Indian Women Navigating Informal Work in Selangor: A Study of Socio-Legal Perceptions and Structural Challenges

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-785-9_31How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Legal exclusion; Policy support; Socioeconomic barriers; Women

Abstract

This study investigates how Malaysian Indian women perceive their involvement in informal work and their understanding of the legal frameworks that govern such economic activities. Informal work has long served as a viable avenue for women to supplement household income, especially for those balancing domestic responsibilities and caregiving duties. Within traditional communities, women’s roles have often been shaped by social expectations, limiting their access to formal employment and legal recognition. These constraints have resulted in many Indian women engaging in informal work without legal registration, business licensing, or awareness of available support. Informal work becomes not only a survival strategy but also a reflection of how women internalize responsibility for their families while navigating the limitations imposed by social and legal structures. The data for this study were gathered through in-depth interviews with 20 Malaysian Indian women residing in Selangor, selected through purposive sampling. The qualitative data were analysed thematically. Three themes were identified that reflect participants’ socio-legal perceptions. First, informal work is seen as an extension of women’s domestic roles and a means of preserving family stability. Second, participants expressed uncertainty, fear, and confusion about formalization and licensing due to perceived complexity, costs, and lack of guidance. Third, women highlighted systemic challenges such as inadequate access to information, spatial limitations, and lack of institutional outreach and recognition. This study offers insights into gendered economic participation, legal invisibility, and the lived realities of Indian women in Malaysia’s informal economy. It also calls attention to the need for inclusive, accessible, and culturally responsive policy interventions to bridge the gap between informal workers and formal legal structures.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - Hemavathi Gunasegaran
AU  - Amirah Shazana Magli
AU  - Gazi Md Nurul Islam
AU  - Muhammad Haziq Bin Zaini
AU  - Mohamad Fazli Sabri
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/07
TI  - Indian Women Navigating Informal Work in Selangor: A Study of Socio-Legal Perceptions and Structural Challenges
BT  - Proceedings of the UUM 13th International Legal Conference 2025 (UUMILC 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 446
EP  - 461
SN  - 2667-128X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-785-9_31
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-785-9_31
ID  - Gunasegaran2026
ER  -