An Unfinished Fight

The International Women’s Day is here again, and everybody will voice the oft-repeated inanities about women’s empowerment and the huge progress women have made. But has anything really changed on the ground?

The main markers for improvement in the status of women are education, health, participation in the labour force, pay parity, leadership positions etc.

Participation of Women in the Labor Force

Let us start with the state of women’s participation in the labour force in our country. Female labour force participation refers to the share of women over 15 years who are working or providing labour in a specific period for the production of goods and services. According to a recent Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) report, the female labour force participation rate in India increased to 41.7 per cent in 2023-24 from 23.3 per cent in 2017-18. This figure indicates that 41.7 per cent of women aged 15 and above are actively engaged in the workforce (source: pib.gov.in).

Is that good news? Definitely, yes—because the participation of women in the labour force is steadily increasing. However, it is not a figure we can crow about, as it remains below the global average of 50 per cent and significantly lower than the male labour force participation rate in India, which stands at 78.8 per cent.

The female labour force participation rate in other countries in 2023 was:

• USA – 56.5 per cent

• Canada – 61.1 per cent

• UK – 58.3 per cent

• France – 52.8 per cent

• Denmark – 59.5 per cent

• China – 60.5 per cent

• South Korea – 69.7 per cent

• Singapore – 61.6 per cent

• Vietnam – 68 per cent

Therefore, India has a long way to go before catching up with other nations (source: genderdata.worldbank.org).

The factors responsible for such low participation of women in the labour force include education levels, fertility rates, economic development, access to childcare and eldercare—responsibilities that primarily fall on women in the household. However, the primary reason is the socio-economic and cultural milieu of society. These factors act as both push and pull elements in determining whether women join the workforce. Societies and households that encourage girls to study and work have higher female participation.

The State of Working India (SWI) Report 2023 (Azim Premji University) points out that gender norms continue to impact women’s employment. When a husband’s income rises, women are less likely to work. However, where mothers-in-law are educated and employed, daughters-in-law are more likely to join the workforce.

New Trends

The SWI Report 2023 also highlights a decrease in gender disparities in employment trends in India. This trend is encouraging and will be welcomed by those working to improve women’s workforce participation. Structural transformations in the economy appear to have led to the following shifts in the female workforce of the country:

• The share of women working in agriculture is decreasing.

• The proportion of women entering the services sector is increasing.

• Women in informal wage work are also decreasing.

Older women with lower levels of education are exiting the workforce, partly due to rising incomes and partly due to mechanisation. Meanwhile, younger women with higher education levels are entering the workforce, leading to an increase in their share in regular, salaried employment.

As the number of women in salaried employment increases, it has a positive impact on the gender gap in earnings. These shifting trends in the female workforce imply a longer-term impact on women’s economic participation in the country.

However, the increased supply of female labour should not be directly taken as an indicator of improvement in employment conditions. It must be matched with an increased demand for female labour in modern, productive activities. Otherwise, it only leads to crowding into an already saturated self-employment sector.

Creating job opportunities for women should be a key policy priority for the government to address the absence of women in the workforce. It is high time to formulate a National Employment Policy framework that tackles gender imbalances.

Pay Parity

A UN report on equal pay for work of equal value shows that, all over the world, women are paid less than men. A woman earns 77 cents for every dollar a man earns for work of equal value. Globally, the gender pay gap is estimated to be around 20 per cent. Gender inequality in pay can be traced back to socio-economic conditions, patriarchy, and structural factors.

According to the World Inequality Report 2022, men earn 82 per cent of the labour income in India, whereas women earn only 18 per cent. In 2022-2023, an average salaried Indian male earned Rs 20,666 per month, while a woman earned just Rs 15,722.25. An IIM-Ahmedabad study indicates that while women at the individual contributor level earn only 2.2 per cent less than men in similar roles, the gap widens to 3.1 per cent for managers and supervisors (source: kelphr.com).

Equal pay for equal work is an important milestone in the arduous journey toward achieving gender equality. Although India has the necessary laws, their implementation remains a significant challenge.

Education

The African proverb, “If you educate a woman, you educate a nation,” says it all. An educated woman educates her family and community, thereby contributing to the nation’s progress. Unfortunately, the female literacy rate in India stands at 65.6 per cent, lower than the global average of 79.7 per cent. The situation is even worse in rural areas, where fewer girls attend school.

Factors contributing to the low rate of female education include gender discrimination, societal norms, and deep-seated biases, which are changing but very slowly. In low-income households, parents often prefer to educate boys over girls when faced with financial constraints. This economic hardship is a major reason for high dropout rates among girls. Early marriage also negatively impacts female education—about 27 per cent of girls in India are married before the age of 18.

Both the Union and state governments have introduced various schemes, such as free education and cash transfers for school-going girls. However, despite these enabling measures, female education rates in India remain low.

There are, however, some positive signs. Over the last decade, female enrolment in higher education has increased by 38.4 per cent, rising from 1.57 crore to 2.18 crore. The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for women in higher education is now higher than that for men.

To achieve the goal of inclusive education, we must incentivise female education by introducing scholarship programmes, building girls’ hostels, providing safe transportation, and reducing dropout rates.

Health

Gender inequality in healthcare is a major issue in India. Women often face barriers that prevent them from receiving the care they need. These barriers include social norms, economic challenges, and a lack of proper health insurance. Interestingly, women make up 70 per cent of the global health workforce and represent about 90 per cent of frontline health workers, yet they hold just a quarter of leadership positions in the health sector.

The exclusion of women from most health decision-making roles is not only inequitable but also weakens global health systems. Women health workers, who have the most knowledge about these systems, have very little say in their design and management. Women from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) face the greatest barriers to accessing senior positions, both in their home countries and globally (source: Women in Global Health).

Women in Leadership Positions

Women are vastly underrepresented in boardrooms. Globally, women hold only 28.2 per cent of management positions in the corporate world, and in India, they occupy less than 20 per cent of key managerial positions. In government and politics, the numbers are equally disheartening. Only about 26.5 per cent of parliamentary seats worldwide are held by women, and women serve as Heads of State and/or Government in just 31 countries (source: UN Women). In India, there are only 102 women MPs across both houses of Parliament, with just 74 (14 per cent) in the Lok Sabha.

If India aspires to be a USD 7 trillion economy by 2030 and aims to improve its social indicators along the way, it cannot afford to leave behind nearly half of its population. BR Ambedkar rightly said, “I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved.” Therefore, men and women must be equal partners in driving the inclusive and sustainable growth engine of the country.

The writer is a former bureaucrat. Views expressed are personal