Childcare, Domestic Duties, And Wage Gaps Hinder Women From Entering The Workforce: Labour Secy

As International Women’s Day is approaching, discussions around women's empowerment, financial literacy, and labour force participation are taking place. Amid this, the government reiterates its commitment to include more women in the workforce. The target is to have 70 per cent of women in the workforce by 2047. In a CII conference on March 5, Sumita Dawra, Union Labour Secretary, said that women's mentorship is vital to bring them into the workforce and climb up the ladder to reach leadership roles.

While she emphasised more women's participation and the government’s commitment towards it, she also called for women mentoring to enable them to reach top positions or become entrepreneurs.   

As per data, some sectors see more women participation than others.

According to Dawra, education is an important tool for women's empowerment, and they should be educated under the National Education Policy. Further, she also asked for venture capital support for women to help them start their own ventures. "For women entrepreneurs, it (venture capital support) is very critical. Mentorship for women to be in leadership and decision-making roles. While we have provision, we also must have mentorship for women where it is needed", PTI reported her saying.

However, there are some clear challenges hindering women from participating in the workforce.

Challenges Faced By Women:

Women have been facing challenges like childcare and performing domestic duties for quite a long, but these challenges persist, preventing women from participating after a certain level or age.

According to Dawra, wage disparity is also an issue for lower women's labour force participation. Wage disparity is common in various domains. Researches show women are paid less for the same work.

Notably, the issue becomes acute in the early middle ages. Typically, women take breaks after childbirth to take care of the child. If the employment policy is not friendly, such women leave the workforce which makes it difficult for them to come back. Even if they rejoin the workforce, their salary is less than their peers.   

Sectors Where Women Are Excelling:

“We see women excelling in the services sector, technology, finance, and also in manufacturing. The data tells us that Worker Population Ratio (WPR) for women has doubled in the last six years", said Dawra.

However, education and work participation is linked and the number of educated women joining the workforce is steadily rising.

Women Participation Ratio:

In the last six years, the women’s worker population ratio (WPR) has increased from 22 per cent in 2017-18 to 40.3 per cent in 2023-24. The labour force participation has also risen during this period from 23 per cent to 42 per cent.

According to the ‘Female Labour Utilisation In India’ report by the Ministry of Labour and Employment in April 2023, in rural areas, women's participation was largely in the agriculture sector (20.6 per cent). In urban areas, around 3.4 per cent of women join the service sector while in rural it remains at 1.4 per cent. The regular salaried female employees were also higher in urban areas (11.0 per cent) compared to only 2.9 per cent in rural areas.

As per the government statement, Dawra said, “Focused discussions on identifying systemic barriers and policy gaps are crucial for formulating innovative solutions that align with India’s broader economic and social development goals, ensuring sustainable and equitable workforce participation for women”.

Women's participation is necessary for the broader economic growth but through education, support, and innovative policies it can be done.