ADVANCING WOMEN’S WORKFORCE EQUALITY IN INDIA
By Rishabh Popat
A periodic labour force survey (PLFS) data published by NSSO throws some alarming figures. Only nine
countries in the world, including Syria and Iraq, have a lesser proportion of working women than India. And
if Bihar were a separate country, it would have the lowest share of working women population in the world.
India’s female labour force participation rate – the share of working age women who report their employment
status (working or available for work) has steadily fallen to a historic low of 23.3% (from 35% in 1990).
This drop has taken place in the backdrop of the rising per capita income and the reduced fertility rates – an
anomaly not following the standard economic theory with India moving towards a middle income economy.
When we look at our immediate neighbours, Sri Lanka’s female labour force participation rate has stabilized
at 35% while for Bangladesh, it has been consistently above 50%. The LFPR for women aged 15-29 fell by
eight percentage points to 16.4% from 2011-12 (some of it can be attributed towards enrolment in high
school/college education), seven percentage points for every age bracket in 30-50 as well. Caste and religion
too have played a significant role in this trend, unlike in the male LFPR, with Muslim women having the
lowest participation followed by upper caste Hindu women and then the rest. This explains how social norms
and conservationism restrict or “allow” women to work.
Advancing workforce equality also gives a tremendous economic boost to our country, apart from solving
the social problems holding us back. Think of a scenario where working women in India are equally
represented in all the sectors, with their wages, hours and significance of contribution moving at par with
those of men. Now think of the productivity lost by contrasting this, with their tremendously high number
of unpaid, unaccounted and unacknowledged hours – cooking, cleaning and taking care of their family. In a
country like India, such unpaid contribution from women is often nine times more than men. Though in
many cases, this contribution may be “willing” however because of the nature of work being non-market
linked, women don’t reap the economic benefits of the value they add, unlike in market-based activities.
VARIATIONS ACROSS URBAN AND RURAL?
Skill based occupational distribution of non-farm women in Urban and Rural areas
Source – NSS 50th and 68th Employment and Unemployment Survey rounds unit level data
A quick look at the left graph suggests that the female participation in the “high-skilled” jobs has gone up,
which also seems intuitive with the advent of improved chances in private sector in urban areas. However,
after dissecting what “high-skilled” really constitutes of – we find that it is professionals, managers and
administrators. However, we realize that 84% of managers and administrators were self-employed “directors
and proprietors”, mainly having food processing, textile or garment manufacturing jobs.
A vast majority of rural women’s involvement in agriculture explains the drop in the female LFPR in rural
areas, because land fragmentation has led to reduced size of farms and demand for labour. Relative to the
urban non-farm curve, rural non-farm graph isn’t misleading but the significant increase in the “high -
skilled” primarily comprises of improved numbers of school teachers (mostly primary school and contract
teachers – another disparity on gender grounds) and healthcare workers (auxiliary nurses and support staff)
backed by government promoted public welfare schemes. What has stayed consistent across Urban and Rural
is the participation of women workforce predominantly in medium to high intensity, low value adding, low
paying and low skilled jobs.
WHAT EXPLAINS THE LOW FEMALE PARTICIPATION IN WORKFORCE?
The low participation of women is the result of the social as well as economic factors that interact at
household level. Some of the reasons that explain this low participation are – (a) Lack of family support
structure and dominance of societal gender inequality (b) Women’s mobility and family honour (the
restrictions that come into play once a woman steps out of her home. Not to mention the domestic violence
that gets triggered with increased women mobility – inside and outside their homes) (c) lack of relevant
employment opportunities (d) effect of household income (with increased household income, women’s
participation goes doing due to change in preferences), (e) rising educational opportunities available and (f)
weak legal protection and physical security.
POLICY SUGGESTION TO THE PROBLEM
The policy answer to the problem lies in the comprehensive approach to improve the outcomes for the
women by working towards “gender specific” constraints that the women face. India cannot essentially
depend on economic growth to improve women LFPR, rather it is the later which would feed the former and
lead the way forward. It should be kept in mind that the policy measures designed to increase woman’s
labour force participation also help in attaining multiple economical as well as social goals.
India’s rigid labour laws often create barriers and affect employment opportunities of the women (e.g. “no
woman shall be required or allowed to work in any factory except between the hours of 6 a.m. and 7 p.m.”).
More so by negatively affecting job creation in general. There are trends of employees wanting extra labours
for extended hours, these requirements are then met by hiring female employees as home-based workers (not
having to come to factories). This however does not come with job security and social insurance benefits.
Govt. schemes providing pensions to these informal sector workers further disincentivizes employers from
providing essential benefits to its marginal employees.
Some of the policy reforms could be fiscal in nature leading to creation of jobs for women in the formal
economy – by giving incentives and tax breaks to firms employing a certain percentage of women or by
reduced tax contribution of the secondary bread earners etc. Historically, it has been observed that the
businesses that are run and dominated by women hire more women employees, so our country must make
sure that the credit and other supplementary gender budgeting policies are an attractive proposition.
Giving women control over land title and cash (direct benefit transfers for the family into their accounts)
ensures that they feel empowered and are more likely to play a larger role in financial and family decisions.
One of the other bigger bottlenecks that stops women is lack of mobility and safety. Apart from upskilling
the women with vocational programs (followed continuously tracking the learning outcomes), the system
should also provide them with a safe public transport service, safe hostels, clean toilets and maternity benefits
(with equally attractive paternity benefits so that women do not miss out on opportunities/benefits of “not
being there” when they come back after child birth, along with an equal shot at leadership and promotions).
Government needs to provide better public infrastructure and markets based services to streamline the unpaid
care work women indulge themselves in. E.g. time saved because of improved cooking stoves or reduced
distance of fetching drinking water has helped women increase their involvement in social, economic and
family activities. Attitudinal and behavioural change is not just possible in India but is also happening in
many aspects of Indian society, all it needs is a nudge that has been thought through.
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