As per ‘India Development Report’ released by World Bank on May 29, 2017, India ranks 120th among 131 countries in terms of women participation in the workforce.
Women participation in the Indian workforce:
As per the report, participation level of women in Indian workforce has been dropping since year 2005, despite having 42% women who are graduates.
- Report has estimated that if women participation increased, India’s potential GDP growth rate can rise by one percentage point.
- Indian services and industry sector have less than 20% women in workforce. In India, agriculture sector offers more jobs to women as compared to services and industry. The report has outlined that those women who are moving out of the agriculture are not being able to find jobs in other sectors.
- Lack of job opportunities, rising income levels and larger number of younger women opting to study in schools are the reasons cited for a decline in women participation in the workforce.
- Frederico Gil Sander, senior economist at World Bank has observed that in an environment of lower rate of job generation, most regular jobs were being grabbed by men.
- In India, the women participation in workforce is only 27%, which is much lower as compared to China and Brazil where it is in the range of 65-70%. In this context, neighbouring countries, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are having better numbers than India.
- The report has highlighted that women entrepreneurs typically create more job opportunities for women, but in India the number of such women entrepreneurs itself is low.
- This information is even more worrisome in backdrop of Census 2011 data, which has revealed that during 2001 and 2011, there was a 116% increase in women graduates, compared to a 65% increase for men.
Researchers believe that increased participation of women in workforce is necessary as it will lead to greater control on assets and more involvement in household decision making.
World Bank :
- CEO : Kristalina Georgieva
- Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States
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