Working Women’s Hostel: An Investigative Analysis of Women’s Shelters in India

Women face many challenges during migration; safe, secure, and affordable accommodation is one of the major hurdles faced by them. In societies that are patrilocal and patrilineal, women acquire shelter predominantly from family and close kin relatives. Women are unable to get adequate housing owing to a combination of factors such as migration, violence, and divorce or separation. They live homeless or in inadequate housing facilities. In the backdrop of this issue, the Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD), Government of India, introduced a scheme called “The Working Women’s Hostel (WWH) scheme” to help working women. Haryana state has been selected for this study as it represents a patriarchal heartland within India. This region reports the lowest sex ratio, together with low female literacy and work participation rate. The WWH scheme has reached only 7 districts of Haryana, even though there are 22 districts in the state of Haryana as per the 2011 census. Therefore, this study attempts to examine the nature and quality of shelter provided by WWH in Haryana, India.