Female workforce participation declines over a decade

Female workforce participation declines over a decade

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde expanded his cabinet on 9 August - forty one days after taking oath as the CM. The cabinet inducted 18 new members, nine from the renegade Shiv Sena party and nine from the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party). However, the new government failed to include female legislators in the cabinet, drawing criticism from the opposition parties and women's rights advocates. 

"Maharashtra was the first state in the country to give reservation for women. When 50 per cent of India's population is of women, they are not represented in the state cabinet," NCP MP Supriya Sule said.

Despite the fact that India Gandhi was the first woman Prime Minister of India to serve three consecutive terms, and Pratibha Patil became the country's first female president in 2007- gender justice, party, and equality remain elusive.

This article examines the decline in female labour force participation over the last decade. 

Women's labour-force participation varies significantly more than men's in developing and emerging economies. 

Long-term trends indicate that female involvement rates decreased from 34.1% in 1999-2000 to 27.2% in 2011-2012, and there are still significant gender participation rate gaps.

Female labour force participation rate (LPR) has stagnated or decreased across the majority of age groups during the first four months of 2022, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).

In comparison to a year before, the average female labour force participation rate (LFPR) in all of India grew by 2.3% to 25.1% in 2021.

There has been a decline in the proportion of women working in India's rural and urban areas. Effectively, this means that the proportion of women over the age of 15 who are employed or actively seeking employment has significantly declined, from 31.1 % in 2013 to only 24.5% in 2018.

As per the National Statistical Office (NSO) data (2019-2020) on employment and unemployment through the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) the estimated Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) on a usual status basis for women aged 15 and above was 22.8 %. 

As per Ministry of Labour data from 2013 to 2014 the female labour force participation was at 31.1 % , in 2015 the percentage went down to 27.4% and further decreased to 23.3% in 2017-2018. 

The above data indicates that the LFPR for women increased to 30 per cent in 2019-20 from 24.5 per cent in 2018-19. 

The above data indicates women are underrepresented across the board, not just in politics and the union cabinet. The decline in women's participation in the labour force in India which occurred despite rapid economic expansion, growing wages and incomes is concerning.