International Women's Day: Female Labour-Force Participation In India Declined By 9.25% In 2020, Says Study

Female labour-force participation in India has declined from 34 per cent in 2006 to 24.8 per cent in 2020, according to a new study.

According to the UNGC (United Nations Global Compact) India study, India is the only country among the 153 surveyed countries where the economic gender gap is larger than the political gap. 

The study found that raising women's participation in the labour force to the same level as men can boost India's GDP by 27 per cent.

The female labour-force participation in India has declined from 34 per cent in 2006 to 24.8 per cent in 2020, the study said.

"Gender stereotypes and lack of infrastructure has traditionally sidelined women from core manufacturing functions. As a result, not many are able to reach leadership roles," it said.

Companies need to ensure policies and procedures are made to adapt to various life changes in their employees, including maternity, changing care needs, dual career couples and continuity, the study said.

"Globally, 38.7 per cent of employed women are working in agriculture, forestry and fisheries, but only 13.8 per cent of landholders are women," it said.

It is the need of the hour that public policy and corporate policies incorporate various gender related barriers in India to ensure effective solutions, according to the study.

"Gender mainstreaming goes beyond developing separate women's projects within work programmes or women's components within existing activities in the work programmes. It requires attention to gender perspectives as an integral part of all activities across all programmes," it said.

This involves putting gender perspectives as the central frame of thought to all policy development, research, advocacy, development, implementation and monitoring of norms and standards and planning, implementation and monitoring of projects, it added.