In the article entitled “The Economic Organization of a P.O.W. Camp”, R.A. Radford describes his experiences as a prisoner of war during World War II. As a prisoner of war, he saw first hand how market structure from the outside had influenced the P.O.W. camp. In the beginning of the camp, prisoners would barter amongst themselves. Then the camp’s economic system moved towards an Exchange and Mart board, and finally into a market that was comprised of many middlemen. Cigarettes became the main source of currency inside the camp. As a result, paper currency had no value although it was tried inside the camp for a short time, but soon lost out to cigarettes. P.O.W.’s were given a certain ration of cigarettes a week. The prisoners could either smoke the cigarettes or use them as currency, but it all was left up to the prisoner as how they used the cigarettes. Plus, cigarettes were used because they could be given value and were available to P.O.W.’s. Finally, the cigarettes moved easily through the market, so it made them an ideal source of currency. The market prices depended upon the increase and decreases in supply as well as what was happening in the outside world.

When goods were first passed out to the prisoners, prices were low because quantity demanded was not high because people still had their own rations. The events that happened outside the camp had their effects on the market. Each week prisoners were given rations of cigarettes, food, and toiletries. Another example about outside sources that affect the market is Alan Greenspan. The middlemen held all the power inside the camp. However, many prisoners did not smoke, so they wanted to trade their cigarettes for something else like food. People who did not like jam or chocolate would trade to get something they liked better. Items that were harder to come by were given a high price in cigarettes. This system is exactly like an economic market, where people buy and sell goods at an agreed price. Thus within the POW camp the cigarettes became the store of value, the unit of account and medium of exchange, just like money in real world.

The story of Fei and paper money:

The island of Yap is located in the Pacific Ocean between Guam and Palua and is now a rather popular tourist destination. It is known for it’s incredible beauty and the amazing amount of marine life, especially manta rays, which are found off its coast. On the island of Yap, a small island in the Pacific, the traditional medium of exchange was the fei. Fei were stone wheels that were up to 12 feet in diameter that functioned as the money that we have today. They were used for transactions and exchanges, however due to their bulk and weight, it was difficult to take the fei to the market. Eventually, the people on the island paid little attention to having physical possesion of the stones, and focused more on the claims to the fei as money. In that way, people began to use the claims to the fei as the medium of exchange, and not the actual fei itself (very similar to the gold standard used before the civil war in the US). This is kind of like money backed by fei. A story to attest to this is that of an owner of a particular fei who lost it at sea during a storm, because the loss wasn’t considered to be his fault, people still honored his claim to the fei even though the actual wheel lay at the bottom of the ocean.

…because you might go to jail for it!

Take the case of UK resident Caroline Cartwright, whose predicament has become tabloid fodder not just in the UK, but also in news outfits around the globe. According to Mirror.co.uk, Cartwright’s neighbors complained that she makes too much noise when having sex with her husband Steve, sounds that include moaning, groaning, and screaming. Neighbors filed a whopping 250 complaints against Cartwright.

Apparently, even the hearing-impaired was not spared from the noise; partially deaf neighbor Margery Ball claimed that she had difficulty sleeping in the past two years because of the noises the couple made while lovemaking, which neighbors say can last as long as three hours at a time.

On April 17, Cartwright was slapped with a four-year Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO), which banned her from “making excessive noise” that can be heard in neighboring properties.

Yet this did nto stop Cartwright and her husband from going at it again just a day after, and they’ve broken the deal twice since. As a consequence, Cartwright was put in custody and is set to appear in court today, according to Mirror.co.uk.

Lesson learned? It’s okay to get wild in the sack from time to time, as long as you don’t wake the neighbors

Singapore

Kuala Lumpur

Jakarta

Manila

Cairo

Dubai

Varanasi

Gangtok

Relationships can play a major role in our lives.However, not all relationships are healthy. Sometimes we associate with people who may not have our best interests in mind. It’s vital that you learn to recognize a healthy relationship from a harmful one.However any relationship can seems to be an intimate one.That is,it’s totally normal to look at the world through rose-coloured glasses in the early stages of a relationship. But for some people, those rose-coloured glasses turn into blinders that keep them from seeing that a relationship isn’t as healthy as it should be.
You can have an intimate relationship with anyone. An intimate relationship is one in which you can truly be yourself with someone who you respect and are respected by in return. It is an emotional connection that can also be physical.Many people think that “intimate” means being physically intimate, such as being in a sexual relationships. However, an intimate relationship can be with anyone who you are really close to and with whom you can be completely open and honest. Intimate relationships afford you the opportunity to grow as an individual.
Relationships are difficult to maintain when they are filled with conflict, negativity and a lack of trust. For the most part, people want the same thing from a romantic partner. People want spouses and partners who are:Understanding,Appreciative,Respectful,Caring and kind,Helpful,Trustworthy, Positive,Fun to be around.

What Makes a Healthy Relationship?
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1.Mutual respect:
Respect is the first positive step in building a relationship .A relationship without mutual respect can never be happy and healthy.  Mutual respect is absolutely necessary in a good relationship .Each partner has a right to privacy. Being a couple does not give you the right to invade your partner’s privacy. Love involves trust and this preclude any spying on your partner.
There may be things that you love to do and your partner hates and vice versa. That shouldn’t mean that both of you can’t do the things you love. You can enjoy the things you enjoy on your own or with friends or family members. Or, you and your partner can stretch a little once in a while and share these things even though they are your favorite things. you should be able to discuss anything with your partner in a reasonable manner. If you can’t it is time to take a good long look at yourself.Relationships work the best when partners have a lot in common, but respect and appreciate the differences that do exist. It helps to appreciate someone for who they are rather than try to change them or how they behave.
Everyone has a right to an opinion even if it is not considered accurate by someone else. The right to have an opinion is not limited to accuracy and you should definitely remember this in your relationship.

2.Trust:
Trust is the central pillar supporting any real relationship. With so much at stake, be it emotions, finances, children or future goals, there needs to be implicit trust for love to fully develop. Building trust in a relationship takes hard work and commitment. Trust requires that you listen to each other and communicate your needs.
It’s OK to get a little jealous sometimes — jealousy is a natural emotion. But how a person reacts when feeling jealous is what matters. There’s no way you can have a healthy relationship if you don’t trust each other.Relationships work the best when partners reassure each other of their love and commitment. It never hurts to tell a spouse that you love him or her and that you will always be there.Trust, after all, is the glue that holds couples together – even when they face great challenges. Without trust, couples might be more likely to split in times of crises, fail at getting intimate, and have doubts about each other. Couples who trust each other have security and probably feel closer.So trust is an essential key to healthy relationship.Be predictable and learn to share things and secretes.Once you’ve built trust, you’ve done something magical, and you should do everything in your power to keep it if you plan on maintaining your relationship.
And above all trust requires honesty above all else.

3.Honesty:
Honesty is vital to the health of all relationships. Mutual trust, openness, and understanding are the key contributors to feelings of friendship and intimacy. Conversely it is very hard to be in a relationship with a person who distorts or withholds information critical to that relationship.Yet there are internal tensions that can pull us away from truth-telling. One of the most powerful of these forces is fear – fear of what other persons will think of us or how they will use the information we reveal. n a relationship, any relationship, complete honesty is always needed. In fact, honesty should be part of the relationship’s foundation. The principle behind it is that basically, no one likes being lied to, and if a relationship is to flourish, it should not be peppered with lies.
In the end, the truth shall come out. You are not only in danger of losing him when the truth behind the lies is finally revealed, but you would also lose yourself in the process. Losing yourself is one of the worst possible outcomes in the end of a relationship; sometimes, it is hard to regain the sense of who you truly are.People need to be able to talk freely with a romantic partner. Sharing what is going on in one’s life and how one feels about issues is important to do. But, being open with a partner is not always easy because it requires spouses to tell the truth and to LISTEN to things that may be difficult to hear. Listening in an attempt to UNDERSTAND, not control, evaluate, or judge is critical to having an satisfying relationship.

4.Support:
Couples feel closer and are more satisfied with their relationships when they approach problems and difficulties as a team. Couples who take an US versus the PROBLEM, rather than a YOU versus ME approach to conflict are much happier in the long run.It’s not just in bad times that your partner should support you. Some people are great when your whole world is falling apart but can’t take being there when things are going right (and vice versa). In a healthy relationship, your significant other is there with a shoulder to cry on when you need it the most.

5.Care:
Nothing in this world stays long and steady.As times goes by everything under the sun changes.So it is necessary to keep thing in care in order to maintain their goodness.This is also true for love.Care in what needed to maintain a good relationship rolling.’Cause rolling sione gather no moss!Over time, couples typically take each other for granted. At the start of a relationship people appreciate all the things that their partners do for them. However, as time goes on, people tend to expect more, but acknowledge a partner’s contributions less often. To keep a relationship happy and healthy it is important to show appreciation on a consistent basis.

These 5 things are your key to a successful relationship.Relationships can be one of the best — and most challenging — parts of your world. They can be full of fun, romance, excitement, intense feelings, and occasional heartache, too. Whether you’re single or in a relationship, remember that it’s good to be choosy about who you get close to. If you’re still waiting, take your time and get to know plenty of people.
Think about the qualities you value in a friendship and see how they match up with the ingredients of a healthy relationship. Work on developing those good qualities in yourself — they make you a lot more attractive to others. And if you’re already part of a pair, make sure the relationship you’re in brings out the best in both of you.
And always  remember ‘The best relationship is the one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other’.

Glass-wing Butterflies Live in South America. A butterfly with transparent wings is rare and beautiful.

As delicate as finely blown glass, the presence of this rare tropical gem is used by jungle observers as an indication of high habitat quality. Rivaling the refined beauty of a stained glass window, the translucent wings of the Glasswing butterfly shimmer in the sunlight like polished panes of turquoise, orange, green, and red.

All things beautiful do not have to be full of color to be noticed.

In life, that which is unnoticed has the most power.

A stocky finch of mature coniferous forests, the Red Crossbill is dependent on the seed cones that are its main food. Its peculiar bill allows it access to the seeds, and it will breed whenever it finds areas with an abundance of cones. It may wander widely between years to find a good cone crop.

Parrotfish are mostly tropical, perciform marine fish of the family Scaridae. Abundant on shallow reefs of the Red Sea, Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans, the parrotfish family contains ten genera and about 90 species.

Black Baccara is a Hybrid Tea Rose with luxurious, deep red blooms of the highest quality. Give it pride of place in your border is one of the rarest breed of roses.

What is a rare fruit? My definition of a rare fruit is any fruit that is unusual, undeveloped, unexploited, or a new variety – normally grown in tropical or sub-tropical climate regions. So, a hard-to-find apple, plum, or peach, is less of a rare fruit than a ‘common’ mango. However, deciduous fruit trees are frequently a topic, in the newsletter, if they will produce in warm-winter climates.’Keitt’ is a Florida selection which has become one of the world’s most outstanding mangos. Excellent eating quality, disease resistance, productivity, and ripening time are some of the features of this four to five pound goliath. While the fruit are extremely disease resistant, the juvenile trees are extremely difficult to grow due to disease problems. For that reason we have suspended production. The fruit ripens from August to October.

How cool would it be to go out for lunch, order some clams, and bite in to a pearl potentially worth thousands of dollars?

A Lake Worth, Florida man was spending a day at the beach with his wife when he decided that a nice meal at Dave’s Last Resort was a good idea. About half way through his meal he discovered just how good of an idea it really was. He bit down in to a rare purple pearl.

Natural pearls are rare and finding one of such a color makes it even more so. For a $10 lunch his find could be worth thousands, so the Brocks plan to have the pearl appraised and have said they will sell it if it is valuable.

All I know is that I’ll have what he’s having.

The pink diamond is the world’s most rare and valuable diamond.The Argyle mine is the world’s foremost source of unrivalled intense pink diamonds, producing 95% of the world’s supply. However, an extremely small proportion of Argyle Diamonds production is Pink colour, in fact less than one tenth of 1% is classified Pink.
The legend of Argyle pink diamond has grown over the past ten years. At the 1989 Christie’s auction in New York a 3.14 carat Argyle pink sold for $1,510,000. Privately, Argyle has sold pink diamonds for up to $1 million a carat.

Agalychnis annae, commonly known as either the Blue-Sided Leaf Frog or the Yellow-Eyed Leaf Frog, is an endangered tree frog of the Hylidae family native to Costa Rica.THEY face extinction in their ideal home – the rain forests of Costa Rica, Central America.
But 5,400 miles away in Manchester 300 of the yellow-eyed leaf frogs have just been bred at the Manchester Museum’s reptile and amphibian department.

Hapalopsittaca fuertesi, fuertes parrot or the indigo-winged parrot, was first discovered in the Central Andes in 1911. It was never photographed. It was then “lost”. It has never been held in captivity, and almost nothing is known about its breeding and feeding habits. There was an unconfirmed sighting by a ornithologist in 1989, but no photographs were taken

A father passing by his son’s bedroom was astonished to see the bed nicely made up and everything neat and tidy. Then he saw an envelope propped up prominently on the pillow. It was addressed, “Dad”. With the worst premonition, he opened the envelope and read the letter with trembling hands:

Dear Dad,

It is with great regret and sorrow that I’m writing you. I had to elope with my new girlfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with you and Mom.

I’ve been finding real passion with Joan and she is so nice. I knew you would not approve of her because of all her piercings, tattoos, her tight motorcycle clothes and because she is so much older than I am but it’s not only the passion, Dad, she’s pregnant.

Joan says that we are going to be very happy. She owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood, enough for the whole winter. We share a dream of having many more children.

Joan has opened my eyes to the fact that marijuana doesn’t really hurt anyone. We’ll be growing it and trading it with the other people in the commune for all the cocaine and ecstasy we want.

In the meantime, we’ll pray that science will find a cure for cancer so Joan can get better; she sure deserves it!

Don’t worry Dad, I’m 15 years old now and I know how to take care of myself. Someday, I’m sure we’ll be back to visit so you can get to know your grandchildren.

Your son, Chad

P.S. Dad, none of the above is true. I’m over at Tommy’s house. I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than the report card that’s in my desk drawer.

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2#The Explanation

A wife comes home early to find her husband in bed with a strange woman.
She says, “That’s it, I’m leaving & never coming back.”

He says, “Don’t you at least want to hear my explanation?”

She shrugs & says, “Fine, let’s hear your story. This had better be good!”

He says, “Well, I’m driving along the street, when I see this young lady in torn clothes, no shoes, all muddy & crying. I took pity on her and asked if she would like to get cleaned up in my house. She climbed into my truck and I brought her home. She took a shower, I gave her the underwear that doesn’t fit you anymore, the silk blouse and slacks that I bought you 2 years ago that you wore once, the $150 Nike running shoes you bought & wore only twice. I gave her some of the leftover roast beef from the fridge that has just been sitting there. Then I showed her to the door. She was so grateful, for all these things, she thanked me profusely. As she was about to leave she turned around and asked me, ‘Is there anything else your wife doesn’t use anymore?’
…And here we are.”

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#3 BIRTH CONTROL!
Some women are gathered and the subject of conversation
turns to sex and then birth control. The first woman says
“We’re Catholic so we can’t use it.”

The next woman says “I am too but we use the rhythm
method.”

The third woman says “We use the bucket and saucer
method.”

“What the heck is the bucket and saucer method?”, the others
ask.

“Well, I’m five foot eleven… and my husband is five foot two. We
make love standing up with him standing on a bucket, and
when his eyes get big as saucers I kick the bucket out .

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#4 JEALOUSY
Mrs. Culpepper was almost in tears. “Oh Marie,” she said to her maid, “I have reason to suspect that my husband is
having an affair with his secretary.”

“I don’t believe it for one minute !” Marie snapped.”You’re just saying that to make me jealous !!!”

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#5 Cheating!

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#6  Birthday Message

A man wants to celebrate his wife’s Birthday by throwing a party. So he goes to order a birthday cake. The salesman asks him what message he wants to put on the cake.

Well he thinks for a while and says, “Put ‘You’re not getting older,’ at the top and ‘You’re getting better’ at the bottom.”

The real fun didn’t start until the cake was opened the entire party watched the message decorated on the cake:

“You’re not getting older at the top, You’re getting better at the bottom.”

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#7  EXHAUSTED!
A woman goes to her doctor complaining that she is exhausted all the time.
After the diagnostic tests showed nothing, the doctor gets around to asking her how often she has intercourse.
“Every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday,” she says.
The doctor advises her to cut out Wednesday.
“I can’t,” says the woman. “That’s the only night I’m home with my husband.”

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#8  ULTIMATE DESIRE!
In a city park stood two statues, one female and the other male. These two statues faced each other for many years.
Early one morning an angel appeared before the statues and said, “Since the two of you have been exemplary statues and have brought enjoyment to many people, I am giving you your greatest wish. I hereby give you the gift of life. You have 30 minutes to do whatever you desire.”
And with that command, the statues came to life.
The two statues smiled at each other, ran toward some nearby woods and dived behind a couple of bushes. The angel smiled to himself as he listened to the giggling of statues, rustling of bushes and snapping of twigs.
After 15 minutes, the two statues emerged from the bushes, satisfied and smiling. Puzzled, the angel looked at his watch and asked the statues, “You still have 15 minutes. Would you like to continue?”
The male statue looked at the female and asked, “Do you want to do it again?”
Smiling, the female statue said, “Sure. But this time you hold the pigeon down and I’LL poop on its head!”

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#9 Where Did We Came From?

A little girl asked her mother, ‘How did the human race begin?’ The mother answered, ‘God made Adam and Eve and they had children and so all mankind began with His creation.’

Two days later the girl asked her father the same question. The father answered, ‘Many years ago there were monkeys from which the human race evolved.’

The confused girl returned to her mother and said, ‘Mom, how is it possible that you told me the humanrace was created by God, and Dad said they evolved from monkeys?’

The mother answered, ‘Well, dear, it is very simple. I told you about my side of the family and your father told you about his.

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#10 The Perfect Husband

Several men are in the locker room of a golf club.

A cell phone on a bench close by begins to ring with a deafening and highly irritating Rap Tune. Someone screams, “Turn that thing off before I throw it in the shower room!”

The man nearest to the phone reaches over. He engages the hands-free speaker-function and begins to talk. Everyone else in the room stops to listen.

MAN: “Hello?”

WOMAN: “Honey, it’s me. Are you at the club?”

MAN: “Yes, I am.”

WOMAN: “I am at the mall now and found this beautiful leather coat. It’s only $1,000. Is it OK if I buy it?”

MAN: “Sure, go ahead if you like it that much.”

WOMAN: “I also stopped by the Mercedes dealership and saw the new models for next year. I saw one I really liked.”

MAN: “How much?”

WOMAN: “$60,000″

MAN: “OK, but for that price I want it with all the options.”

WOMAN: “Great! Oh, and one more thing… The house we wanted last year is back on the market. They’ve come down $10,000 and now they are asking $950,000. What do you think, should we make them an offer?”

MAN: “Absolutely. Go ahead and give them an offer, but just offer $940,000 so they will know we are serious buyers.”

WOMAN: “OK, Honey! Now you’re talking! I can’t wait to see you later! Look for me upstairs and don’t be long! I love you so much!”

MAN: “Bye, I love you, too.”

The man hangs up. The other men in the locker room are looking at him in astonishment.

Then the man smiles and asks: “Anyone know who this phone belongs to?”

A happy sexual life with your partner not only gets you in shape with better skin texture and silken tresses, it also burns extra calories, keeps you fit, combats asthma, relieves headache, reduces depression and tranquillises your mind. From make-up experts, hair stylists, sexologists and fitness connoisseurs – there’s a common consensus that a vigorous sexual life leads to a healthy life – both physically and emotionally.Experts say”The extra edge of sex may be due to the feeling of being wanted, an expression of emotions and certain hormonal and physiological changes that happen as an expression of love for another individual. Unfortunately, the benefits of sexuality are usually quoted out of context and people may look at this as a panacea for everything. But sexuality without emotions have limited value.”
So make your life healthy with these two age old human feelings;and enjoy each day(and night)to fullest.be happy!

Known as ‘Barbie’ to all of us she was first introduced at the American International Toy Fair in New York on March 9, 1959. This date is also used as Barbie’s official birthday.

The first Barbie doll wore a black and white zebra striped swimsuit and signature topknot ponytail, and was available as either a blonde or brunette. The doll was marketed as a “Teen-age Fashion Model,” with her clothes created by Mattel fashion designer Charlotte Johnson. The first Barbie dolls were manufactured in Japan, with their clothes hand-stitched by Japanese homeworkers. Around 350,000 Barbie dolls were sold during the first year of production.

She is the daughter of George and Margaret Roberts from the fictional town of Willows, Wisconsin.Barbie attended Willows High School and fictional Manhattan International High School in New York City.

She has an on-off romantic relationship with her beau Ken (Ken Carson), who first appeared in 1961. Like Barbie, Ken shares his name with one of Ruth Handler’s children. A news release from Mattel in February 2004 announced that Barbie and Ken had decided to split up, but in February 2006 they were back together again.

Barbie has had over forty pets including cats and dogs, horses, a panda, a lion cub, and a zebra..BarbieÒdoll’s first pet was a horse named Dancer.

She has owned a wide range of vehicles, including pink Corvette convertibles, trailers and jeeps. She also holds a pilot’s license, and operates commercial airliners in addition to serving as a flight attendant.

Barbie’s careers are designed to show that women can take on a variety of roles in life, and the doll has been sold with a wide range of titles including Miss Astronaut Barbie (1965), Doctor Barbie (1988) and Nascar Barbie (1998).In these 5 decades she She’s enjoyed 108 careers; as a nurse, astronaut, doctor, Marine and, long before Hillary, Barbie was a presidential candidate. Her newest job? A TV chef.

BarbieÒ doll has had more than a billion pair of shoes and over one hundred new additions to her wardrobe annually.BarbieÒ doll’s signature color is Barbie pink. BarbieÒdoll’s collection of couture includes designs by Givenchy, Versace, Dolce & Gabana, Vera Wang and Gucci..Close to 1 billion fashions have been produced since 1959 for BarbieÒand her friends.At the Barbie Design Center outside Los Angeles, Mattel is bringing the doll back to those roots with their latest creation, a tribute to the very first Bathing Suit Barbie.

And for a limited time, Mattel is even throwing back the price tag to just $3 — the original 1959 price.

The company hopes the birthday celebration will boost the bottom line. Like the rest of America, Barbie is hurting in this economy. Sales took a huge hit during the 2008 holiday season — down 21 percent.

We wish her very best in life.

Economic liberalization and the new freedom mantra has thrown open a new world of market opportunities for women. There is virtually no field of enterprise that women cannot enter, and fewer restrictions and pressures. Today like never before women in India can do any job they set their minds to.Women workforce constitutes an integral part of total workforce in India. On 31st march 2004, women constituted 19 per cent of the total workforce. Although most women in India work and contribute to the economy in one form or another, much of their work is not documented or accounted for in official statistics.As on the 31st March, 2005 a total number of 50.16 Lacs women employees were engaged in the organized sector, out of which 29.21 lacs (58per cent) in the public sector and 20.95 lacs (42per cent) in the Private Sector. Employment of women in public sector increased by 1.1 percent and by 2.5 percent in the private sector during 2004-2005.However,the participation of women in the labor force has always been lower than that of men, in the rural as well as urban areas. The work participation rate for women has increased significantly. In the women workforce, women from rural areas are greater in number as compared to the
urban women. Amongst rural women workers, a majority is employed in agriculture and some are employed in cottage industries. Women plow fields and harvest crops while working on farms, women weave and make handicrafts while working in household industries, women sell food and gather wood while working in the informal sector. Additionally, women are traditionally responsible for the daily household chores (e.g., cooking, fetching water, and looking after children). Since Indian culture hinders women’s access to jobs in stores, factories and the public sector, the informal sector is particularly important for women. There are estimates that over 90 percent of workingwomen are involved in the informal sector.
The informal sector includes jobs such as domestic servant, small trader, artisan, or field laborer on a family farm. Most of these jobs are unskilled and low paying and do not provide benefits to the worker. More importantly, however, cultural practices vary from region to region. Though it is a broad generalization, North India tends to be more patriarchal and feudal than South India. Women in northern India have more restrictions placed on their behavior, thereby restricting their access to work. Southern India tends to be more egalitarian, women have relatively more freedom, and women have a more prominent presence in society. Cultural restrictions however are changing, and women are freer to participate in the formal economy, though the shortage of jobs throughout the country contributes to low female employment. But in the recent years, conditions of working women in India have improved considerably. More and more women find themselves in positions of respect and prestige, more and more workplaces are now populated with women who work on equal terms as men. Working is no longer an adjustment, a mere necessity; but a means to self worth and growth.

In 2000, all 189 Member States of the United Nations adopted the Millennium Declaration, in which one of their commitments was to “promote gender equality and the empowerment of women as effective ways to combat poverty,hunger and disease and to stimulate development that is truly sustainable”. The eight Millennium Development Goals provide a framework of time-bound targets by which progress towards the fulfillment of the commitments in the Millennium Declaration is being measured. The third of these Goals calls explicitly for gender equality and women’s empowerment.According to MDG report 2008;although a larger proportion of women is in the labour force than in the past,women still face greater difficulties than men in securing a paid job. Worldwide,women account for less than 40 per cent of total wage employment outside agriculture. Among those in such employment, women continue to lack access to decent work, job security and social protection. In the overall quest to increase the availability of decent work, greater attention should be paid to the special situation of women.Women are more likely than men to be unpaid contributing family workers or own-account workers, especially in the poorer countries where women’s access to full and productive employment is limited.Without a decent job, escaping poverty may prove impossible.In India share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector is 18.1.

Historically, women have been the backbone of the rural economy, but they are paid less, work longer, and do harder manual labor than men. This situation has been exacerbated under neoliberalism. Between 1991 and 2001, for example, the number of women in marginal jobs more than doubled from 25 million to 51 million.Women are less likely than men to hold paid and regular jobs and more often work in the informal economy which provides little financial security…informal employment is persistent and widespread …the average earnings are too low to raise households out of poverty. The number of women job seekers has increased from 99.3 lacs in 1999 to 106.1 lacs in 2004. Thus the percentage of women job seekers to the total job-seekers has also increased from 24.6per cent in 1999 to 26.2per cent in 2004.

In spite of all these ,there is no doubt that we are in the midst of a great revolution in the history of women. Women have now not only found their place in work places but are also party to governance. In recent years there have been explicit moves to increase women’s political participation. Women have been given representation in the Panchayati Raj system as a sign of political empowerment.