Women workforce participation in MNREGA over 50%

By: Arshi Qureshi

MGNREGA's data shows that women participation has increased in the programme - it grew from 40% in 2006–07 to 53% in 2013–14 on a nationwide scale.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), launched in 2006, ensures livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a fiscal year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual labour. 

Promoting effective participation of women in the workforce and in administrative roles has been a key goal of MGNREGA.  The MGNREGA  regulations stipulate that at least one-third of the beneficiaries must be women who have applied for employment through the programme.

Additionally, the availability of jobs within a 5 km radius of the village has the potential to increase the participation of women.

MGNREGA's datashows that women participation has increased in the programme - it grew from 40% in 2006–07 to 53% in 2013–14 on a nationwide scale. As per the Ministry of Rural Development, rural women made up 54.59% in 2018-2019, it increased to 54.78% in 2019-2020.

In 2020-2021, women workforce participation saw a drop due to the pandemic at 53.19%. However,  in 2021–2022 it went up to 54.54%. The average female labour force participation rate (LFPR) in all of India grew by 2.3% to 25.1% in 2021. 

NSSO data indicated that women's labour force participation rates in rural India have been declining between 2004–05 and 2011–12. From about 25% in rural areas in 2004–2005 to 21% in 2009–10, and then even lower to about 17% in 2011–12, rural women's participation dropped.

Despite the fact that women in India have low labour-force participation rates, women participation in the MGNREGA is over 50%. One of the reasons for this statistic is the pay disparity - while MGNREGA guaranteed equal pay, there was typically a higher pay gap between men and women in the informal sector. Another element that pulls women to MGNREGA employment is the ease of finding work close to home.

Typically men migrate to other cities to find jobs leaving women behind who then use MGNREGA to guarantee their financial security.

The proportion of female workers under MGNREGA is higher than the proportion of women working in all states' casual wage labour markets, compared to previous recorded labour programmes, women are participating in the plan significantly more actively.