‘Only 12% of the women workforce in India employed as contract staff’ ’

Only 12% of the 149.8 million female workers in India participate in the labour market as contractual staff, says a study by TeamLease Services.

According to the study titled ‘No Women Left Behind’, one of the primary reasons for the low rate of women at work is their high participation in domestic duties or unpaid work. As per the analysis, the work eco-system in general is also not very conducive for an increase in women’s participation.

A majority of the women employees in India do not have a written job contract; nearly half of the regular wage/salaried employees are not eligible for paid leave. The report also points out that a significant proportion of the women who are currently in the workforce do not have access or are not eligible for any social security benefits.

The study has made various recommendations: Revamp the labour code or include provisions in the labour code to offer upskilling training to women; set up a comprehensive gender sensitive tax rebate across financial transactions including income tax, stamp and transfer duties during property transfers.

Currently, the tax exemptions under section 88C marginally benefitted women as only 4% of the economically active women are in the formal sector.

The other recommendations include: setting up a gender sensitive and gender transformative skill development framework; redefining the role of National Skill Training Institute to promote gender diversity in the training institutes; offering incentives to MSMEs and making the process of engaging female apprentices and employees simple; enhancing public investment in infrastructure for the semi-urban areas, small towns, tier-II and III cities; and encouraging companies to dedicate larger portions of their procurement budgets toward businesses owned by women and also to be partnered with women-owned businesses.

It also recommends creating awareness about products and services, and providing tailored tools to women such as doorstep services, communication support, simplifying approval processes to reduce the number of visits to branches, and encouraging collaboration with non-governmental organisations, microfinance institutions.