essay on women's employment in india

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The female workforce in India: Emerging trends and insights

Author : Sunaina Kumar

Expert Speak India Matters

Published on mar 07, 2024.

The female workforce in India is changing as younger women with higher levels of education enter the workforce

This article is part of the series — International Women's Day

India’s workforce is predominantly male. For a country that is seeking to harness its demographic dividend, with the largest working-age population in the world—expected to touch nearly  70 percent by 2030—we simply cannot afford low participation of women in the workforce anymore. India is poised to become the biggest contributor to global growth. A recent  report  has forecast that the next five years are crucial for the country to achieve a GDP growth rate of 8 percent, and to ensure that growth, women must account for more than half of the new workforce which will be created by 2030.

The gender gap in India’s labour force, attributed largely to conservative social norms and due to both demand side (work opportunities) and supply side (availability of women for work) factors, remains the most persistent paradox of recent decades.

The decline in female workforce participation in the country has historical precedence. The female labour force participation rate (FLFPR)  was recorded  at  24.1 percent shortly after Independence in  1955 . In 1972, the FLFPR had increased to 33 percent, after which it steadily declined and fell to its lowest level in 2017 at 23 percent. The gender gap in India’s labour force, attributed largely to conservative social norms and due to both demand side (work opportunities) and supply side (availability of women for work) factors, remains the most persistent paradox of recent decades. This is despite increased economic growth, a decrease in fertility rates and increased enrolment of women in higher education over decades. The exclusion of women from paid work has resulted in perpetual gender inequality in the economy. Traditionally, women in India have largely been employed in labour-intensive, low-paid, informal work without social security.

There has, however, been an improvement in the FLFPR in the last six years and new trends are emerging.  Data from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (2022-23) indicates that FLFPR is at 37 percent, an increase of 4.2 percentage points from the last survey (2021-22).

Younger, more educated women entering the workforce 

This shift is reflected in other reports, like the  State of Working India Report 2023 , which pointed to a decrease in gender disparities in employment trends in India. The reduction is linked to structural transformations in the economy, leading to shifts in the female workforce across the country.  

• The report  shows that older women with lower levels of education are exiting the workforce. At the same time, younger women with higher levels of education are entering it.
• The number of women in salaried employment is increasing, while women in informal wage work are decreasing.
• The share of women working in agriculture is decreasing. The proportion of women entering the services sector is increasing.

As the number of women in salaried employment increases, it has a positive impact on the gender gap in earnings, which decreases with more women leaving casual wage work. These shifts in the female workforce imply a longer-term impact on women’s economic participation in the country.

Women in India, and many developing countries, are widely engaged in unpaid economic work—different from care work or domestic work, like working on farms or family enterprises for instance—for which they are neither paid nor recognised as workers.

The overall increase in women’s participation in the labour force is driven by more rural women joining the workforce. The PLFS data show that the LFPR increased by 5 percentage points for urban women and 14 percentage points for rural women. This could partly be  linked  to a more accurate measurement of women’s work, according to several analyses. Women in India, and many developing countries, are widely engaged in  unpaid economic work —different from care work or domestic work, like working on farms or family enterprises for instance—for which they are neither paid nor recognised as workers. The data being collected now is more cognisant of the historical mismeasurement of women’s work and might be the reason for the increase in FLFPR. Women unpaid workers rose from 31.7 percent of total women workers to 37 percent from 2017-18 to 2022-23.

Rise in women’s self-employment, but no difference in care burden

In the latest round of PLFS (2022-23), another significant trend was observed, the proportion of self-employed women rose to its highest at 70.1 percent, up from 60 percent in 2021-22. The category of  self -employed  has two sub-categories in PLFS —own account worker   and  employer,  and  unpaid helper  in household enterprises. More than half of the women worked as “unpaid helpers” in family enterprises.  

The increase in self-employed workers can also be interpreted as a sign of  more women taking up entrepreneurship across the country.

The share of self-employed female workers has always been higher in rural areas as compared to urban areas.  Agriculture and allied activities  account for three-fourths of the work that rural women are involved in. The increase in self-employed workers can also be interpreted as a sign of  more women  taking up entrepreneurship across the country. Under Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana, which extends micro-credit for entrepreneurship, nearly  70 percent  of beneficiaries are female and  84 percent  of loans sanctioned under Start-Up India have also gone to female beneficiaries. Both these programmes have been enabled through the drive for digital financial inclusion in recent years, which have been gender inclusive in design.

Some caveats, however, must be looked at. The State of India Working Report connects the rise in self-employed rural women to the rise in economic distress after the pandemic, which has impacted women more than men. The data bears this out. The increase in the self-employed category of workers, which was prevalent during the pandemic amongst both men and for women, is back to pre-pandemic levels for men but remains increased for women. It might be that both trends coexist, economic distress forced more women to enter paid work, and easy access to credit through government schemes has enabled more women to start micro-enterprises. In any case, there is a fundamental shift underway in women’s participation in the Indian economy.

The increase in the self-employed category of workers, which was prevalent during the pandemic amongst both men and for women, is back to pre-pandemic levels for men but remains increased for women.

Not unexpectedly, despite the overall increase in women’s workforce participation, the burden of care work and domestic work on women has not decreased. Women in India spend an  average  of 7.2 hours on unpaid domestic work compared to 2.8 hours spent by men, which has a direct bearing on their ability to participate in paid work.

With more women entering paid work in the country, the quality of employment will matter, with decent work, defined by fair income, social protection and safe working conditions, as the underlying goal. At the same time, women’s entry into the workforce must be supported with greater investments in care infrastructure and services, along with the reduction and redistribution of care work at home.

Sunaina Kumar is a Senior Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation

• GENDER ISSUES
• economic distress
• economic growth
• entrepreneurship
• female workforce
• rural women
• self-employment
• structural transformations
• unpaid work
• urban women

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Sunaina Kumar

Sunaina Kumar is a Senior Fellow at ORF and Executive Director at Think20 India Secretariat. At ORF, she works with the Centre for New Economic ...

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Bridging the Gap: Helping women enter the workforce with job fairs and 21st-century skills

February 22, 2024.

Women often lack the opportunities and resources to realize their immense potential. The current participation of women in India’s labour force is estimated to be around 37% as per the recent Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) . The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) India has been working to bridge the gap and enable women by providing access to the opportunities and resources they deserve. Eight remarkable women, each with a unique story and shared determination, are shining examples of the transformative impact of UNDP's initiatives in collaboration with the Magic Bus India Foundation , supported by government partners, non-governmental organizations, Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs), and government colleges. 

Paving the Path to Employment

Since 2022, UNDP's job placement initiatives have opened doors for over 25,000 women across Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat, and Karnataka, connecting them with local employment opportunities. Priyanka and Anu's stories exemplify this impact.

Priyanka, a 20-year-old commerce graduate from Sonipat, Haryana, with aspirations of pursuing an MBA, seized the opportunity presented at a UNDP-organized job fair, eventually landing a position at Subhmanu Management Consultant Private Limited. She has always been interested in banking, as she believes it is a dynamic and rewarding field that can offer her many opportunities for learning and growth. Priyanka plans to spend her first salary treating her family with gifts and a feast and save up for her MBA.

Anu, a 20-year-old management graduate from Jagsi, Haryana, driven by her passion for research and education, found her place at Peel-Works Solution Private Limited through the same initiative, taking steps towards her goal of creating educational content for aspiring management students. She believes that education is the key to empowerment and social change. Anu plans to spend her first salary on buying a comfortable chair for her mother, who suffers from a spinal problem, and getting a life insurance policy for herself. Anu wants society to allow women to work and contribute to the nation's development.

Nurturing 21st Century Skills

Enabling women with 21st-century skills to secure employment is at the core of UNDP’s work. It has helped women like Komal and Anchal to achieve their aspirations.

Komal, a second-year Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA) student from Nangal Kalan, Punjab, honed her confidence and communication skills through UNDP's capacity-building programmes, leading to a successful placement at Innovsource Services Private Limited. She has many aspirations for her future, such as completing her education with excellent grades, gaining more knowledge and experience in her field, and pursuing a Master of Computer Applications (MCA) degree. With her first salary, Komal wants to take her mother for a medical check-up to ensure her good health. She wants women to have self-confidence and trust in their abilities. Komal believes women can overcome the social and familial barriers that often hold them back by talking to their parents.

Anchal, from Murthal, Haryana, armed with a Bachelor of Arts degree and a desire to contribute to education, found her footing at Vistaar Financial Solution Private Limited with newfound communication skills acquired through UNDP workshops. She thinks society should have more conversations about women and work and more awareness around job fairs like the one hosted by UNDP and Magic Bus Foundation. Anchal aspires to teach in either the government or private educational institutions. Her message is clear: do not give up on your dreams and keep trying to convince your family.

Facilitating Access to New Horizons

UNDP does more than just help women find jobs and education. It also supports them to access the resources, information, and opportunities they need to impact their communities positively. Empowering women enables them to become leaders and changemakers in various fields.

For Kirti, a 19-year-old girl from Ganaur, Haryana, having access to opportunities closer home was a game-changer. Kirti found a lifeline through a nearby job fair, securing a position at Innovsource Services Private Limited. Kirti plans to save some of her income for her niece’s education. She also encourages others to pursue their dreams and challenge traditional gender roles and advocates for the equal sharing of domestic responsibilities between partners.

At 21, Sheetal from Panipat, Haryana, aspires to entrepreneurship in fashion design. She took her first steps towards her dream by participating in the same fair, leading to her placement at Team Lead HR Solution Private Limited. Sheetal emphasizes the need for women to study hard and expand their horizons. Sheetal aims to use her income to take her father for eye surgery that has been long due.

Commitment to Improving Gender Equality 

Gender Equality and Leaving No One Behind are central to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNDP recognizes women often lack the resources and confidence to access employment opportunities. We work with young women through mentorship and soft skills training to bridge this gap.

For 19-year-old Sheenu from Sonipat, Haryana, soft skills training, mock interviews, mentoring from trainers and teachers, resume preparation, and exposure to job fairs have been transformative tools. It has not only expanded her horizons but also allowed her to meet like-minded people and get that first work opportunity to learn and make a living. She aims to pursue an MCA from an open university. Sheenu works with Adhaan Solution Private Limited and wants to take her father and mother shopping for a health checkup when she receives her first salary.

Twenty-one-year-old Tanisha from Bhigan, Haryana, is preparing for the National Eligibility Test. She has a diploma in computer applications and aspires to take the civil services exam. Initially, her family did not support her taking a job outside her village. However, with her newfound confidence during the training and with other girls in her community, she convinced her family to take up a job far from home and is now placed at Ancy HR Solution Private Limited through the job fair. She believes that women can become leaders in their fields and emphasises the need for parents to provide guidance and support to explore opportunities beyond their traditional expectations. Motivated by Tanisha’s success, her two other friends are now pursuing work opportunities.

These stories are just a glimpse of UNDP’s work in facilitating and enabling skilling, employment, and entrepreneurship opportunities to leverage India’s demographic dividend and increase employment potential for women.

In celebrating the successes of these women, we celebrate not just personal victories but a significant stride towards a more inclusive and equitable world for us all.

Inputs from Divya Jain, State Project Head, UNDP India

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Structural Changes and Quality of Women’s Labour in India

• Published: 07 October 2020
• Volume 63 , pages 689–717, ( 2020 )

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The primary objective of this paper is to look at the trends and pattern of changes in women’s employment structure over years (1983–2018) consequent upon the structural changes in the Indian economy. It also attempts to analyse the quality of women’s labour in terms of select parameters. The study finds that there is neither quantitative nor qualitative improvement in women’s employment over time on account of structural changes in the economy. There is no ‘U’ curve of female labour supply in response to GDP growth and expansion of female literacy, implying that economic growth has not generated adequate jobs for women. It also signifies that women’s entry or exit of labour market is influenced by non-economic factors also. There is no major occupational diversification in women’s employment despite structural shift of the economy from primary to tertiary sector. Agriculture is still the leading sector in women’s employment. The study further reveals that the quality of women’s labour is poor. Overcrowding of workforce in agriculture largely as wage labourers, lower earnings, poor literacy levels, large-scale informal employment and most self-employment in the form of unpaid work are indications of women’s disadvantaged position in the labour market.

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Mapping Structural Break and Sectoral Movement on Female Employment in India Since 1991

Status of Women Workers in India

Globalisation and gender inequality: evidence from labour market in india.

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1 Introduction

Employment of women is considered as a measure of women’s economic empowerment and is also an important indicator of women’s contribution to economic development. The work participation rate (WPR) of women of India is showing a downward trend in the last few decades. It has declined from 29.6% in 1983 to 21.9% in 2011–2012 as per the 38th and 68th rounds of National Sample Survey and further to 16.5% according to the recently published Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS 2017–2018). Not only the work participation rate of women has been declining, the size of women workforce in absolute numbers is also shrinking. It has dropped from 148.59 million in 2004–2005 to 104.1 million in 2017–2018. The falling trend in women’s labour market participation has serious implication for the economy because the current demographic structure seems to be favourable to India. India has the largest number of young working population in the age group of 15–34 years and is considered as the youngest country in the world today. The benefits of the demographic dividend Footnote 1 are likely to be deterred if women stay out of work. It is important to note in this context that mere entry into labour market does not imply the economic well-being of women. Quality of employment is equally important as that reflects the status of women in the workforce. An attempt is made in this paper to address the following research questions. How does women’s labour market participation respond to GDP growth in India? What are the major structural changes in Indian economy? Has structural changes altered the employment structure of women workforce? Is there improvement in the quality of women’s labour?

The study is based on the employment and unemployment surveys of NSSO, Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), Census of India and data published by NITI Aayog, Government of India. Other data sources are also used wherever necessary. The NSS reports of the 38th (1983), 43rd (1987–1988), 50th (1993–1994), 55th (1999–2000), 61st (2004–2005), 66th (2009–2010) and 68th (2011–2012) rounds along with PLFS (2017–2018) have been used to map the trends and patterns of female work force participation; sectoral shifts in women’s employment and also to assess the quality of women’s employment. NSS provides three different employment estimates based on three approaches to activity classification-usual status, current weekly status and current daily status. This paper uses the employment estimates based on usual status approach Footnote 2 as it includes principal status (ps) and subsidiary status (ss). Further, the concept work participation rate (WPR) is used in this study to measure women’s participation in the labour market. Footnote 3 Statistical technique such as compound annual growth rate is used along with descriptive statistics for data analysis.

Trends in female labour force participation across many developed countries trace out a U-shaped curve of female labour supply. Goldin ( 1994 ) argues that female labour force participation declines initially with economic development and then rises on account of structural shifts in the economy, decline in fertility rates and expansion of women’s education resulting in a U-shaped curve of female labour supply. The Indian experience is very different as the female labour supply does not show the ‘U’ trajectory as found in most other countries. Many studies using NSS data have appeared  in recent years in both India and abroad explaining the falling trend in women’s employment with economic growth. The findings of most studies make it clear that work participation rates of women in India are declining on account of increase in household income and increase in enrolment of women in both rural and urban India (Chatterjee et al. 2015 ; Thomas 2012 ; Bhalla and Kaur 2011 ). Higher attendance in schools by girls has resulted in the withdrawal of mothers from labour force to look after the younger siblings (Krishna et al. 2016 ).

It has been pointed out that highly educated women are more likely to marry highly educated men earning high incomes, and hence remain out of the labour force (Chatterjee et al. 2018 ). Next, Hirway ( 2012 ) argues that with the incidence of poverty as high as 40%, it is impossible for 85% of rural women and 89% of urban women to stay out of paid work. A few studies point out that the decline is owing to absence of employment opportunities, particularly for rural women, in non-farm sector (Ramesh and Srivastava 2014 ; Kannan and Raveendran 2012 ). There is also evidence that the mechanisation of agriculture has contributed to the decline in demand for female agricultural labour (Verick 2018 ). It is further claimed that large missing female labour force is owing to measurement fallacy and the difficulty of differentiating between domestic duties and contributing family work (Mehrotra 2015 ). Sociocultural norms as well, dissuade women’s participation in labour force (Srivastava and Srivastava 2010 ). Thus, many factors influence the entry and exit of women from the labour market.

Studies also emphasise that a larger proportion of women are opting to stay out of the labour force mainly to attend to ‘domestic duties’, which clearly reflects the pressure of household and caring responsibilities on women (Rangarajan et al. 2011 ; Sudarshan and Bhattacharya 2009 ). According to the OECD report ( 2019 ), women in India spend on average 352 minutes a day on unpaid work as against 52 minutes by men. Findings of a few researches indicate that greater proportion of women workers are in the informal sector in India and are subject to high degrees of gender discrimination (Tiwari and Tiwari 2016 ; Sharma 2012 and Das 2012 ). Against this backdrop, the present research paper aims to look at the relationship between the growth of GDP and women’s work participation in India; major structural changes in the Indian economy and resultant changes in the employment structure of women workforce; and also appraise the quality of women’s labour in terms of select indicators.

2 Female work participation rate in India

Table  1 presents the WPR in India by the usual status. The WPR of women is not only low but is showing a falling trend since 2009–2010. Female WPR which was as high as 29.6% in 1983 had dropped to 16.5% in 2017–2018, by about 13 percentage points. During the entire period of 1983 to 2017–2018, there was an increase in WPR of women by three percentage points only between 1999–2000 and 2004–2005. The increase in female workforce in 2004–2005 has been attributed to a decline in the growth rate of agriculture which has increased the work participation rate of women mainly as unpaid family workers in the agriculture sector (Mehrotra and Sinha 2017 ). ‘Added worker effect’ theory also emphasises that women’s participation in work force increases during economic crisis to supplement the declining household income (Chaudhary and Verick 2014 ; Abraham 2009 ). In absolute numbers also, the supply of female workers has drastically declined by 44.49 million during 2004–2005 and 2017–2018, which is a cause for concern. It is pertinent to note in this context that for the first time the NSSO statistics on the measurement of employment and unemployment situation in India shows a decline in the size of workforce in absolute numbers. The total number of workers has declined from 472.9 million in 2011–2012 to 457.4 million in 2017–2018. Much of the decline in the size of workers has happened in rural areas and among women workers which dropped from 101.8 million in 2011–2012 to 72.9 million in 2017–2018 (by 28.9 million). In urban India, female labour supply has increased by 3.86 million during the same period.

A closer look at the rural–urban composition of the women workforce reveals that rural women’s WPR is much higher than their urban counterparts in all the periods of study. It is important to note that though the WPR of both women in rural and urban India is declining since 2009–2010, the rate of decline seems to be more rapid among rural than urban women. While for rural women the WPR declined from 32.7% in 2004–2005 to 17. 5% in 2017–2018 (15 percentage points), for urban women it dropped from 16.6 to 14.2% (2.4 percentage points), during the same period. In the case of men, it is found that more than 50% of them are in the workforce in both rural and urban India over time, but even male WPR declined by two percentage points between 2011–2012 and 2017–2018. Figure  1 presents the trends in WPR of male and female workers in India.

Source : NSSO, 68 th Round, Report No. 554, Employment and Unemployment Situation in India, 2011–12 and Periodic Labour Force Survey, 2017–18, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, National Statistical Office, Government of India

Trends in male/female WPR in India.

The rural–urban gap in female WPR is shrinking, mainly due to the withdrawal of women workers in large numbers from the rural labour market. This gap has fallen from 19 percentage points in 1983 to three percentage points in 2017–2018. There exists male/female gap in WPR as well, and the difference is showing a rising tendency. The gap has expanded from 24 percentage points in 1983 to 36 percentage points in 2017–2018. The gender gap in WPR is relatively more in urban (39 percentage points) than rural India (34 percentage points), not because rural women are on equal footing with men but because of low work participation levels of urban women.

A study of age-wise WPR in India among female workers highlights that there is a continuous decline in WPR of girls in the age groups of 5–9 and 10–14 years in both rural and urban areas, which is a positive indicator of decline in the incidence of female child labour in the country. Further, it is seen that between 2011–2012 and 2017–2018, the WPR of women in the age group of 15–29 years has significantly declined by nine percentage points in rural and by five percentage points in urban areas. This decline may be due to increased enrolment of women in rural and urban India. The consistent rise in the WPR of women in rural and urban India in the age group 30–44 years during 1983 and 2017–2018 is a positive aspect as women's work force now consists largely of those in the productive age group. No definite pattern is found in the WPR of rural and urban women in the age group of 45–59 and 60 + years (see Table  2 ). The greatest concern in this context is the decline in the WPR of women in the age group 15+ from 29% in 2011–2012 to 22% in 2017–2018. Footnote 4 Disaggregated data present an alarming trend of decline in the WPR of women in the age group 30–44 years in the more developed states of Karnataka, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, and also in low-income states of Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

Analysing the unemployment figures among women for the period 1983 to 2017–2018, it is noticed that non-availability of jobs seems to be one of the prime factors accounting for decline in the WPR of women in India. Higher levels of female unemployment according to usual status were found in urban India. Unemployment rates have actually doubled for both rural and urban women between 2011–2012 and 2017–2018. For rural women, unemployment rate has increased from 1.6 to 3.8% between 2011–2012 and 2017–2018, and for urban women, it has increased from 5 to 10.8% during the same period (see Table  3 ). A study of unemployment rates among young women (15–29 years) reveals that it has increased from 4.2% in 2004–2005 to 13.6% in 2017–2018 for rural women and from 14.9 to 27.2% for urban women during the same period. The increase has happened largely between 2011–2012 and 2017–2018. In rural areas, it has increased by nine percentage points, and in urban areas, it has increased by 14 percentage points (PLFS 2017–2018). A look at the recent unemployment data among the educated women indicates that there is over supply of educated women in relation to the growth of jobs for educated women that has resulted in lower WPR of women. While the unemployment rate for educated rural females (secondary and above) has increased from 9.7 to 17.3% between 2011–2012 and 2017–2018, it has increased from 10.3 to 19.8% for urban educated females (see Table  3 ).

3 GDP Growth and Female WPR in India

Economic growth means a rise in GDP Footnote 5 or national income. Economic growth enables a country to raise its living standards through greater consumption of goods and services. According to IMF Report (2015), India turned out to be the fastest growing economy in the world with remarkable GDP growth rate of 7.9% in 2011. Linking GDP growth and female WPR in India, it is found that when GDP grew at 4% per annum during 1983 and 1987–1988, female employment registered a negative growth rate of 1% (refer Table  4 ). When GDP growth increased to 5.7%, female employment growth also increased but by an insignificant rate of 0.1% during 1987–1988 and 1993–1994. Further increase in GDP growth by 6.8% during 1993–1994 and 2004–2005 was accompanied by a drop in female employment growth by 1.6%. Only between 1999–2000 and 2004–2005, the WPR of women recorded the highest growth rate of 2.1% when GDP growth rate dropped by one percentage point. When GDP growth rate touched the figure of 9% in 2009–2010, female employment growth rate witnessed a considerable fall by 4.5%. In the recent period (2017–2018), steep decline in the growth of GDP from 7.8% in 2011–2012 to 5.3% was associated with an alarming drop in female employment growth by 5%. Overall, while GDP growth rate was at 6%, growth in female WPR was negative during 1983 and 2017–2018 which makes it clear that there is no significant relationship between economic growth and female WPR in India. Decline in female employment growth was more in rural (2%) than urban India (0.2%) during 1983–2018. Highest decline in female employment growth by 6% was recorded in 2017–2018 in rural India. Figure  2 clearly illustrates that there is no convex impact of GDP on female labour market participation. On the contrary, an inverted ‘U’ curve supply of female labour is observed in India.

Source : NITI Aayog, National Statistics, http://niti.gov.in/content/national-statistics , NSSO, 68 th Round, Report No. 554, Employment and Unemployment Situation in India, 2011–12 and Periodic Labour Force Survey, 2017–18

GDP growth and female WPR in India.

4 Structural Changes in the Indian Economy

In the process of economic development, there is structural change Footnote 6 in the economy. The concept ‘structural change/transformation’ was first introduced by Fisher ( 1939 ) and later developed by other economists (Kaldor 1957 ; Kuznets 1966 ). According to them, with the growth of an economy, the sectoral composition of output and employment undergo changes. Structural change results in a shift in the shares of GDP and labour force from the primary to secondary and tertiary sectors. Indian economy like many other developing countries has witnessed significant structural changes in recent years. An important change is the steady decline in the share of the primary sector, which predominantly includes agriculture and allied activities, in GDP of India. Primary sector’s contribution to GDP declined from 37.9% in 1983–1984 to 15.9% in 2017–2018, recording a negative growth rate of 2.5% per annum. The share of the secondary sector has gone up from 23.9% in 1983–1984 to 29.7% in 2017–2018 registering an insignificant growth rate of 0.6% per annum. Tertiary sector’s share in GDP has increased remarkably from 38% in 1983–1984 to 54.4% in 2017–2018, recording a growth rate of 1% per annum (see Table  5 ).

The decreasing share of agriculture in GDP is a positive indicator, as it signifies a greater diversification and shift of resources from agriculture to non-agricultural sectors. The contribution of the agriculture sector to national income is less than 2% in many developed countries like USA, UK, Germany and Canada (IMF 2015 ). With high growth in India, the primary sector witnessed a rapid decline in its share of GDP; the tertiary sector has recorded a significant increase in its share, and the share of industrial sector rising at a slower pace over the decades (see Fig.  3 ).

Source : NITI Aayog, National Statistics, http://niti.gov.in/content/national-statistics

Sectoral share of GDP in India over time.

5 Changes in the Employment Structure of Women Workforce

In response to changes in the relative share of the three sectors in GDP, women’s employment has also shifted in the same direction from primary to tertiary sector, but the pace of change in women’s employment seems to be slow. According to 2017–2018 (PLFS) data, agriculture continues to dominate women’s employment (57%) despite the decline in its share of GDP (15.9%). Tertiary sector is the largest contributor to GDP (54%), but its share in women’s employment is 25%. Secondary sector, the second highest contributor to GDP (30%), accounts for 18% share of women’s employment. A closer look at the rural and urban trends shows that the rate of decline in primary sector’s share of women’s employment is steeper (− 3.44%) in urban than rural areas (− 0.55%) owing to greater availability of non-farm work in urban regions (see Table  6 ).

In rural India, the secondary sector exhibited a rapid expansion in the share of female employment by six percentage points, from 7.1 to 13.4% between 1983 and 2017–2018, despite slow performance of secondary sector in GDP contribution. The share of the tertiary sector in rural women’s employment seemed to be stagnant at 5% in the initial periods and has displayed slow progress since 1999–2000 (see Fig.  4 ). While the tertiary sector shows an increasing share of income, the labour absorbing capacity by this sector seems to be low in rural areas. Urban women’s employment in tertiary sector has expanded over time, from 38% in 1983 to 61% in 2017–2018, showing a growth rate of 1.4% per annum. Women’s employment share in secondary sector in urban areas remained stagnant at 30% in 1983 as well as in 2017–2018. However, it varied between 29 and 34% over time mainly due to sluggish performance of secondary sector over the decades (see Fig.  5 ). In fact, the share of the secondary sector in employment of urban women has significantly dropped from 33.7% in 2011–2012 to 29.9% in 2017–2018.

Source : Various rounds of NSSO Report on Employment and Unemployment Situation in India and Periodic Labour Force Survey, 2017–18

Sectoral distribution of women workers (RURAL).

Source : Same as in Fig. 4

Sectoral distribution of women workers (URBAN).

A further disaggregation of women’s employment by the three sectors shows that the structural changes in the Indian economy have not facilitated the inter-sectoral movement of women workers from primary to secondary and tertiary sectors. A large segment of India’s working women in rural areas (73%) continue to be engaged in agriculture and allied activities (2017–2018). There has, however, been a considerable increase in rural non-farm employment since 2004–2005; the biggest increase in the non-agricultural employment has been in the construction sector, where the share of employment in rural areas increased from 1.4% in 2004–2005 to 6.6% in 2011–2012, though it declined to 5.3% in 2017–2018 owing to slowdown in real estate sector. However, the construction sector appears to absorb the bulk of female labour force exiting agriculture in rural India and it shows the maximum growth in women’s employment (6.13%) during 1983 and 2017–2018 (see Table  7 ).

Women’s employment in trade, transport and other services in rural areas though has expanded; however, the rise is not significant for a period of 34 years. There is no major diversification in women’s employment structure in rural areas. Lack of non-farm jobs on one side and lack of skills on the part of women workers to take up non-farm works on the other side impede the inter-sectoral movement of women workers. In urban India, the share of non-agricultural employment for women workers has increased from 69% in 1983 to 89% in 2011–2012 and further to 91% in 2017–2018. The largest increase is accounted by the ‘other services’ sector. While the manufacturing sector’s share in women’s employment has dropped from 27% in 1983 to 25% in 2017–2018, the share of other services in urban women’s employment has expanded significantly from 27.3% to 43.4% during the same period. In essence, urban women workers are more diversified than their rural counterparts with more than half of the workers diversifying into the tertiary sector. As India’s development is led by service sector, the manufacturing sector has not been a driver of employment creation for women workers in urban and rural India.

6 Quality of Women’s Labour in India

Nayyar ( 2012 ) has defined quality of employment on the basis of the three parameters—wages, the availability of written job contracts and the availability of social security benefits. Education also plays an important role in determining the quality of employment. As a higher educational level leads to higher earnings, the educated labour can be regarded as of better quality. In fact, earnings depend on productivity which in turn depends upon skills and experience.

Quality of women’s labour is assessed in this paper with regard to:

Sectoral distribution of workers - agriculture versus non-agriculture

Regularity of employment

Formal versus informal employment

Earnings of women workers

Literacy level of employed women workforce

6.1 Agriculture Versus Non-agriculture Employment

The share of agriculture sector in total women’s employment shows a continuous decline. It had fallen from 77% in 1993–1994 to 57% in 2017–2018. In contrast, the non-agricultural sector shows a steady rise in women’s employment from 23 to 43% during the same period (see Table  8 ). The concentration of 57% of women workers in agriculture clearly indicates the poor quality of women’s labour because agriculture is a low productive sector with lower wages and high degree of informality in employment. Further, the statistics that in agriculture a sizeable proportion of women workers are employed as agricultural wage labourers (41%) as against 24% cultivators, according to 2011 Census, presents the poor employment scenario of women in India.

6.2 Regularity of Women’s Employment

It is generally perceived that regular wage and salary job is the quality employment because along with a regular job, workers also have job security and social security benefits (Ghose 2015 ; Papola and Sharma 2015 ). In casual employment, especially in the informal sector, there is absence of written job contracts and social security benefits, and for these reasons, casual jobs, especially in the informal sector, are considered to be of poor quality. Self-employment is a mixed segment as it includes own-account workers in large farms and enterprises, with high income as well as own-account workers in small/marginal farms and small/micro non-farm enterprises, often with lower levels of earnings. An important characteristic of women’s employment in India is that high proportions of them are employed as casual labour. In rural areas, self-employment Footnote 7 seems to be the dominant category of employment for women workers, followed by casual labour Footnote 8 and then regular wage/salaried Footnote 9 categories for the entire period 1983 to 2017–2018. However, the share of self-employment category declined from 61.9% in 1983 to 59% in 2011–2012 and further to 57.7% in 2017–2018, while the share of regular wage/salaried category, though relatively small, has increased considerably during this period. Despite the decline in the casual labour segment from 35% in 1983 to 32% in 2017–2018, this proportion is still high, indicating poverty among this segment of worker population (see Table  9 ).

In urban India, the share of casual labour has declined considerably from 28% in 1983 to 13% in 2017–2018. A significant feature noticed in urban India is the consistent increase in regular employment among women workers from 25.8% in 1983 to 52% in 2017–2018. In short, casual labour and self-employment segments are shrinking in urban areas and regular wage/salaried category is expanding, which is a positive aspect of improvement in the quality of women’s labour. At the same time, rural women’s employment scenario of shrinking self-employment and high incidence of casual labour is driven by the agrarian crisis in the economy. There is a steady decline in the size of agricultural land holdings. Footnote 10 The prices of agricultural products have increased at a slower rate in comparison to non-agricultural products. Further cultivation has become unprofitable particularly for the small and marginal farmers due to rising input costs and wages. Most women farmers quitting agriculture have become casual labourers in construction, quarrying and brick kiln. Large-scale male migration to urban areas in search of employment has also resulted in the growth of casual labour among women in rural areas.

6.3 Sector Wise Status of Women Workers in India

A study of the sectoral distribution of women workers by status of employment is imperative to understand which sector absorbs women largely as regular employed, casual labour and self-employed.

6.3.1 Self-employment

The percentage share of rural female workers engaged in self-employment in agriculture declined by 13 percentage points during 1993–1994 and 2017–2018. On the other side, self-employment in the non-agricultural sector displays a rising trend for rural females except for 2009–2010. In urban India, the share of self-employment in agriculture and non-agriculture has declined by six and five percentage points, respectively, between 1993–1994 and 2017–2018 (see Table  10 ).

6.3.2 Regular Employment

The proportion of women engaged in regular employment in agriculture seems to change very meagrely (less than 1%) between 1993–1994 and 2017–2018 in both rural and urban India. A positive feature noticed is the continuous expansion of regular employment in non-farm sector for female workers in rural and urban areas. However, the increase in the share of this category is higher in urban (24 percentage points) than rural (eight percentage points), which suggests an improvement in the quality of women’s labour especially in urban India.

6.3.3 Casual Labour

Casual labour segment in agriculture, though, has declined for women in rural and urban areas; the rate of decline seems to be larger in rural areas (24 percentage points) than in urban areas (four percentage points). In contrast while in urban areas, there is a steady decline in casual labour segment among women in non-agriculture sector except for 2009–2010, in rural areas there is steady expansion of female casual labour in non-agriculture sector by 17.5 percentage points between 1993–1994 and 2017–2018. Overall, it is observed that the incidence of casual labour seems to be more rampant among women workers in rural India.

6.4 Formal Versus Informal Sector Employment

Formal employment is considered to be a better type of employment than the informal employment. Footnote 11 The employees with informal jobs (NCEUS 2007 ) generally do not enjoy employment security (no protection against arbitrary dismissal), work security (no protection against accidents and illness at the work place) and social security (maternity and health care benefits, pension, etc.).

An ILO report ( 2018 ) highlights that among the five South Asian countries; informalisation of labour is the highest in India and Nepal (>90). Bangladesh (48.9%), Sri Lanka (60.6%) and Pakistan (77.6%) seem to be better on this front. Informal employment accounts for substantial proportion of women’s employment in India. The proportion of formal and informal sector employment among women was in the ratio of 8:92 in 2004–2005 and 9:91 in 2011–2012, indicating an increase in formal sector employment by 1%. However, this increase in formal sector employment of women was largely informal in nature. While the formal employment in formal sector for women declined from 57% in 2004–2005 to 51% in 2011–2012, the share of informal employment in formal sector increased from 43% in 2004–2005 to 49% in 2011–2012 (see Table  11 ).

In the case of male workers, the composition of formal and informal employment seems to be in better ratio of 16:84 in 2004–2005 and 20:80 in 2011–2012. Like for female workers even for male workers, the increase in formal employment was mainly informal in nature. Nearly all employment for both male and female workers in informal sector was informal in nature in 2004–2005 and 2011–2012. The number of formally employed women workers declined from 6.9 million in 2004–2005 to 6.33 million in 2011–2012, and the informally employed women workers also dropped substantially from 141.7 million in 2004–2005 to 122.8 million in 2011–2012. The bulk of this decline may be attributed to the overall decline in the supply of female workers from 148.6 million in 2004–2005 to 129.1 million in 2011–2012. According to the PLFS (2017–2018), about 55% of females and 71% of males are engaged in informal sector activities. The data of NSS and PLFS are not comparable in this aspect as the latter’s coverage of informal workers excludes those engaged in household enterprises. Footnote 12 Household enterprises constitute an important source of employment for women. In short, majority of the women work force (95%) are in informal employment mainly because employment in informal sector is characterised by lower levels of education than the formal sector, and hence, women who are mostly educated up to secondary or higher secondary have access to the informal sector employment and secondly most women’s self-employment is unpaid work.

6.4.1 Sectoral Distribution of Women Workers in the Informal Sector

Almost all employment (97%) for women workers in agriculture sector is informal in nature in both rural and urban areas. More than 60% of women’s work in non-farm sector is informal employment. Informality seems to be more prominent in women-oriented industries such as construction, retail trade and manufacture of tobacco products, textiles, apparels, food products, hotel and restaurants. In short, women concentrated agriculture, industries and services are more exposed to informal employment in India.

6.4.2 Status of Informally Employed Women Workers

Self-employment accounts for a sizeable share of the informally employed women workers in India during 2004–2005 and 2017–2018. However, it has declined in both rural and urban areas. In rural India, it had declined from 77% in 2004–2005 to 57.7% in 2017–2018, and in urban India, it dropped from 47% in 2004–2005 to 34.7% in 2017–2018. While the share of informal employment among women employed in the regular wage/salaried segment increased by 12 percentage points in urban India between 2004–2005 and 2017–2018, it declined by four percentage points in rural areas during the period 2011–2012 and 2017–2018. Casual labour segment in total women’s employment in informal sector increased significantly in rural areas by 19 percentage points, while its share in urban areas increased marginally by one percentage point during 2004–2005 and 2017–2018 (see Table  12 ).

6.4.3 Condition of Women Workers in Informal Sector

The self-employed workers are a heterogeneous segment and fall under three subgroups Footnote 13 -own-account workers, employers and helpers. Self-employment among women workers is mostly in the form of own-account workers and helpers (unpaid workers). In 2004–2005, about 29% of the self-employed women (rural and urban together) were own-account workers and another 26% were helpers and an insignificant proportion of women (0.3%) were employers. In 2011–2012, own-account workers among self-employed women increased to 31.7%, while the helpers group declined to 19.6% and employer category remains stagnant at 0.3% (see Table  12 ).

According to recent PLFS data (2017–2018), while own-account workers and employer segment have declined to 20% among women, helper category has increased to 32% which shows the reduced status of self-employed women in India in contrast to only 8% of men self-employed as helpers.

Region-wise data in this aspect show that self-employed women in helper category, which was 41% in 2004–2005 in rural areas, had fallen to 22% in 2011–2012 and again increased to 39% in 2017–2018. Urban areas show a consistent decline in helper category of self-employed women. It has dropped from 21% in 2004–2005 to 15% in 2011–2012 and further to 11% in 2017–2018 (see Fig.  6 ). What is distressing is the significant rise in the proportion of helper category of self-employed women workers in rural areas, by 17 percentage points in 2017–2018, which may be attributed to the growing unemployment in rural areas. The main advantage of self-employment of women in the ‘helper’ category is that women can easily combine domestic duties with unpaid work as the work place is the home. But the major drawback associated with this type of employment is that the job opportunities for women are restricted besides lower earnings.

Source : NSSO (2004–05 and 2011–12), Informal Sector and Conditions of Employment in India and Periodic Labour Force Survey, 2017–18

Status of self-employed women workers in India.

Examining the condition of women workers in the informal sector (non-agriculture) under regular employment type (see Table  13 ), it is noticed that the proportion of women employed without any kind of written job contract increased from 59.6% in 2004–2005 to 66.8% in 2017–2018. Rural-urban composition in this aspect shows that this category of job is dominant among urban women workers (71%), than rural women workers (58.5%). Nearly 48 to 50% of regularly employed rural and urban women in informal sector are not eligible for paid leave. About 60% of women, regularly engaged in informal sector activities, were not eligible for social security benefits such as provident fund, pension, gratuity, health care and maternity benefit in 2004–2005 in both rural and urban areas. This proportion has declined to 55% in rural and 50% in urban India in 2017–2018. Thus, the condition of women workers engaged in the informal employment of non-agriculture sector is pathetic as more than 50% are not eligible for paid leave and social security benefits and another 67% do not have any written job contract.

This feature in women’s employment may be attributed to the overall employment trends in the economy. India’s employment growth has not kept up with economic growth, and the situation is further worsened due to growing casualisation and informalisation of the workforce. The job creation in the past few years has been mainly in the informal sector, and about 14 million jobs were added in this sector during 2004–2005 and 2011–2012 (Himanshu 2017 ). Informality indicates inferior job quality. Further, the higher casual labour segment among informally employed women workers suggests the lower quality of women’s labour. They are the poorest among poor due to irregular work, unstable income and lower earnings. In fact, they constitute the vulnerable segment of worker population.

6.5 Earnings of Women Workers

There exists large pay gap in the earnings of male and female workers in all categories of employment in rural and urban India. In the case of regular workers, the per day earnings gap between male and female workers is relatively more in rural than urban areas except in 1999–2000. The gender gap in the earnings of casual labour seems to be more prominent in urban than rural areas. This feature is not due to greater wage parity among workers in rural areas, but due to lower wages of rural male workers. The results indicate that on an average rural women’s pay is 27% less than that of men in regular employment and in casual labour, rural women earn 35% less compared to men. In urban India, women’s earnings are 19% less than that of men in regular employment and in casual labour women’s pay is 41% less compared to men. Thus, the lower earnings of women show the poor quality of women’s labour in the country (see Table  14 ). It is important to note that while the earnings gap is narrowing for regular workers it is expanding significantly for casual labour segment between 2011–2012 and 2017–2018, which is an indication of increased economic disparity in the labour market.

Gender gap in wages persists in the Indian labour market as found worldwide. The wage disparity is quite striking in casual labour than regular employment in urban areas and a reverse trend is noticed in rural areas, where gender gap in earnings is more rampant in regular than casual employment. The results suggest that the lower earnings of women may be attributed to labour market discrimination. Employers segregate the jobs as ‘male jobs’ and ‘female jobs’ and fix a lower wage for female jobs and conveniently evade the provisions of the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 according to which it is mandatory to pay equal wages for equal work.

6.6 Literacy Level of Employed Women

An analysis of WPR of women by their educational level shows that women’s WPR is relatively higher among the illiterate group between 1983 and 2017–2018 in rural and between 1983 and 2011–2012 in urban areas which clearly indicate not only the poor quality of women’s employment status but also accounts for lower earnings of women (see Figs.  7 , 8 ). Next to illiterate, women with primary and middle level education display higher levels of WPR in both rural and urban areas.

Work participation rate of illiterate women and women with graduate and above education in rural India (15+).

Source : Same as in Fig. 7

Work participation rate of illiterate women and women with graduate and above education in urban India (15+).

An encouraging trend noticed is that the share of illiterate women in total women workforce is dropping. It declined from 85 to 29% in rural and from 59 to 22% in urban areas between 1983 and 2017–2018. The recent data on female WPR by educational level (2017–2018) show that the quality of women’s labour in terms of educational qualification seems to be better in urban India with about one-third of women workforce having educational qualification of graduation and above, whereas the corresponding figure for rural India is only 13%.

The statistics that women work force in India is still dominated by the illiterate group clearly implies the poor quality of women’s labour. Figure  9 clearly demonstrates that with expansion of female literacy, there is no commensurate improvement in FWPR. On the contrary, there is a steady decline in the WPR of rural women with increase in educational levels as revealed by the downward sloping trajectory of female labour supply. This leads to the question as to why women’s education has not translated to increased labour market participation. Is it because women desire domestic duties to paid work or suitable jobs are unavailable to them.

Source : Same as in Fig. 1

Female literacy and female WPR in India.

Young females (15–29 years) attending to domestic duties has increased from 45.9% in 2004–2005 to 52.3% in 2017–2018 (PLFS). Similarly, in the productive age group 30 to 59 years, the proportion of females attending to domestic duties has increased from 46% in 2004–2005 to 65.4% in 2017–2018. Overall for the age group 15–59 years, it is observed that less than 1% of males and about 60% of females were outside the labour market attending to domestic duties only. Examining the educational levels of women attending to domestic duties shows that women with middle and secondary level education were largely engaged in domestic duties compared to highly educated women (PLFS 2017–2018).

7 Conclusion

To sum up, on account of a rise in GDP and structural changes in Indian economy there is neither quantitative nor qualitative improvement in women’s employment over time. In terms of numbers, the female labour supply has fallen. The decline in women work force has occurred largely in rural areas and is also found to be higher among women in the age group 15–29 years. There is no ‘U’ curve of female labour supply in response to GDP growth, implying that female labour market participation cannot be interpreted in terms of economic variables as it is also influenced by non-economic factors. There is no major occupational diversification in women’s employment consequent upon sectoral transformation of the economy from primary to the tertiary sector. Agriculture is still the principal sector in women’s employment in India despite considerable decline in its share in GDP. Urban scenario seems to be better as more women are now seen in trade, transport and other services. The study finds that the quality of women’s labour in India is poor. Concentration of workforce in agriculture sector as wage labourers, lower wages, large-scale informal employment, poor literacy levels and most self-employed women engaged as unpaid workers are indications of women’s disadvantage position and economic disparity in the labour market. A country’s economic development depends upon the work participation of women. In addition, to reap the benefits of demographic dividend and for economic empowerment women’s labour market participation is important. If adequate steps are not taken to improve the supply of female labour then there is the likelihood of large proportion of women staying out of workforce and the country would be experiencing jobless growth. State initiatives need to address the problem of growing unemployment among rural and urban women. An employment-oriented development strategy in manufacturing sector is needed to stimulate growth in female labour force participation rate in India and also to sustain economic growth in the long run. Education beyond secondary schooling needs to be promoted along with skill training and development—which is likely to increase the occupational choices of women and also improve the quality of women’s labour. Investment on basic infrastructure such as provision of child care, transport, water and sanitation is likely to increase female labour supply by increasing the time available for paid work. Above all, awareness needs to be created among women about the importance of their labour to the economy besides family. Efforts are also required to break the gender stereotyping of domestic work.

With current slowdown in growth of GDP due to COVID-19, we have to wait and see whether there will be a rise in female labour supply caused by economic distress or will there be greater withdrawal of women from workforce owing to growing unemployment in the country.

The United Nations Population Fund defines demographic dividend as ‘the economic growth potential resulting from shifts in a population’s age structure, mainly when the share of the working-age population (15 to 64) is larger than the share of non-working-age population (14 and younger, and 65 and older)’. India has a large youth population in the age group of 15 and 59 years, constituting about 64.4% of total population. https://www.gktoday.in/gk/demographic-dividend/ , assessed 4 June 2019.

NSS (2011–2012) defines principal status (ps) as ‘the activity status on which a person spent relatively long time during the 365 days preceding the date of survey’ and subsidiary status (ss) as ‘activity status on which a person spent a shorter time which is not less than 30 days, during the reference year’. If a person is working either under ps or ss, the person is counted under usual status (ps + ss). Usual status approach is a more inclusive indicator for measuring labour force participation rate as it considers both the major time criterion and shorter time period.

Worker population ratio or work participation rate (WPR) is defined as the percentage of persons employed to total population (NSS 2011–2012).

WPR in the age group 15+ is considered for global comparisons.

GDP: Gross domestic product is defined as a measure in monetary terms, of the volume of all goods and services produced within the boundaries of a country during a given period of time, accounted without duplication. https://data.gov.in/keywords/gross-domestic-product , assessed 24 May 2019.

Structural change means change in the relative contribution of the three sectors to GDP and change in the sectoral share of employment.

Self-employed are those who operate their own farm or non-farm enterprises or are engaged independently in a profession or trade on own-account or with one or a few partners (NSS 2011–2012).

A casual labour is a person who is casually engaged in others’ farm or non-farm enterprises (both household and non-household) and, in return, receives wages according to the terms of the daily or periodic work contract (NSS 2011–2012).

Regular wage/salaried employees are persons who work in others’ farm or non-farm enterprises (both household and non-household) and, in return, receive salary or wages on a regular basis (i.e. not on the basis of daily or periodic renewal of work contract) (NSS 2011–2012).

The average area of land possessed by a rural household has fallen from 1 hectare in 1992–1993 to 0.65 hectare in 2010–2011. Further, while the proportion of rural households cultivating more than 0.40 hectares of land has decreased over the years from 43% in 1992–1993 to 32% in 2010–2011, the proportion of rural household cultivating less than 0.40 hectares has increased from 58 to 68% during the same period (NSS 2011–2012).

Informal sector in India is used as a synonym with unorganised sector. The National Commission for Enterprises in Unorganised Sector (NCEUS 2007 ) defines unorganised/informal sector as consisting of ‘all unincorporated private enterprises owned by individuals or households engaged in the sale and production of goods and services operated on a proprietary or partnership basis with less than ten workers’. Informal employment/workers cover a broader category: it consists of those working in the unorganised sector or households, excluding regular workers with social security benefit provided by the employers, and the workers in the formal sector without any employment and social security benefits provided by the employers.

In PLFS report (2017–2018), informal sector includes only proprietary and partnership enterprises and the enterprise type ‘employer’s households’ has been excluded from the coverage of workers in the informal sector.

NSS (2011–2012) categorises self-employed persons into three subgroups:

Own-account workers Self-employed persons who operate their enterprises on their own account or with one or a few partners during the reference period, without hiring any labour are considered as own-account workers. They could, however, have unpaid helpers to assist them in the activity of the enterprise.

Employers Self-employed persons who worked on their own account or with one or a few partners and, who, by and large, ran their enterprise by hiring labour are considered as employers.

Helpers in household enterprise Self-employed persons who were engaged in their household enterprises, working full or part time and did not receive any regular salary or wages in return for the work performed, are considered as helpers in household enterprise.

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Acknowledgements

This research paper is a part of my major research project titled ‘Structural Changes in the Labour Market and Female Labour Force Participation in India: Theoretical Models, Empirical Evidence and Policy Implications’. I thank the Indian Council of Social Science Research (Grant No. 2-27/2017-18/SF), New Delhi, for the financial support towards this major research project.

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Sundari, S. Structural Changes and Quality of Women’s Labour in India. Ind. J. Labour Econ. 63 , 689–717 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41027-020-00245-2

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Women and Work in India: Trends and Analysis

We outline the various trends surrounding women and work in India. From the glass ceilings and skewed employment statistics to unjustifiable pay gaps, the odds in the Indian employment landscape are inevitably against women. We establish a rationale as to why in the long-term, gender discrimination at the workplace is detrimental to India’s economic growth objective, both at micro and macro levels. Lastly, we list the various laws in place in India for protecting women’s rights at the workplace.

Sustained periods of high economic growth since the early 1990s, characterized by the “New Economic Policy” that liberalized the business landscape, allowed India to effectively leap from the much dreaded “Hindu rate of growth” and bring significant changes to the lives of the Indian workforce. However, the growth trajectory has been lopsided towards a “preferred gender”. Be it the crystallized glass ceilings, the unexplainable pay gaps, unconscious biases, or lack of basic amenities like separate toilets, India is still a long way from realizing its much hyped demographic dividend. 

It is surprising to see that India’s female labor force participation rate (LFPR), which refer to women who are either working or looking for a job, has not only stagnated at much below the global average of 47 percent for several years but has declined considerably in recent years. Despite experiencing structural improvements to their lives, such as decline in fertility rates and expansion of women’s education, India’s female LFPR is on a downward track. As per World Bank estimates, the female labor participation rate in India fell to 20.3 percent in 2019 – from more than 26 percent in 2005 and 31.9 percent in 1983. This is much lower, even when compared with 30.5 percent in neighboring Bangladesh and 33.7 percent in Sri Lanka.

This decline in female LFPR can be attributed to various factors like obligations towards the performance of domestic duties, conservative social norms, and the lack of flexible work models. It is also observed that household constraints trump financial need and individual preferences for job choice among women.

This bleak scenario of women’s workforce participation having slid towards regression could, however, take a positive turn. The COVID-19 and post-pandemic hybrid work models could become game-changers for many women – offering flexible and more innovative work options with increasingly empathetic work cultures. Such new work models may improve gender diversity at work, in traditional organizations as well as in the gig economy.

India’s female labor force participation: Trends and analysis

According to annual bulletin of Periodic Labor Force Survey (PLFS) 2019-20 data , the female labor force participation in India is way below that of males. In FY 2020, while the male participation rate stood at 56.8 percent, this ratio was merely 22.2 percent for females. The latest quarterly PLFS surveys suggest a further decline. In the January-March 2021 quarter, this stood at 16.9 percent, with states like Himachal Pradesh (29.6), Andhra Pradesh (23.1), Tamil Nadu (24.2), Kerala (19.5), and West Bengal (19.5) being some of the top performers. The state of Bihar remained the worst performer with a 4.4 percent participation rate, following Delhi at 8.8 percent and Uttar Pradesh at 9.7 percent.

Juxtaposed to the male workforce participation rate during the same period, which was 57.5 percent, the stark gender inequality is evident.

A further analysis reveals a greater rural-urban divide within already existing complexities. As per annual bulletin of 2019-20 PLFS survey findings, the rural female workforce participation was 24.7 percent while the corresponding urban rate was 18.5 percent. This rural-urban divide is not as high with respect to males. The male participation stood at 56.3 percent and 57.8 percent in rural and urban areas, respectively.

Another noticeable trend is that the female labor force is vulnerable to maximum distortions and impact in the face of adversity. The recent quarterly PLFS statistics suggest a considerable decline in female LFPR post the COVID-19 pandemic. The participation rate, which was 17.1 percent before the pandemic hit, fell to a record low of 15.5 percent in the April-June 2020 quarter when strict movement curbs were imposed. A research paper by Azim Premji University on the gendered impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on India’s labor market said that compared with men, women were seven times more likely to lose work during the nationwide lockdown and eleven times more likely to not return to work subsequently.

Occupational and sectoral analysis of female workforce participation

Occupational trend statistics reveal that female employment in professional and technical roles is much higher in urban areas as compared to males. However, their participation in legislative, official, and managerial roles remained much lower at 11.7 percent as compared to males (17.8 percent) in urban areas.

In rural areas too, female participation remained higher than males in technical and associate professional roles at 2.9 percent as compared to 2.1 percent among males. At the same time, female participation in official, managerial, and professional roles remained low.

An investigation into the statistics of the Indian workforce according to employment type reveals that in urban areas, the share of salaried / wage earning females in is more than males. In rural areas, participation of self-employed females is higher than that of males. Employment in casual labor is almost at par for both the genders in rural areas, while it is slightly higher for males in urban areas.

Another interesting trend to note is that in rural areas, female workforce participation is the maximum in agriculture, followed by manufacturing, construction, trade, and the hospitality industry.

Whereas in urban areas, female workforce participation is the maximum in manufacturing, followed by hospitality, construction and transport, storage and communications.

Within the self-employed category, where the employment share of females is highest at 63 percent in rural areas, these figures are misleading as most women are employed as unpaid family workers in family farms and family businesses, engaging in activities like taking care of livestock etc.

According to the PLFS, North-East Indian states rank among the highest in percentages of females holding managerial positions, with Meghalaya topping the list, followed by Sikkim and Mizoram. These states are followed by Andhra Pradesh and Punjab. In terms of literacy rate and professions involving technical roles, females from Northeast India show the highest percentages across India.

The states which have fared the worst in terms of female workers in the managerial position are Assam, followed Haryana, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Uttarakhand.

Sikkim tops the list of states with the highest ratio of females to males among professional and technical workers with 120.2 percent, followed by Meghalaya (101.5 percent) and Kerala (91.6 percent).

Female entrepreneurship in India

Given the numerous kinds of barriers that women face in obtaining and retaining suitable jobs, entrepreneurship provides an alternate avenue to productive participation in the workforce. However, India is not performing well on the index of female entrepreneurship either, with only 21.49 percent of total establishments and 13.41 percent of non-agricultural establishments in India being owned by women. There are several structural barriers that exist, including limited avenues for women to enter only select business domains. But the most noteworthy barrier is posed by accessibility to finance for setting up businesses, with around 70 percent of women surveyed across four cities citing access to credit as a barrier.

Gender wage disparity in India

Statistics suggest a significant pay disparity exists between males and females who are engaged in similar kinds of jobs. The tables below provide a comparative perspective of wages earned by female workers and their male counterparts.

The cost of gender discrimination at the workplace

India’s growth story will continue to remain unsustainable unless it is inclusive and converts the potential of gender minorities into actual jobs. The data sets hinting at declining female labor force participation and hiring biases are concerning not only from the point of view of women’s liberation and autonomy but also from an economic perspective.

Inequality and discrimination have adverse impacts on economic growth. A positive correlation between discrimination and economic growth exists and operates through the following linkages:

• Selection distortion effect of employment discrimination: Increased discrimination in the labor market would lead to a decline in the employment chances of the gender minorities, thus not incentivizing them to attain better education, which would in turn lead to a decline in average productivity/ability of workforce, thereby depressing overall economic growth.
• Measurement effect of employment inequality: A number of case studies conducted have shown that women are found to underreport their work, especially household domestic workers and petty agricultural workers. This might be a result of the prejudiced notion of Sanskritization, where imposing restrictions on women is sought to achieve upward caste mobility; many high caste women are not allowed to work outside. Thus, much of female labor goes unrecorded in the system of national accounts. Greater access to education will lead to substitution of unrecorded female labor with recorded female labor by not only changing their mindset but also but also by increasing their productivity, making female labor more visible and thus responsible for increased economic output.
• Discrimination against equally productive individuals in managerial positions: This would lead to a decline in equilibrium wages, which would further decrease the cut-off level of talent leading to a decline in average level of entrepreneurship and thus a decreased innovation level. It also implies a decline in female education due to structural disincentives; because of reduced wage earnings, women may choose to reduce their investment on education or upskilling.

Indian laws and policies governing women’s rights and protections in the workplace

Key employment and unemployment indicators

• Labor Force Participation Rates (LFPR): LFPR is defined as the percentage of persons in the labor force (that is, working or seeking or available for work) in the population.
• Worker Population Ratio (WPR): WPR is defined as the percentage of employed persons in the population.
• Unemployment Rate (UR): UR is defined as the percentage of persons unemployed among the persons in the labor force.
• Activity Status – ‘Usual Status’ (US): Activity status of a person is determined on the basis of the activities pursued by the person during the specified reference period. When the activity status is determined on the basis of the reference period of the last 365 days preceding the date of survey, it is known as the usual activity status of the person. The longer-term usual status tends to include chronic unemployment and seasonal work patterns.
• Activity Status – ‘Current Weekly Status’ (CWS): The activity status determined on the basis of a reference period of last seven days preceding the date of survey is known as the current weekly status (CWS) of the person. The weekly approach is closer to the global norm, and captures unemployment over a shorter term.

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Make Your Note

Empowering Women, Elevating India

• 09 May 2024
• 13 min read
• GS Paper - 2
• Issues Related to Women
• Inclusive Growth

This editorial is based on “ India can unlock growth by boosting nari shakti” which was published in The Indian Express on 09/05/2024. The article discusses the challenges of achieving gender parity in India's socio-economic outcomes, highlighting the need for policies that address issues such as low labor force participation among women

For Prelims: Women empowerment, Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana , Beti Bachao Beti Padhao , Mahila E-Haat , Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act 2017, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women , Periodic Labour Force Survey 2022-23 , World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index 2023 , Production Linked Incentive , Self-help groups

For Mains : Key Factors Hindering Women’s Socio-economic Growth in India, Measures to Promote Socio-economic Empowerment Among Women

As India sets its sights on becoming a ' developed' nation by 2047 , empowering women lies at the heart of this challenge. Women empowerment and socio-economic development go hand in hand, as development alone cannot address gender inequalities. Amartya Sen coined the term " missing women " to highlight ongoing gender disparities globally.

With women lagging behind on several parameters of well-being, India must adopt key policies to propel the country towards gender parity in socio-economic outcomes.

What are the Key Provisions in Place for Women’s Socio-economic Empowerment?

• Article 14: Guarantees equality before the law and equal protection of the laws, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex.
• Article 15(3) : Allows the State to make special provisions for women and children.
• Article 16: Provides equal opportunities in matters of public employment.
• Article 39(d) : Calls for equal pay for equal work for both men and women.
• Article 42 : Directs the State to make provisions for ensuring just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief.
• Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana : Provides access to affordable credit for women entrepreneurs and self-help groups.
• Beti Bachao Beti Padhao : Focuses on generating awareness and improving women's welfare through education.
• Mahila E-Haat : An online marketing platform to support women entrepreneurs and self-help groups.
• Mahila Shakti Kendra : Facilitates empowerment programs and resources at the village level for skill development and entrepreneurship.
• Working Women Hostel : Supports safe and affordable accommodation for working women in urban areas.
• Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana: It ensures housing under women's names.
• Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act 2017 : Increased paid maternity leave to 26 weeks and mandated crèche facilities.
• It was signed by India in 1980 and was ratified in 1993.
• Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action : Adopted at the 1995 UN World Conference on Women , it laid out agenda areas for women's empowerment including economic participation (India is a part of it).
• UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) : Goal 5 aims to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, including through economic empowerment measures by 2030.

What are the Key Factors Hindering Women’s Socio-economic Growth in India?

• The preference for sons and discrimination against daughters persists in many parts of the country.
• Example: Son meta-preference leading to gender-biased sex selection has resulted in skewed sex ratios in states like Haryana, Punjab , etc.
• Also, India has a lower proportion of employed individuals in salaried work compared to China and Bangladesh.
• The shift away from agriculture and the prevalence of informal labor have disproportionately impacted women , with many rural women working in the informal sector.
• Women spend nearly three times (2.8) as much of their day on unpaid care work as men (UN Women).
• Women often experience discrimination in hiring, promotions (glass ceiling and glass clip), and wages compared to their male counterparts.
• However, in economic participation and opportunity, the country has only achieved 36.7% parity.
• Specifically, 42.3% of women and 62.5% of men own a house , while ownership of land, either solely or jointly, stands at 31.7% for women and 43.9% for men.
• Over 28,000 complaints of crimes against women received in 2023 ( National Commission for Women (NCW).
• 50% of women suicide deaths were of housewives in 2021 (National Crime Records Bureau)
• At the elementary school level, the gender parity index is close to 1, meaning equal enrollment of girls and boys. However, it declines at higher education levels.
• While the Nari Shakti Vandana Adhiniyam 2023 has been passed providing 33% reservation to women in Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, its implementation is still pending.

What Measures can be Adopted to Promote Socio-economic Empowerment Among Women?

• The government should focus on expanding manufacturing capacity, particularly in labor-intensive sectors such as readymade garments, footwear, and light manufacturing, where women form a large proportion of workers.
• These labor-intensive sectors could be brought under the ambit of the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to address cost disadvantages.
• India can also learn from Iceland's Equal Pay Certification that mandates companies prove they don't discriminate
• Career counseling, job placement cells embedded in training institutes, and harnessing alumni networks to activate women " role models" and mentors for female trainees may be effective tools to improve employment outcomes.
• With rapid demographic shifts and population aging, a high-quality, subsidized urban care infrastructure will not only release women from care work but also create new jobs for them in this sector.
• Adopting such measures could help reduce the significant time burden women face in activities like cooking with inefficient, polluting fuels and make them more focused towards their goals.
• These bite-sized courses with the help of Generated AI can be completed flexibly, allowing women to gain relevant skills without disrupting childcare or work schedules.
• This provides women with a stable market for their products and services, bypassing middlemen and increasing profit margins.
• Women-led startups should also be encouraged. For example, Falguni Nayar , a self-made entrepreneur, who has transformed the Indian beauty market with the founding of Nykaa, the country’s first online beauty e-marketplace.

UPSC Civil Services Examination Previous Year Question (PYQ)

Q. Which of the following gives ‘Global Gender Gap Index’ ranking to the countries of the world? (2017)

(a) World Economic Forum

(b) UN Human Rights Council

(c) UN Women

(d) World Health Organization

Q . Two of the schemes launched by the Government of India for Women’s development are Swadhar and Swayam Siddha. As regards the difference between them, consider the following statements: (2010)

• Swayam Siddha is meant for those in difficult circumstances such as women survivors of natural disasters or terrorism, women prisoners released from jails, mentally challenged women etc., whereas Swadhar is meant for holistic empowerment of women through Self Help Groups.
• Swayam Siddha is implemented through Local Self Government bodies or reputed Voluntary Organizations whereas Swadhar is implemented through the ICDS units set up in the states.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Q.1 “Empowering women is the key to control population growth”. Discuss. (2019)

Q.2 Discuss the positive and negative effects of globalization on women in India? (2015)

Q.3 Male membership needs to be encouraged in order to make women’s organization free from gender bias. Comment. (2013)

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Essay on Women Empowerment in India

Related Papers

International Res Jour Managt Socio Human

You might be listening to news, reading newspaper or magazine, you would have gone through incidents and accidents with women in India. While any other article on women‘s empowerment in India will take a look at our rich heritage and enlightened societies of the past where women were treated as equals, the concept of ―India‖ itself evolved quite recently, relative to the sum of its parts‘ histories. But the TRUTH is that in the modern India, the woman has always been a second grade citizen, no matter what its esteemed leaders have said or done.

Prof. Rena N. Shukla

This paper attempts to analyze the status of Women Empowerment in India and highlights the Issues and Challenges of Women Empowerment. Today the empowerment of women has become one of the most important concerns of 21st century. But practically women empowerment is still an illusion of reality. We observe in our day to day life how women become victimized by various social evils. Women Empowerment is the vital instrument to expand women’s ability to have resources and to make strategic life choices. The study is based on purely from secondary sources. The study reveals that women of India woare relatively disempowered and they enjoy somewhat lower status than that of men in spite of many efforts undertaken by Government. It is found that acceptance of unequal gender norms by women are still prevailing in the society. The study concludes by an observation that access to Education, Employment and Change in Social Structure are only the enabling factors to Women Empowerment.

IJIRSSC : International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research in Science Society and Culture

Women empowerment has become such a topic which has very frequently been used in the discussions not only among the intellectuals but also among the commoners. Women empowerment means to let women live their own life in a way they think appropriate on the basis of their conditions, family circumstances, qualities and capabilities of which they themselves are the best judges. On the other hand, equal status, opportunity and freedom to develop themselves and to ensure their participation in the process of decision making in all spheres including political, economic and social processes. It is moving from the position enforced powerlessness to one of power. Educational attainment and economic participation are the key factors in ensuring the improvement of women. Frankly speaking the concept of women empowerment is very complex in itself indeed very fuzzy also specially in the Indian context. In India we need to do a lot to achieve this in the reality. Present paper is an attempt to throw some light on it from various perspectives.

isara solutions

International Research Journal Commerce arts science

This paper endeavors to dissect the status of Women Empowerment in India and features the Issues and Challenges of Women Empowerment.Today the strengthening of ladies has gotten one of the most significant worries of 21stcentury. Be that as it may, essentially ladies strengthening is as yet a figment of the real world. We see in our everyday life how ladies become exploited by different social shades of malice. Ladies Empowerment is the fundamental instrument to extend ladies' capacity to have assets and to settle on key life decisions. Strengthening of ladies is basically the procedure of upliftment of monetary, social and political status of ladies, the customarily oppressed ones, in the general public. It is the way toward guarding them against all types of viciousness. The investigation depends absolutely from auxiliary sources. The investigation uncovers that ladies of India are moderately sabotaged and they appreciate to some degree lower status than that of men regardless of numerous endeavors attempted by Government. It is discovered that acknowledgment of inconsistent sex standards by ladies are as yet winning in the general public. The investigation finishes up by a perception that entrance to Education, Employment and Change in Social Structure are just the empowering variables to Women Empowerment.

Pradeep Singh

Research Journal of English (RJOE)

Somya Tyagi

Women directly or indirectly contribute significantly in the development of any nation. In recent times, globalization has transformed their life all over the world for the better. It has also provided them with several platforms for self expression and achieving greater autonomy, thereby leading to social and gender egalitarianism. Various reformative measures have been taken up by the government and civil society in the India to alleviate their status. While all countries are marching towards excellence, it is ironical that one half of the world's population, that is, women is still struggling for freedom for their dignity and survival. My paper is an attempt to grapple with the aforesaid issues and seek possible solutions to the menace of gender discrimination.

Bhimrao Bandgar

International Journal of Reflective Research in Social Sciences

Shaikh Wasim Shaikh Shabbir

Women empowerment is a much discussable and raised issue all over the world. But why is it necessary? Why are we trying to fill this gender gap? What is gender gap? Why are women not given that equality level and trust in the society? The most famous and an appropriate quote by the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in this regard that "To awaken the people, it is the women who must be awakened. Once she is on the move, the family moves, the village moves, the nation moves". It is 21 st century and women still have to struggle for their rights. If we ourselves could try to get the balance then there would be no need for this whole campaign for women empowerment. A queen of kitchen can anytime be a corporate leader! And there are series of example in our country itself! Then, why we are in need to discuss the concept of women empowerment? Is it an affect of gender gap? Are women in the country really getting their deserved rights? And, are they provided with educational facilities similar to the boys of their age? Are they forced to get married at early age? We the self-declared modern and urbanized people have forgotten this burning and realistic issue. But the reality check emphasises that this topic needs much more attention than it is getting now days. Women empowerment is not a topic should consider as mere for discussion but should bring in practice too. If we aim to empower women we will be an indirect force to empower women of our family. Only a woman can form a chain of knowledge that she has as her innate capacity. It is always passed on to someone, yes, you get it right that a house maker or a queen of kitchen is a dynamic source of knowledge and she is the one who can carry the society towards betterment. In present article author has dealt with the women empowerment, the related ideas, issues and possibilities in Indian scenario.

IAEME PUBLICATION

IAEME Publication

.The aim of the study is to determine the factors affecting women empowerment and the issues faced by them. The paper also reveals the status of women empowerment in India and how factors are affecting the current status of women in India. The chosen factors for this research are status, health, access to education opportunities, exposure to media, decision making power social, freedom of movement, economic and legal rights as men, adopted from past literatures and various reports. The urge for equality on the part of Indian women started getting momentum during the colonial times. Empowering women means one family is moving forward with that one village moves and the nation moves simultaneously. It is found that women in India are not empowered and treated lower status relatively to men. To overcome all the prevalent issues, many efforts have been done by government to empower women at national level across India by implementing various schemes and initiatives. This paper tries to postulates potentialities of women in various fields and initiatives undertaken by Government of India.

Gaurav Sharma

Women empowerment is a debatable subject. At earlier time they were getting equal status with men. But they had faced some difficulties during post-Vedic and epic ages. Many a time they were treated as slave. From early twenty century(national movement) their statuses have been changed slowly and gradually. In this regard, we my mentioned the name of the British people. After then, independence of India, the constitutional makers and national leaders strongly demand equal social position of women with men. Today we have seen the women occupied the respectable positions in all walks of the fields. Yet, they have not absolutely free some discrimination and harassment of the society. A few number of women have been able to establish their potentialities. Therefore, each and every should be careful to promote the women statuses.

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Women Employment

• November 17, 2020

UPSC Articles

SOCIETY/ GOVERNANCE/ ECONOMY

Topic: General Studies 1, 2 ,3: Role of women in society and their associated issues. Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation. Inclusive growth and issues arising from it. 

Context: The year 2020 marks the anniversary of two major events concerning the status of women. 

• First, it is nearly fifty years since the Committee on the Status of Women in India (CSWI) submitted the report ‘Towards Equality’ to the United Nations (UN), which focused on women-sensitive policymaking in India, providing a fresh perspective on gender equality. 
• Second, it is the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action , a benchmark for analysing the condition of women and State-led empowerment. 

Issues of Women’s Economic Participation

• Economic Growth not translating into employment : India’s female employment trends do not resonate with its high economic growth, low fertility, and rise in female schooling.
• Declining Female Labour Force Participation rate : Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), 2018-19 shows that women faced a decline in labour participation rates (from 2011 to 2019) in rural areas from 35.8% to 26.4%, and stagnation in urban areas at around 20.4%.
• Low Global Ranking :  Furthermore, the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report ranks India at 149 among 153 countries in terms of women’s economic participation and opportunity. 
• Wage Gap: The gender wage gap is the highest in Asia, with women 34% below men (for equal qualification and work), according to a 2019 Oxfam report. This stifles women’s labour force participation, despite the guarantees of India’s Equal Remuneration Act, 1976. 
• Feminisation of Agriculture: Agriculture that is an almost completely informal sector employs nearly 60% of women, who form the bulk of landless labourers, with no credit access, subsidies, little equipment, and lack of social security measures.
• Abysmal Land ownership: Only about 13% of women tillers owned their land in 2019.
• Low participation in Manufacturing Sector: Manufacturing employs (almost completely informally) only around 14% of the female labour force.
• Care work dominates Women’s participation in Service Sector: According to the National Sample Survey (NSS) 2005, over 60% of the 4.75 million domestic workers are women.
• Unequal gender division of household work: Women spend (an unpaid) three times (as per NSS) or even six times (as per OECD) more time than men in household work. 
• Overburdened Healthcare work: According to WHO, 70% of the world’s healthcare and social workers are women. In India, women are indispensable as frontline ASHA workers, but they are underpaid and overworked.
• Disproportionate impact of Pandemic: I n India, the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) showed that 39% of women lost their jobs in April and May compared to 29% of men, in the context of the ongoing pandemic.

Criticism of recently passed three labour codes w.r.t women issues

•  The laws are expected to transform labour relations, but they only end up ‘easing business’. 
• The codes acknowledge neither the gender wage gap nor non-payment of wages and bonuses, and ignore informal (mostly women) workers in terms of social security, insurance, provident fund, maternity benefits, or gratuity. 
• Though ‘allowing’ women to work night shifts, there is little focus on accountability and responsibility
• Even protection from sexual harassment at workplace is missing. 
• Maternity benefits remain unchanged from the 2017 amendment, with an insensitively formulated adoption leave policy that grants leave to women who adopt infants under the age of three months, ignoring that most children are much older at the time of adoption.
• The recent labour codes disregard women’s work conditions. 
• Gender cannot be wished away, since every policy and code affects a giant proportion of India’s workforce — both paid and unpaid, acknowledged and unacknowledged.

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Women Empowerment and Gender Equality in India

The path to women empowerment and gender equality in India is a journey of resilience, struggle, and hope. While there have been significant achievements in doing away gender inequality, the journey toward dismantling deeply ingrained patriarchy and achieving women empowerment and gender parity in India in a true sense remains arduous. This article of NEXT IAS delves into the multifaceted aspects of women’s empowerment and gender equality in India, highlighting women’s empowerment programs in India, the progress made, the obstacles that still remain, and the steps needed to build a gender-equal India.

What is Women Empowerment?

• Women Empowerment, broadly, refers to the process by which women gain power and control over their own lives and acquire the ability to make strategic choices.
• It involves promoting a sense of self-worth among women, along with their ability to determine their own choices, and their right to influence social change for themselves and others.

Components of Women Empowerment

As per the European Institute for Gender Equality , Women Empowerment, broadly, involves the following five components :

• women’s sense of self-worth
• their right to have and to determine choices
• their right to have access to opportunities and resources
• their right to have power to control their own lives, both within and outside the home
• their ability to influence the direction of social change to create a more just social and economic order, nationally and internationally.

Dimensions of Women Empowerment

Though Women Empowerment involves enabling women across a plethora of dimensions, on a broader level, Women Empowerment consists of the following three dimensions:

• Socio-Cultural Empowerment – It refers to enhancing women’s capacity and authority to make choices and to transform those choices into desired actions and outcomes, within the context of their society and culture.
• Economic Empowerment – It refers to the process of providing women the means to achieve economic independence and strength, as well as ensuring their ability to participate fully and freely in the economy.
• Political Empowerment – It involves enhancing women’s ability to participate in political processes, influence public policy and decision-making, and gain representation in political and governance structures at all levels.

What is Gender Equality?

• As per the UN Women , Gender Equality refers to the equal rights, responsibilities, and opportunities of women and men and girls and boys.
• Gender Equality does not mean that women and men will become the same. Rather, it seeks to do away with gender inequality by stipulating that the rights, responsibilities, and opportunities for men and women will not depend on their gender.
• Gender Equality is considered as both a human rights issue and as a precondition for, and indicator of, sustainable people-centered development.

Relationship between Women Empowerment and Gender Equality

The concepts of Women Empowerment and Gender Equality are interrelated and intertwined to each other. Promotion of Gender Equality is the first and foremost prerequisite for Empowerment of Women. At the same time, the pursuit of Gender Equality inherently necessitates the empowerment of women.

Thus, Women Empowerment and Gender Equality propel as well as require each other.

Women Empowerment and Gender Equality in India: A Historical Perspective

Ancient-Medieval India

• Indian society has always revered women with many female deities Saraswati, Durga, Lakshmi, Kali, etc worshipped across the country. However, the patriarchal system has prevailed since the Vedic Period with customs and traditions favoring men.
• Indian history finds mention of many prodigious women such as Gargi, Maitreyi, and Sulabha, whose faculty of reasoning was far superior to that of ordinary mortals. Similarly, there have been female rulers like Prabhavatigupta, and Rani Durgavati in various parts of our country.
• On the darker side, with discrimination against them prevailing since ancient times, women have been silent sufferers.

Pre-Independence India

Socio-Religious Reforms Movements (19th Century)

• The beginning of organized efforts for the empowerment of women and gender equality in India can be traced back to the Socio-Religious Reforms Movements of the 19th century.
• Efforts made by social reformers such as Raja Rammohan Roy, Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, and their related organizations helped the cause of promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment in India. (Sati Abolition Act of 1829, Widow Remarriage Act of 1856, Child Marriage Restraint Act (Sarda Act) of 1929, etc.)

Women’s Organizations

• The horizon of demand for women’s rights increased with the setting up of Women’s Organizations in the early 20th century onwards.
• Women’s Organizations such as Bharat Mahila Parishad, Women’s Indian Association, All India Women’s Conference, etc raised the issue of gender inequality in India and demanded women’s suffrage, and inheritance rights along with others.

Freedom Movement

• Gandhiji put particular emphasis on the collective mobilization and participation of women in India’s freedom struggle. He encouraged women to fight for political freedom as well as for their social and political rights.
• generating a sense of self-confidence and a realization of their strength among women.
• breaking away several barriers of old traditions and customs.

Post-Independence India

Lull Period

• Most of the women activists got involved in nation-building tasks.
• The trauma of partition diverted the attention from women’s cause.
• Post-1970s, India witnessed a renewal of women empowerment and gender equality movement in India.
• Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) worked to improve conditions of women working in unorganized sector.
• Annapurna Mahila Mandal (AMM) worked for the welfare of women and girl children.

Current Scenario

• Of late, with a renewed focus on promoting gender equality and women empowerment, the government has launched several women’s empowerment programs in India.
• While there have been some improvements in their conditions, women in India continue to be discriminated against and denied equal opportunities.
• A detailed account of the current situation and efforts being taken are presented in the sections that follow.

Present Status of Women in India

With the patriarchal mindset and gender inequality in India continuing to prevail, women are made to adopt contradictory roles. The strength of a woman is evoked to ensure that women effectively play their traditional roles of nurturers as daughters, mothers, wives, and daughters-in-law. On the other hand, the stereotype of a “weak and helpless woman” is fostered to ensure their complete dependence on their male counterpart.

As far debate on women empowerment is concerned, two diagonally opposite views can be seen in the present Indian society:

• Gender Disparity is Natural – The inequality between the sexes is based upon the biological or genetic differences between men and women.
• Gender Disparity is Artificial – Gender roles are culturally determined and inequality between the sexes is a result of a long-drawn process of socialization.

The present status of women in India is characterized by a complex interplay of progress and ongoing challenges. Some significant achievements have been made towards Gender Equality and Women Empowerment. However, deeply entrenched societal norms, economic disparities, and political challenges mean that Gender Disparity continues to exist in India.

Gender Inequality in India: Important Statistics

Paradoxically, in our Indian society where women goddesses are worshipped, women are discriminated against and denied equal opportunity. The present status of gender disparity or gender inequality in India can be seen through the following statistics:

Overall Disparity

Overall Gender Gap : As per the Gender Gap Report, 2023, India ranks 127 out of 146 countries in terms of gender parity.

Socio-Cultural Disparity

• Sex Ratio : As per the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5, 2019-21), the Overall Sex Ratio in India is 1020 females per 1000 males. However, the Sex Ratio at Birth remains low at 929, indicating continued sex selection at birth.
• Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) : As per the Special Bulletin on MMR released by the Registrar General of India, the MMR of India stands at 97 per lakh live births for the period 2018-20.
• Malnutrition : As per the NFHS-5, 18.7% of women aged 15-49 years are underweight, 21.2% of women aged 15-49 years are stunted, and nearly 53% of women aged 15-49 years are anemic,
• Education : As per the NFHS-5 (2019-21), the literacy rate in females is 70.3% compared to about 84.7% for men.
• Gender-Based Violence : As per the NCRB’s “Crime in India” 2021 report, over 4 lakh cases of crimes against women were recorded in the year 2021. With this figure reflecting only the reported incidents, the actual figure remains much higher.
• Child Marriage : As per the NFHS-5, 23.3% of women aged 20-24 years were married or in a union before age 18.

Economic Disparity

• Employment : As per the latest PLFS report, only around 32.8% of females of working age (15 years and above) were in the labor force in 2021-22.
• Informalization : According to the International Labor Organization, 81.8 percent of women’s employment in India is concentrated in the informal economy. This indicates that most of the female workers in India are not able to get into high-paying jobs.
• Wage Gap : The wage gap between genders in India is among the widest in the world. According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2021, on average, women in India were paid 21% of the income of men.

Political Disparity

• Representation in Parliament : At present, only around 14.94% of the total number of Members of Parliament (MPs) are women.
• Representation in State Legislatures : As per the official data of the Election Commission of India, as of December 2023, the overall average female representation in State Legislatures is just 13.9%.
• Representation in Local Panchayats : As per the Ministry of Panchayati Raj data from April 2023, around 46.94% of panchayat elected representatives are women. However, the prevalence of the ‘Sarpanch-Pati’ culture means that this figure is effectively very low.

Significance of Gender Equality and Women Empowerment

Achieving the Empowerment of Women and Gender Parity is significant for multifarious reasons. The importance of women empowerment, spanning across socio-cultural, economic, political, and other dimensions, can be seen as follows.

Overall Significance

• Social Justice – Gender Equality is recognized as a fundamental human right by the United Nations. Thus, achieving true women empowerment and gender parity would promote the cause of social justice.
• Nation’s Progress – Women constitute 50% of India’s population. Leaving behind them is not an option if the nation wants to become “Viksit Bharat @2047″

Socio-Cultural Significance

• Peaceful Society : Societies having gender parity and empowered women tend to witness lesser gender-based violence, including domestic violence, sexual harassment, etc.
• Social Inclusion : Gender Equality is essential to ensure the social inclusion of women in a true sense.
• Social Change : As compared to men, women tend to make better choices and invest more of their earnings in their families and societies. This leads to a ripple effect of positive change in our society.
• Promotes Education : Educated girls are more likely to marry later, have healthier children, and send their own children to school. Thus, education and women empowerment have a strong link.
• Better Health : Educated girls are more likely to marry later and have healthier children. All these lead to improved health of society.

Economic Significance

• Development : Studies show a strong correlation between gender equality and overall development and increased economic prosperity.
• Workforce Participation : Providing women equal opportunities for employment and fair wages will promote gender equality in the workplace. This, in turn, will promote the Female Labor Force Participation Rate (FLFPR), and hence diversity of skills and perspectives.
• Increased Innovations : Gender parity brings diverse perspectives and talents to the table, leading to more innovations and better solutions.

Political Significance

• Better Decision-Making : Gender equality in political spheres ensures that women’s perspectives and needs are represented in policymaking processes. This leads to more inclusive and effective governance that benefits all members of society.
• Better Outcome : Encouraging and supporting women in leadership roles can lead to more diverse and innovative solutions to national as well as global challenges, including economic inequality, social injustices, and climate change.

Constitutional Provisions for Women Empowerment and Gender Equality in India

The Constitution of India contains several provisions that support the cause of Women’s Empowerment. Some of such prominent provisions can be seen under the following heads:

Fundamental Rights

• Article 14 guarantees equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws to all citizens, including women.
• Article 15(1) prohibits discrimination on grounds only of sex.
• Article 15(3) permits the state to make affirmative discrimination in favor of women in order to mitigate their cumulative socio-economic and political disadvantages.
• Article 16 provides for equality of opportunity for all citizens, including women, in matters of employment or appointment to any office under the State. It also prohibits discrimination or being made ineligible for any employment or office under the State on grounds of only sex.
• Article 21 , which provides for the Protection of Life and Personal Liberty, contains within its ambit several rights, including the right of women to be treated with decency and dignity.
• Article 23 prohibits traffic in human beings, including selling and buying of women, immoral traffic in women, prostitution, etc.

Directive Principles of State Policies

• Article 39 directs the State to secure equal pay for equal work for men and women.
• Article 42 directs the State to make provision for just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief.
• Article 44 directs the State to secure for all citizens a uniform civil code throughout the country. Such a code will ensure equal rights for women in personal matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, etc.
• Article 45 directs the State to provide early childhood care and education for all children, including female children, until they reach the age of six years.

Fundamental Duties

• Article 51A casts a Fundamental Duty on every citizen to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women.
• Article 51A also casts a Fundamental Duty on every parent/guardian to provide opportunities for education to their child or ward between the ages of six and fourteen years.

Other Constitutional Provisions

• Article 243D provides for reservation of not less than 1/3rd of seats for women in various levels of PRIs.
• Article 243T provides for reservation of not less than 1/3rd of seats for women in various levels of ULBs.
• Article 239AA provides for reservation of 1/3rd of seats for women in Delhi Legislative Assembly
• Article 330A provides for reservation of 1/3rd of seats for women in Lok Sabha
• Article 332A provides for reservation of 1/3rd of seats for women in State Legislative Assemblies.

Legal Provisions for Women Empowerment and Gender Equality in India

Some of the major statutory provisions promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment in India can be seen as follows:

Socio-Cultural Empowerment of Women

• Indian Penal Code (IPC) : Contains various sections addressing crimes against women, including rape, sexual harassment, dowry death, and acid attacks.
• Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 : Provides a civil remedy for victims of domestic violence and empowers them to seek protection orders and residence rights.
• Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 : Prohibits the giving or taking of dowry and prescribes punishment for violations.
• Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 : Makes the practice of sati, where a widow is forced to immolate herself on her husband’s pyre, a punishable offense.
• Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 : Raises the legal age of marriage for girls to 18 years, aiming to eradicate child marriage and its associated harms.

Economic Empowerment of Women

• Minimum Wages Act, 1948 : Sets minimum wages for all workers, including women, across various sectors.
• Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 : Prohibits discrimination in matters of wages and salaries based on sex, hence promoting the cause of gender equality in the workplace.
• Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 : Provides maternity leave and other benefits to women employed in establishments.
• Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 : Creates a mechanism for preventing and redressing sexual harassment at workplaces, both public and private. Thus, it helps the cause of gender equality in the workplace.

Political Empowerment of Women

• Representation of the People Act, 1950 : Guarantees women’s right to vote and contest elections on an equal footing with men.
• Delimitation Commission Act, 2002 : Mandates consideration of the number of women voters while determining constituencies, potentially increasing their electoral potential.

Government Schemes for Women Empowerment and Gender Equality in India

The government has launched several programs for promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment in India. Major Women’s Empowerment Programs in India are discussed below:

Overall Empowerment of Women

• National Policy for Empowerment of Women : Aims to bring about overall advancement, development, and empowerment of women.
• National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW) : Aims to strengthen overall processes that promote the all-around development and empowerment of women.
• Gender Budgeting : Gender Budgeting is being implemented in India to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment.
• Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Yojana (BBBP) : Aims to improve the child sex ratio and ensure the education and empowerment of girls.
• National Scheme of Incentives to Girls for Secondary Education (NSIGSE) : Focuses on promoting the enrolment of girl children in secondary schools and ensuring their retention up to 18 years of age.
• Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) : helps improve access to quality healthcare services for women and girls.
• One Stop Centre (OSC): These centers provide integrated support services to women affected by violence.
• Nirbhaya Fund : This fund has been set up to support initiatives aimed at improving the safety of women.
• Stand Up India Scheme : Promotes entrepreneurship among women from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and minority communities by providing them with bank loans.
• Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) : Promotes access to basic banking services to women, thus promoting their financial inclusion.
• Support to Training and Employment Programme for Women (STEP) : Aims to provide skills that enable women to become self-employed/entrepreneurs.
• Mahila E-Haat : An online marketing platform for women entrepreneurs.
• Training and Capacity Building Programs : Various initiatives taken up by government and non-governmental organizations aim to equip women with skills and knowledge for effective political participation.
• Women Leadership Development Programmes : Government agencies like NIRD&PR (National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj) offer skill-building programs to women, focused on developing leadership and political participation.

Challenges to Women Empowerment and Gender Equality

Achieving gender equality and women empowerment in India is a complex challenge that involves socio-cultural, economic, and political factors. Some of the prominent hurdles coming its way are as follows:

Social Challenges Faced by Women

• Discriminatory Social Norms : Historical legacies mean that socio-cultural norms for men and women continue to remain discriminatory in many parts of India, especially in rural regions. While men are allowed to be “loud”, women are expected to be soft-spoken, calm, and quiet.
• Role Stereotyping : A large section of Indian society still considers that women are meant to stay limited to taking household chores. All the financial responsibilities and work outside are considered exclusive for males.
• Low Literacy : Traditional practices like dowry, and other factors mean that many families find it economically unviable to educate the girl child. Thus, the literacy rate of women in India, especially in rural areas, still remains poor.
• Safety Concerns : Women in India continue to be silent sufferers of gender-based violence such as female feticides, domestic violence, rape, trafficking, forced prostitution, honor killings, sexual harassment at the workplace, etc.

Economic Challenges Faced by Women

• Lesser Employment Opportunities : Gender role stereotyping attributed to women leads to prejudice and discrimination against women in the economic sphere. For example, women may be considered to be less reliable as workers because of their child-rearing and other household responsibilities.
• Glass Ceiling : The prevalence of the “Glass Ceiling Effect” means that women not only in India but across the globe face unsaid barriers, preventing them from reaching higher levels of professional success.
• Economic Disparities : Lesser work opportunities as well as access to finance mean that women in India suffer from economic disparity vis-a-vis men. This remains a major barrier to making them independent.

Political Challenges Faced by Women

• Low Political Representation : The representation of women in different legislative bodies, including the Parliament as well as State Legislative Assemblies, remains low across India.
• ‘Sarpanch-Pati’ Culture : The prevalence of ‘sarpanch pati’ culture across India, wherein men relatives of elected women run the office in their place, means that even meager political representation of women is mostly nominal.

Other Challenges Faced by Women

• Inadequate Implementation of Laws : While strong legal frameworks exist for promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment in India, their effective implementation remains a challenge due to weak enforcement mechanisms and societal attitudes.
• Emerging Challenges : While Globalization and Urbanization have brought new opportunities to women, they have also exposed them to new vulnerabilities like trafficking and exploitation.

Suggested Measures for Women Empowerment and Gender Equality in India

The continued prevalence of gender disparity or gender inequality in India means that achieving gender equality and women empowerment in India requires a comprehensive, multi-pronged strategy that covers multiple dimensions. Some of the suggested measures to achieve these goals are discussed below.

Social Empowerment of Women

• Changing Social Attitude : The fact that the problem has persisted despite so many legislations says that a social problem cannot be tackled only through legislation. What is required is a sustained campaign to change the social attitude.
• Better Education Opportunities : Education and women empowerment have a strong link and enabling access to education is the best tool for empowering women. It goes a long way in improving the status of women in India by instilling in them enough self-confidence to decide and build their own destinies.
• Ensuring Women’s Safety : Ensuring effective implementation of existing laws through efficient judicial systems and law enforcement will help reduce gender-based violence faced by women.
• Skilling : Providing women with market-relevant skills will help them enter the labor force easily.
• Access to Credit: Enabling access to credit through tools such as micro-financing can enable women to participate in economic activities. This, in turn, will make them financially independent.
• Promote Political Participation : Women should be promoted in leadership roles so that they become architects of India’s progress and development, rather than being passive recipients of the fruits of development.
• Leadership Development : Offer leadership development programs for women to prepare them for roles in politics and civil society. This will go a long way in doing away with gender disparity in India and improving the status of women.

Women empowerment and gender equality in India are not just goals in themselves but are fundamental to the nation’s overall development and prosperity. As India strides towards its vision of “Viksit Bharat @2047” , the government, civil societies, communities, and individuals, should put their collective efforts into fostering a society where every woman has the opportunity to thrive. Measures, as suggested above, can help in this direction.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on Women Empowerment

What is meant by women’s empowerment.

As per the UN Women, Women Empowerment refers to the process by which women gain power and control over their own lives and acquire the ability to make strategic choices.

What is the Importance of Women Empowerment in India?

In India, where women comprise 50% of its population, the importance of Women Empowerment spans various dimensions including socio-cultural, economic, and political among others. Overall, promoting gender equality and women empowerment is important for the overall development and progress of the nation.

What are the Objectives of Women Empowerment?

Women Empowerment aims to promote a sense of self-worth among women so as to make them capable of determining their own choices.

Gender equality refers to the state in which access to rights, responsibilities, and opportunities are unaffected by gender.

What is Gender Inequality?

Gender inequality refers to the disparity in opportunities, resources, rights, and power between individuals based on their gender.

What is Gender Disparity?

The term ‘Gender Disparity’ is used interchangeably with ‘Gender Inequality’, and refers to the differences in outcomes, opportunities, and resources available to people based on their gender.

What is the Women’s Empowerment Index (WEI)?

The Women’s Empowerment Index (WEI) is a composite indicator designed to measure and track women’s empowerment over time across different countries and regions.

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Women Empowerment- Economic Political and Social- Explained Pointwise

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8th march of each year is celebrated as International Women’s Day . This day is to celebrate women power and remind us the crucial role women play in every domain of human life. However, women have been marginalised as a community , and they have been engaged in a long-drawn battle for equal women’s rights. ‘ Women empowerment ‘ is the only way forward to improve the status of women in the society.

What is Women Empowerment? What are the different components?

Women Empowerment- Women empowerment is the promotion of women’s sense of self-worth , their ability to determine their own choices and their right to influence social change for themselves and others . It is rightly said that empowering a man leads to empowering an individual but empowering a woman empowers an entire generation.

Types of Women Empowerment

1. Economic Empowerment- Economic empowerment means having equal access to work opportunities and ensuring their participation in all kinds of markets. This will help women break down all the barriers of inequality and defy traditional roles.

2. Political Empowerment- Political empowerment means women having equal access to leadership role in the political sphere. It also gives increased strength to women’s right voices and issues in the political sphere.

3. Social Empowerment- Social empowerment aims to uplift the social status of women . Social empowerment aims to provide women equal say in the health, family decisions, marriage decisions, childbirth.

What are the advantages of Women Empowerment?

Economic Empowerment

1. When more women work, economies grow- Women’s economic empowerment increases economic diversification and income equality for shared prosperity . According to UN Women, it is estimated that closing the gender gap could give the global economy a USD 7 trillion boost .

2. Growth of businesses- Business companies greatly benefit from increasing employment and leadership opportunities for women , which is shown to increase organizational effectiveness and growth. For ex- According to estimates, Companies with three or more women in senior management functions score higher in all dimensions of organizational performance

Political Empowerment

1. Proper functioning of Democracy- Women’s political participation is a fundamental prerequisite for gender equality and genuine democracy . It facilitates women’s direct engagement in public decision-making and is a means of ensuring better accountability to women. For ex- Women led SHGs and women rights movement .

2. Gender-sensitive policies- Political empowerment leads to gender-sensitive governance reforms. It makes the elected officials more effective at promoting gender equality in public policy and ensuring their implementation. For ex- Law to protect Sexual harassment at workplace

Social Empowerment

1. Social Justice- Women’s Social empowerment is essential for achieving social justice. It helps in ending gender based discrimination , violence , and other forms of oppression . It also helps to create a more just and equitable society .

2. Sustainable Development Goals- Promotion of social empowerment of women will help in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in accordance with 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

What are the Challenges with empowerment of Women?

Economic empowerment

1. Unequal employment opportunities- Globally, the gender gap in labour force participation has been around 30% since 1990 , with men’s participation at around 80% and women’s at 50%. Women also experience ‘ motherhood penalty ‘ with reduction in employment opportunities for women having babies.

2. Employment in informal and vulnerable sectors- According to research by UN Women, nearly 60% of women’s employment globally is in the informal economy . In low income countries it is as high as 90%.

3. Lack of pay parity- Women are paid less than men. The gender wage gap is estimated to be 20% . Women face the challenges of motherhood wage penalty and unpaid care works .

1. Low Representation of Women in Legislature- The representation of women in different legislative bodies remains low across India. For ex- According to the report of Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UN Women, India ranks 148 out of 193 countries in the number of elected female representatives in parliament.

2. Lack of intra party democracy- The political parties lack intra party democracy, which prevents the development of top women leaders. The patriarchal nature of politics is a major challenge to women political empowerment.

Social Empowerment Challenges

1. Gaps in Male Female Literacy Rate- Lack of good girls schools with proper toilets , female infanticide , early child marriage and dowry have led to the educational disenfranchisement of women.

2. Health care Burden- Lack of access to sanitary products , menstrual hygiene and high incidence of cervical and breast cancers have increased the health burden on women in India.

3. Social Safety Concerns- Women are threatened by various acts such as feticides , domestic violence , rape , trafficking , forced prostitution, honour killings, sexual harassment at workplace. These have led to the marginalisation of women in the social sphere.

What have the achievements of Indian Women?

1. Avani Chaturvedi – Sky Warrior

Avani Chaturvedi became the first Indian proud woman to fly solo a fighter aircraft. She flew a MiG-21 ‘Bison’, an aircraft known for its highest landing and take-off speed in the world.

2. Mithali Raj – Lady Tendulkar of Indian Women’s cricket

During India’s series against New Zealand Women – Mithali Raj became the first Indian woman who made India proud by playing in 200 ODI match.

3. Mary Kom – Ms. Knock-out

Mary Kom is the woman who made india proud by becoming World Amateur Boxing champion for a record six times, and the first woman from the country to win a medal in boxing at the Olympics.

4. Gita Gopinath – The Fiscal Scholar

An Indian-American economist, Gita Gopinath became the First Woman Chief Economist at the IMF (International Monetary Fund).

5. Arunima Sinha – The Mount Everest Girl

Arunima Sinha became the world’s first woman amputee to climb Mount Everest in 2013.

6. Usha Kiran – Youngest Female CRPF Officer

Usha Kiran became CRPF’s first woman officer to be posted in the insurgency-affected Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.

7. Tessy Thomas – Missile Woman of India

Tessy Thomas is the first woman who made india proud to head an Indian missile project. Adding to it, with the successful launch of the Agni-V missile project, she also achieved a career milestone.

What are the government initiatives?

What should be the way Forward?

1. Better Education Opportunities- Better implementation of New Education Policy to ensure the protection of girls right to education and their right to be free from discrimination within educational institutions.

2. Skilling and Micro Financing- Training women in non-traditional skills in accordance with the market demand, like machine textiles. Also, we need to focus on creating more public and private sector jobs for women.

3. Women’s Safety- There must be strict implementation of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act , 2013 to ensure safe working spaces for women. Also Panic Button , Nirbhaya Police Squad are some good steps in the direction of women’s safety.

5. Improvement in Basic Amenities at Rural Level- The improvement in the health and education standards of women in rural areas will lead to all round development of women and a productive women workforce .

5. From Women Development to Women Led Development- Women should be reimagined as architects of India’s progress and development , rather than being passive recipients of the fruits of development.

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Essay on women empowerment in india.

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Essay on Women Empowerment in India!

The subject of empowerment of women has becoming a burning issue all over the world including India since last few decades. Many agencies of United Nations in their reports have emphasized that gender issue is to be given utmost priority. It is held that women now cannot be asked to wait for any more for equality.

Inequalities between men and women and discrimination against women have also been age-old issues all over the world. Thus, women’s quest for equality with man is a universal phenomenon. What exists for men is demanded by women?

They have demanded equality with men in matters of education, employment, inheritance, marriage, politics and recently in the field of religion also to serve as cleric (in Hinduism and Islam). Women want to have for themselves the same strategies of change which menfolk have had over the centuries such as equal pay for equal work. Their quest for equality has given birth to the formation of many women’s associations and launching of movements.

The position and status of women all over the world has risen incredibly in the 20th century. We find that it has been very low in 18th and 19th centuries in India and elsewhere when they were treated like ‘objects’ that can be bought and sold. For a long time women in India remained within the four walls of their household. Their dependence on menfolk was total.

A long struggle going back over a century has brought women the property rights, voting rights, an equality in civil rights before the law in matters of marriage and employment (in India women had not to struggle for voting rights as we find in other countries).

In addition to the above rights, in India, the customs of purdha (veil system), female infanticide, child marriage, sati system (self-immolation by the women with their husbands), dowry system and the state of permanent widowhood were either totally removed or checked to an appreciable extent after independence through legislative measures.

Two Acts have also been enacted to emancipate women in India. These are: Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 and the Compulsory Registration of Marriage Act, 2006. The Domestic Violence Act recognizes that abuse be physical as well as mental.

Anything that makes a woman feel inferior and takes away her self-respect is abuse. Compulsory Registration of Marriage Act can be beneficial in preventing the abuse of insti­tution of marriage and hindering social justice especially in relation to women.

It would help the innumerable women in the country who get abandoned by their husbands and have no means of proving their marital status. It would also help check child marriages, bigamy and polygamy, enable women to seek maintenance and custody of their children and widows can claim inheritance rights. The Act is applicable on all women irrespective of caste, creed or religion. It would truly empower Indian women to exercise their rights.

To what extent legislative measures have been able to raise the status of women in India? Are women now feel empowered in the sense that they are being equally treated by men in all spheres of life and are able to express one’s true feminine urges and energies? These are the important questions to be investigated with regard to women’s empowerment in India.

We all know that girls are now doing better at school than boys. The annual results of Secondary and Higher Secondary Board examinations reveal this fact. More women are getting degrees than men, and are filling most new jobs in every field.

There was a time when women’s education was not a priority even among the elite. Since the last quarter of the 20th century and more so after the opening up of die economy, post-1991, a growing number of women have been entering into the economic field, seeking paid work (remunerative jobs) outside the family.

Women are playing bigger and bigger role in economic field: as workers, consumers, entrepreneurs, managers and investors. According to a report of The Economist, ‘Women and the World Economy’, in 1950, only one-third of American women of working age had a paid job.

Today, two-thirds do, and women make up almost half of American’s workforce. In fact, almost everywhere, including India, more women are employed, though their share is still very low. Manufacturing work, traditionally a male preserve, has declined, while jobs in services have expanded, reducing the demand for manual labour and putting the sexes on equal footing.

We can now see women in almost every field: architecture, lawyers, financial services, engineering, medical and IT jobs. They have also entered service occupations such as a nurse, a beautician, a sales worker, a waitress, etc.

They are increasingly and gradually seen marching into domains which were previously reserved for males (police, driver’s army, pilots, chartered accoun­tants, commandos). In spite of their increasing number in every field, women still remain perhaps the world’s most underutilized resources. Many are still excluded from paid work and many do not make best use of their skills.

The rapid pace of economic development has increased the demand for educated female labour force almost in all fields. Women are earning as much as their husbands do, their employment nonetheless adds substantially to family and gives family an economic advantage over the family with only one breadwinner.

This new phenomenon has also given economic power in the hands of women for which they were earlier totally dependent on males. Economically independent women feel more confident about their personal lives.

Hence, they are taking more personal decisions, for instance, about their further education, marriage, etc. More and more women want freedom of work and control their own reproduction, freedom of mobility and freedom to define one’s own style of life. It is contended that freedom leads to greater openness, generosity and tolerance.

This new pattern of working wives and mothers has affected the status of women in many ways. Women’s monetary independence leads them to the way to empowerment. Sociologist Robert Blood (1965) observes, ‘Employment emancipates women from domination by their husbands and secondarily, raises their daughters from inferiority to their brothers’ (Blood and Wolfe, 1965). In brief, economic independence of women is changing their overall equations, perspective and outlook.

Economic independence of women has also affected the gender relation­ships. New forms of gender relationships (live-in relationship are challenging the long-rooted conception of marriages as a permanent arrangement between families and communities.

In traditional marriages the relationships were hierarchical and authoritarian. The modem conjugal relationships are based on freedom and desire rather than convention. People’s attitudes about marriage are also changing.

Educated women now feel that there is more to life than marriage. They can get most of the things they want (income, status, identity) without marriage, while they find it harder to find a suitable accomplished mate. This is why their marriage is delayed.

With increasing literacy among women in India, their entry into many types of work, formerly the preserve of men, women can now look upon the bearing and raising of their children not as a life’s work in itself but as an episode. It women have started taking men’s work, it could be said that men have taken over women’s.

Young fathers could be seen wash up and making beds, caring of the young and doing many other domestic works. The division of labour between sexes has changed somewhat. They do similar work and share both household activities and tastes. Women wear trousers, jeans, suits and put on ties.

The facts about working wives suggest a basic change in Indian family. The traditional (nuclear) household, in which the husband works and the wife remains at home to care for the children, though still a dominant pattern, is changing gradually but steadily.

A new pattern is emerging in which both partners work outside the home but do not share equally in housework and child care as we see in Western families. In India, the paternalistic attitude of the male has not undergone much change.

In spite of such drawbacks and hurdles that still prevail, Indian women (especially educated) are no longer hesitant or apologetic about claiming a share and visibility within the family, at work, in public places, and in the public discourse.

Related Articles:

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Essay on Women’s Role in Economic Development in India

Students are often asked to write an essay on Women’s Role in Economic Development in India in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Women’s Role in Economic Development in India

Introduction.

Women play a pivotal role in economic development. In India, their contribution is significant yet often overlooked.

Women in Agriculture

Indian women, particularly in rural areas, contribute immensely to agriculture. They work in fields, manage livestock, and help in crop production.

Women in Business

In urban areas, women are increasingly participating in business and entrepreneurship. They are creating jobs and contributing to GDP.

Women in Service Sector

Indian women are also making strides in the service sector. They are serving in education, healthcare, IT and other industries.

250 Words Essay on Women’s Role in Economic Development in India

Women, constituting almost half of the country’s population, have a pivotal role in driving the socio-economic development of India. Their participation in economic activities not only ensures gender equality but also contributes to national prosperity.

Women’s Economic Participation

The economic participation of women in India has witnessed a significant transformation. From being confined to household chores, women have ventured into various professions, contributing to the economy. Women are now seen in leadership roles, running successful businesses, and making substantial contributions to India’s GDP.

Empowerment through Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship has emerged as a powerful tool for women’s empowerment in India. Women entrepreneurs have been creating job opportunities, thus fostering economic growth. The government’s initiatives, including financial schemes and training programs, have further facilitated women’s entrepreneurship.

Challenges and Solutions

Despite the progress, women’s economic participation in India is still hindered by societal norms, gender wage gap, and lack of access to resources. Addressing these challenges requires comprehensive strategies, including gender-sensitive policies, equitable access to education and resources, and societal mindset shifts.

In conclusion, the role of women in India’s economic development is indispensable. Their increased participation in the economy is a testament to their potential. By overcoming the existing challenges, India can harness this potential, leading to inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

500 Words Essay on Women’s Role in Economic Development in India

The changing landscape.

The economic landscape in India has undergone massive changes, with women standing as active contributors. From agriculture to technology, women are breaking the barriers of traditional roles and venturing into diverse sectors. They are not only participating in the workforce but also leading companies, initiating startups, and driving economic growth.

Agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy, and women play a pivotal role in this sector. Despite the lack of formal recognition, women contribute significantly to agricultural production. Women’s role in farming, livestock care, and food processing is invaluable, and their increased participation can accelerate agricultural productivity.

Women in Entrepreneurship

Women in the service sector.

The service sector is another area where women’s participation has been noteworthy. From healthcare to education, women are playing a crucial role in delivering essential services. Women’s participation in these sectors has led to improved service delivery, enhancing overall economic productivity.

Challenges and Way Forward

Despite these strides, women’s economic participation in India is still fraught with challenges. Issues such as gender wage gap, lack of access to credit, and socio-cultural norms hinder women’s full economic participation. Addressing these challenges is crucial for harnessing the complete potential of women’s contribution to the economy.

In conclusion, women have emerged as significant contributors to India’s economic development. Their roles in agriculture, entrepreneurship, and the service sector have not only led to economic growth but also brought about social change. However, there is a need to address the existing challenges to ensure that women can contribute fully to the economy. With the right policies and societal support, the economic participation of women in India can reach new heights, leading to sustainable development.

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Essay on Status of Women in India for Students and Teacher

500+ words essay on status of women in india.

“You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of its women.”

This is a famous quote by Jawaharlal Nehru on women. The status of women depicts the social, economic and mental condition in a nation. Women have been regarded as a symbol of spirituality in our scriptures. Yet, women were denied rights and equality in ancient Indian civilization. They have been treated badly and unequally to men. Social evils such as dowry , sati-system, child marriage, and female infanticide were widely prevalent in the early ages.  The spread of education and self-consciousness among women has led to their progress over the period. Women of today are empowered. Also, women are gaining advancements and success in each and every field. True female liberty is only achievable when people shift their restrictive attitudes and mindsets regarding women.

History of the Status of Women in India

Going back to our origins, we can see how vital women are to society, not only biologically, but also culturally. Women have been mentioned in our Vedas and ancient books since ancient times, and they have been assigned important positions. Because of the contributions of women, the texts of Ramayana and Mahabharat have been tremendously influenced and due to women, they may have become the most sacred of all.

But during the past few centuries, the conditions of women worsen. Previously, women were referred to as housekeepers. It was thought and passed down to others that women are meant to marry, take care of the house and their in-laws, and sacrifice all of their aspirations in order to realise the dreams of their husbands and children. Furthermore, women were kept out of school because families believed that only boys deserved to be educated and follow their aspirations. Women were married off at a young age, and occasionally without their consent. They have also been subjected to a slew of dehumanising practises, societal neglect, and rituals designed to limit them, and they are frequently considered commodities rather than human beings.

Women in India in Ancient Age

Women, in the early ages, were very educated but suffered from the evils of society. Some open-minded citizens like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Swami Vivekananda , Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, and others worked for the wellbeing of women. Thus, the practices of sati, child marriage, and others were abolished. Various acts such as the Child Marriage Restraint Act were passed in this direction. Mahatma Gandhi also emphasized the abolition of child marriages.

Women were also provided training in martial arts. Moreover, women acquired a significant position in politics. Sarojini Naidu was a key figure in this context. She was the first Indian woman to become the President of the Indian National Congress and the governor of a state in India. Indira Gandhi was another woman who stood out in a male-dominated field. She became India’s first female Prime Minister and effectively led the country for fourteen years, contributing to domestic and financial progress.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Women in Free India

Gender equality.

Women today are eager to take up professions and work. Thus, they enjoy equal respect and dignity in the family. Women in free India also enjoy equal pay for equal work in comparison to men. Also, there are provisions for maternity leave for them. Furthermore, females are provided equality of opportunity under Article 16 of the Constitution of India.

Educational Status

The girls in urban areas are almost at par in education with the boys. But there is a less educated female population in rural areas. This has also affected the social and economic development of rural India. The poor (hygienic facilities) facilities at school and lack of female staff have affected education. Kerala and Mizoram have a universal literacy rate.

Women and Politics

The maximum figure of female politicians in the world is from India. Women have occupied significant positions i.e. of President, Prime Minister, Speaker of the Lok Sabha and other high offices. “ Indira Gandhi ”, is the first female who held the office of the Prime Minister for 15 years.

Evils Against Women

The violence against women in India includes kitchen fires for want of dowry, sexual assaults, cases of rape, prostitution, throwing of acid. Also, the evils of child marriages are also widespread even today. Female infanticide, indecent behaviour, and honour killings add to the misery of the women. Also, sex-selective abortion is a deep-rooted evil leading to inequality in the sex ratio.

Current Status of Women in India

Following the development of the freedom movement across the nation, the ladies of the society began to emerge and burst through their shells. A larger proportion of women began to be given the opportunity to study and seek education. Currently, India does not have a shortage of women in the medical, technical, teaching, legal, or any other profession. India has seen an increase in the number of empowered women holding higher positions in various offices and organisations.

Women are involved in a variety of occupations and compete alongside males in a variety of disciplines such as technology, law, administration, teaching, and so on. Apart from traditional occupations, we have women who thrive in sports, such as P.T. Usha, Sania Mirza, P.V Sindhu, Mithali Raj, Mary Kom, Saina Nehwal, Dipa Karmakar, and others, who have represented and inspired many aspiring sportswomen in India.

We also have women who have had a significant impact on the art and entertainment industries since their inception, as well as cultural icons in many schools of art. Indira Gandhi, Vijay Lakshmi Pandit, Annie Besant, Mahadevi Verma, Nita Ambani, Sachet Kripalani, Amrita Pritam, Sushma Swaraj, Padmaja Naidu, Kalpana Chawla, Mother Teresa, Subhadra Kumari Chauhan, and others are some of the great Indian women leaders, social reformers, social workers, administrators, and literary personalities who have significantly changed the women’s status.

There has been a steady transformation in the status of women in comparison to earlier periods. Women of today take part completely in areas such as politics, status, military sectors, economic, service, and technology sectors. Moreover, they have contributed wholly to sports too. Thus, they have occupied a dignified position in family and society.

However, ending crimes against women is still a challenge. Even after significant advancements in women’s rights in India, they are still exploited, harassed, and abused in a variety of ways such as rape, sex discrimination, and so on. We can prevent ills by ensuring women’s autonomy, also increasing participation and decision making power in the family and public life.

FAQ’s on Status Of Women In India Essay

Question 1: What is the present state of women’s rights in India?

Answer 1: Women’s standing in India has evolved as a result of education and other societal progress. They are also given the freedom to pursue their objectives, obtain an education, and make their job goals a reality. Even in marriage, women are given the liberty to express themselves. Women in India today are well aware of their rights and benefits, and they are no longer politically, socially, economically, or educationally backward. They now have the same opportunities and rights as everyone else. They are capable of achieving any position or status in life.

Question 2: What is the Government of India’s role in improving the status of women in India?

Answer 2: The government has adopted numerous regulations and laws in favour of women. The Indian government launched a slew of initiatives aimed at empowering women in the country. Each of these plans is created with a focus on women and their needs in mind, so that Indian women, like women all around the world, can achieve all of their goals and enjoy a life of equal status. Among the most well-known schemes are:

• Beti Bachao Beti Padhao
• Women Helpline Scheme
• Nari Shakti Puraskar
• Mahila Police Volunteers
• Mahila Shakti Kendras (MSK)

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