Where overtime is unavoidable, payment of statutory overtime rates and additional night-shift allowances should be enforced to make the trade-off worthwhile for women workers.
4. Childcare and family support: Extending hours must be accompanied by accessible childcare options aligned to new shift timings. These include either employer-run crèches with extended hours or subsidies for accredited providers. This is especially critical for single mothers and low-income households.
5. Legal clarity and consent: While the Factories Act allows state relaxations, any change must respect voluntary and informed consent of women workers without any coercion. There should be clear written notices about hours and hazards, and statutory protections against discrimination or dismissal for refusing night duty.
What Can Women Do?
- Insist on written confirmation of employer transport
- Check for an active internal complaints mechanism and POSH committee
- Ask about shift rotation and overtime rates
- Coordinate travel with colleagues or local women’s groups
Puducherry’s step is an opportunity, which recognises that blanket bans on women’s night work are economically limiting. But the policy’s success will be judged by how many women genuinely gain stable, better-paying work instead of being pushed into riskier commutes or unhealthy schedules. The right balance requires the state to enforce employer responsibilities, unions and women’s groups to hold authorities accountable.