Women participation in India's labour force on the rise: 2024 Indian Economy review

The female labour force participation rate (FLFPR) has risen to 37% in 2022-23 from 23.3% in 2017-18, according to the Indian Economy Review presented by the Finance Ministry on Monday.

“While urban FLFPR has also been rising, the rural FLFPR has seen a sharp growth. The rise in rural female FLFPR has been accompanied by a rise in the share of self-employment and agriculture among working women, points which deserve greater scrutiny,” the report notes. 

The share of rural women working on their own increased from 19% in 2017-18 to 27.9% in 2022-23, and those working as unpaid helpers rose from 38.7% to 43.1%.

“This is plausibly a culmination of many factors, including continuous high growth in agriculture output and freeing up women’s time due to substantial expansion of access to basic amenities such as piped drinking water, clean cooking fuel, sanitation, etc,” the report said.

The female workforce has been seen tilting towards agriculture. The rise in the share of agriculture in the rural female workforce from 73.2% in 2017-18 to 76.2% in 2022-23. Among women in agriculture, there's a change in the type of work as skilled agricultural labour among women rose from 48% to 59.4%, while physically demanding jobs decreased from 23.4% to 16.6%.

“The feminisation of agriculture also points to a much-needed structural shift within agriculture, where excess (male) labour moves out and remaining (female) labour is utilised efficiently. Thus, female participation in rural India is productive and remunerative. The monetary contribution of women to rural family incomes also matters from the lens of intra-household bargaining power and decision-making, propelling a tectonic shift in the societal gender dynamics,” the report said.

This growing number of women in the workforce is supported by the growing number of young women pursuing higher education.

The report highlights that programmes such as "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao" and Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana encourage saving and educating girls. Over 3.1 crore accounts have been opened under this scheme. 

Additionally, girls' enrollment in secondary schools increased from 75.5% in FY15 to 79.4% in FY22. The percentage of girls enrolling in senior secondary education more than doubled from 24.5% in 2004-05 to 58.2% in 2021-22. Similarly, the enrollment of girls in higher education increased fourfold from 6.7% in FY2001 to 27.9% in FY21.

Women-led development

The report highlighted that 56% of Jan Dhan account holders are women, and two-thirds of these accounts are in rural and semi-urban areas. 

As per the report, under PM Kaushal Vikas Yojana, more than 59 lakh women have been certified, making up over 40% of the total certifications as of June 2022. Additionally, around 70% of loans under PM Mudra Yojana and 80% of beneficiaries under Stand-Up India are women entrepreneurs.