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Uproar after Karnataka house committee recommendation: Don't put women on night shifts

Uproar after Karnataka house committee recommendation: Don't put women on night shifts

No night shifts from women

Story highlights

Committee chairman Congress MLA NA Haris said IT & biotech companies should hire men instead?to staff night shifts

The Karnataka assembly's standing committee on women and child welfare recommended Tuesday that women working in information technology and biotechnology firms should not be put on night shifts.

The committee headed by Congress MLA NA Haris said the companies should hire men insteadto staff night shifts.

Talking to the Deccan Chronicle, committee chairman Haris said, "Women have a much bigger responsibility in our society than men. They need to look after their children and families. Men cannot play the role of a mother."

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Women rights activist slammed the recommendations, calling them sexist.

Deccan Chronicle quoted women's rights activistDona Fernandes as saying, "He is perpetuating the stereotype that women are mothers, home-makers and meant only to look after their children."

The recommendation -- which came in the form of a report -- also elicited a strong response from the IT and biotech industries which said the move would deny women the opportunity to work, the New Indian Express reported.

The IT industry body, Nasscomm, said night shifts cannot be avoided if more opportunities are to be created for women in the sector.

Nasscommadded, the New Indian Express reported, that it is the government that has to ensure thesafety of women in states where IT and biotech firms are located.

(WION)