Female participation of Indian women in the workforce fell 10 per cent in the past decade as India recorded the lowest female labour force participation rate. Source: Joint industry chamber Assocham-Thought Arbitrage Research study as of 26th June 2016. The Female Labour Force participation rates during the period among BRICS countries was found to be – China (64 per cent), Brazil (59 per cent), Russia (57 per cent), South Africa (45 per cent) and India (27 per cent).
There was an increase in the number of working women in India during 2000-2005, increasing from 34 per cent to 37 per cent, post which it reduced continuously thereafter and reached 27 per cent in 2014, the study said citing World Bank data, the period when India’s economy was experiencing unprecedented growth.
Despite the fact that female literacy and education enrolment rates have been rising, India today has lower levels of women’s workforce participation than many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. India ranks 127th on the gender inequality index and 108th on the global gender gap index.
According to the ILO, in 2011-12, while 62.8 percent of women were employed in the agriculture sector, only 20 percent were employed in industry and 17 percent in the services sectors.
The reasons could be around dearth of opportunities for women, lack of flexibility in working conditions dissuading women from joining workforce as they have domestic duties to manage, societal attitude, deeply entrenched beliefs on gender roles. In urban areas, where education and income levels are higher, many married women drop out of the workforce when they have children. A survey of 1,000 working women in New Delhi found that only 18-34 percent of women continued to work after having a child. This is in large part because women in India continue to shoulder the burden of childcare at the same time that many employers fail to provide adequate maternity and childcare support to working mothers.
Women economy is larger than combined economy of BRIC. A recent McKinsey report shows that India has the highest potential to grow its GDP by 60% if it bridges the gender gap. This will require concerted efforts from policy makers, organizations and the societal ecosystem. One thing is for sure, if India wants to become one of the world’s largest economies by 2025 it cannot afford to ignore the growth of women participation in the workforce.
References:
The Asia Foundation: Where Are India’s Working Women?
The Week: Indian women in workforce fell 10 percent in last decade