Falling percentages, failing work conditions: A deeper look into women’s employment in India Premium

It’s no secret that the number of women in the labour market is significantly lesser than that of men, but did you know that in India, when it comes to rural women in labour force, the number is not just low, but has been almost steadily declining over the years? 

It’s no secret that the number of women in the labour market is significantly lesser than that of men, but did you know that in India, when it comes to rural women in labour force, the number is not just low, but has been almost steadily declining over the years? 

“About 70-80% of men in urban and rural areas are in paid employment. Whereas only about 17% of urban women are actually in the paid workforce. And for rural women, it’s been steadily declining over time,” says Dr. Rosa Abraham, citing the annual State of India Working 2023 report brought out by Azim Premji University, and throwing light on the enormity of the problem.  

Dr. Abraham, who is a faculty at Azim Premji University, and works at the Centre for Sustainable Employment focusing on women in the labour market, was speaking at ATREE last week. 

The U-shaped curve is often associated with Nobel-winner Claudia Goldin who used it to trace the women’s labour force participation in relation to a country’s economic progress.  

When a country is less developed, there seems to be a very high female labour force participation rate; However, it tends to dip as the country progresses, but beyond a certain level of development, it starts to climb back up again forming the shape of a ‘U’.  

The assumption is that as a country progresses from middle to high income, female participation also increases given the availability of well-paying formal jobs.  

India, however, seems to be an outlier, says Dr. Abraham.