Gender, Labor, and Resistance: Examining the Penkoottu Movement in Kozhikode and the Gender Dynamics of Kerala’s Working-Class Struggles

The working-class movement has been central to Kerala’s political transformation, yet women’s participation in these movements has often been minimal. This paper focuses on the Penkoottu movement, a grassroots initiative of working-class women in Kozhikode’s SM Street, which began with salesgirls’ protests for basic rights such as access to restrooms, and later expanded to demand the right to sit and fair compensation during involuntary retirement. The movement exposed the gender-specific challenges faced by women in the workplace and critiqued the shortcomings of traditional trade unions in addressing these issues.

Methodologically, this study draws on a combination of primary data, including interviews with participants and analysis of protest documentation, and secondary literature that contextualizes the movement within broader labour and feminist discourses. Through qualitative analysis, the research investigates the gender dynamics at play in the Penkoottu movement and highlights how it challenges conventional labour politics and capitalist structures.

The findings reveal that despite the efforts of mainstream trade unions, they often failed to adequately address the specific needs of female workers, particularly in non-unionized sectors like sales girls in textile shops. By rejecting mainstream political and union leadership, the movement pushed for a re-evaluation of labour rights through a gendered lens. This paper argues for the importance of integrating gender into the analysis of labour movements to fully understand the intersection of class and gender struggles in Kerala’s evolving political landscape.