Chennai: A rapid rise in women’s labour force participation in India from just 21.6 per cent in 2018-19 to 35.6 per cent in 2023-24 is expected to push female employment in South Asia, finds the World Bank.
South Asia’s female labour force participation today remains among the lowest in the world with over 400 million working-age women in the region are outside of the labour force. South Asia’s working women face supply-side and demand-side obstacles, as well as unfavourable social norms.
However, a rapid rise in women’s labour force participation in India over the past several years—from just 21.6 per cent in 2018-19 to 35.6 per cent in 2023-24—offers some hope. However, the concentration of this increase in unpaid and self-employed employment in rural areas points to a continued lack of high-quality employment opportunities for women outside the home.
For Indian women, in particular, the incentive to join the labour force faded as their wage growth lagged that of their husbands. Women’s wage growth has been less than half of men’s in India.
South Asia’s social norms also discourage women’s employment outside the home. In India, home-based work significantly increased women’s likelihood of taking up employment opportunities, and an experiment with mixed-gender teams in call centres produced no productivity gains and only worsened men’s gender attitudes, highlighting the need for gender sensitization training at workplaces.
Restrictive norms can soften when exposed to liberal norms and in India self-help groups could be the networks that encourage women’s employment.
