The Kerala High Court recently struck down a discriminatory provision in the State's excise rules that prohibited women from working in toddy shops. Rule 7(37) of the Kerala Abkari Shops Disposal Rules, 2002, does not allow women to be employed in a toddy shop in any capacity. The judgement is welcome, but it is far from the first of its kind.

In Dhanyamol CJ v State of Kerala (2015), the High Court struck down a similar provision, Rule 27A of the Foreign Liquor Rules, 1953, allowing women to work in bars and hotels. A year later, in B Sanuja & Others v State of Kerala (2016), the court set aside the restriction on women working in outlets of BEVCO, the government-owned corporation that runs the State's only retail liquor chain and recruits its staff through the Public Service Commission.

Why such laws, and why are they unfortunate?

Provisions of this kind rest on a protective rationale. Several of Kerala's laws governing the employment of women are prohibitory in character, closing certain occupations to women altogether. The State has defended them as a precautionary stance that shields women from workplaces it considers difficult or unsafe. The intent may be protection; the effect is exclusion.

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It is unfortunate that in a State which rightly takes pride in the achievements of its women in........

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