The shift in economic structure from agricultural to the modern service sector is hypothesized to promote growth by delivering inclusive quality employment. However, service sector is primarily associated with ‘high skilled’ labour, and in a context of labour surplus economy like India, there are concerns about labour absorption in services due to high presence of low and unskilled labour. Women make up a significant proportion of unskilled workers, but little is known about their participation in the service sector in the aftermath of economic structural change. Therefore, it becomes imperative to examine the participation of women within informal labour market in the services sector jobs. This article examines how employment opportunities fare for informal women workers within the services sector in cities? Can employment avenues that arise from expansion of services provide quality employment opportunities by leading them to step out of existing gender stereotypes in the labour market? Further, are these jobs equally accessible to all women? This is examined through micro-level analysis from survey, interviews and case studies of women workers in low-income neighbourhoodsof Hyderabad, India. In recent decades, Hyderabad has emerged as an epicentre for IT, attracting domestic and foreign players and drastically changing the city's labour and social landscape. Based on findings, the article attempts to analyse gendering the labour in modern informal service sector akin to the traditional categorization of women’s work. The article posits there is strong segmentation in modern economy and informal labour market based on institutional lines, which influences inclusion and exclusion of female workers. While the jobs are segmented on basis of gender, caste, education, new forms of segmentation are emerging in the forms of age, appearance, and intra-household factors, keeping women limited to only certain avenues in the modern economy.

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