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Shalini Singh
Shalini Singh

empowerment

Women's labour force participation sees further decline

INDIA-ECONOMY-AGRICULTURE (File) Representational image

In 2014 when the Narendra Modi-led BJP came to power in India, it ranked women's economic empowerment high on its agenda. However, going by the recent figures, women's labour force participation has declined to 22 per cent.

This and other figures came to light at the India launch of the report of the UN-Secretary General's High Level Panel on Women's Economic Empowerment on Tuesday.

The report was envisioned in 2016 under the spirit of the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 that says 'Leaving No One Behind'. The idea is to empower women in the informal sector that includes small businesses, self-employed women, women agricultural workers and those in textile and apparel sector. This is important for a country like India in which informal employment contributes 93 per cent of the economy.

These are important points in the present context given that about 85 per cent of Indian women are engaged in 'vulnerable employment' that includes home-based, domestic and construction work. Apart from the government's 'Make In India' mission to enhance skills across 25 sectors of the Indian economy, the draft National Policy for Women (2016) seeks to empower women workers in the informal sector through access to rights and entitlements.

Nearly 65 per cent of agricultural workers are women whose resource rights are further impinged on by factors like climate change and disaster. More than half, that is, 51 per cent of the work done by women is unpaid and not counted in national statistics; some estimates even put this proportion of unpaid work at 85-92 per cent. Globally, only one in two women aged 15 and above participates in employment for pay or profit.

Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who released the report in Delhi, said while the government's efforts are in line with the seven primary drivers contained in the report, where digital, financial and property related issues are being addressed, more could be done.

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Topics : #economy

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