Women empowerment in India - A breif discussion.
Economic empowerment is key to gender justice. But India’s workforce has
been contending with a worrying retreat of women’s participation.
The female labour force participation rate (FLFPR) in the country has fallen
from 30.27% in 1990 to 20.8% in 2019, as per data from the World Bank.
What’s worse, the decline was steepest in the years of high growth 2003-04 to
2010-11 indicating that growth didn’t flow equally to men and women in
terms of empowerment. The pandemic has likely aggravated this—the loss of jobs
in the informal sector is likely to have pushed many women out of work.
The formal sector hasn’t done well either, with women’s share in new payroll
additions, which had been trending downwards for a long time, falling to below
20% in August 2020.
Female labour force participation rate (FLFPR):
The FLFPR basically
tells what percentage of the total women within the working-age are seeking
work; it includes both those who are employed as well as those who are as yet
unemployed but seeking work.
India has one of the lowest women participation , In other words, 79%
of Indian women (aged 15 years and above) don't seek work.
Indian typically compares itself from other countries such as China, USA ,
Indonesia, and Bangladesh. they have two-to-three times higher rates of women
participation .
Worse still, it is not the case that India is behind just a handful of
countries. India’s 21% women LFPR is not even half the global average
(47%). The bottom of this chart further underscores the poor company of India
keeps in terms of freedom for women. However, the truth about women’s
participation in India’s economy is complicated.
Benefits of Women Empowerment in India
1. Women's economic empowerment has been shown many times to be the best
weapon against poverty.
2. Economically autonomous women can walk away from abuse. Providing
young women with the means to earn shields them from human trafficking. Gender
equality reduces violence of all kinds.
3. The beneficial effects of full inclusion for women would be visible
at the institutional and national levels.
4. Including women in the financial system contributes to institutional
profit and reduces risk also, increases transparency and stability for the
entire economy also.
5. Allowing women to participate in international trade-increases a
nation’s resilience.
Measures that increase Women in workforce:
1. Training and mentoring programmes helps to women employees for
development.
2. Sponsorship programmes, in particular have been shown to be important
in the promotion of women and the development of a strong pipeline of women
talent.
3. To attract and retain women workers, companies can offer
family-friendly policies including flexible work options, and paid maternity
and paternity leave benefits.
4. Creating more flexible work choices reduces gender inequality in both
paid and unpaid work.
5. The need or the preference for temporal flexibility in work shapes
women’s choices of occupations, jobs and places of work and is a significant
cause of the gender pay gap.
6. Investing in women’s economic empowerment sets a direct path towards
gender equality, poverty eradication and inclusive economic growth.
7. Women make enormous contributions to economies, whether in
businesses, on farms, as entrepreneurs or employees, or by doing unpaid
work at home.
Women empowerment in India
Economic results are
best when men and women work in a gender-balanced way.
