Is India an ideal country for working women?

From societal pressure and glass ceilings to skewed terms of employment and unjustifiable pay gaps, the odds in the Indian employment landscape are greatly at variance with women’s upward mobility. Are we as a nation failing to break this hurdle for working women?

For years, females have been pushed out of the workforce and expected to focus on being devout wives, mothers or homemakers. Though this trajectory has shifted gradually to drive them towards offices since the past few decades, the percentage of economically-active working women in our country is still far less than the global average. We must note that this fraction is plummeting at a high speed since the post-pandemic era.

According to data compiled by the World Bank, the proportion of working-age women taking part in paid work in India dropped from 30.7% in 2006 to 19.2% in 2021. The dire situation continues as The World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report 2022 ranked us at 135th position out of 146 countries this year. [Data Source: IAS Parliament]

The sharp decline in these rates makes us wonder where we are going wrong as a nation despite our rising literacy rates, highest rate of gender parity in education than it has ever been and fertility rates that have fallen to the lowest in our history till date. There are undoubtedly other factors at play which we are failing to notice, and which lead to the question whether India can be the ideal place for working women or not.

One of the key triggers for this trend ought to be the internalised and culturally-accepted bias that holds domestic work as a women’s responsibility; while the other factors also include social security and physical safety concerns, unfavourable labour laws, need of diversification in the existing job roles and low recognitions for the underrepresented community. All of these factors are leading women to quit corporates or switch jobs at a higher rate to find a viable option for their sustainability.

Surprisingly, these reasons stand unique to India compared to other developing or high-economy countries, and are strong enough to constrain women from being an active part of our workforce. In order to become an ideal country for working women, we must understand that the ultimate aim of inclusion and diversity is not limited to hiring underrepresented genders at workplace and extends far beyond. We will have to make large efforts to establish a better work-culture, share equitable responsibilities among men and women and build a society where women feel safe and valued.