FICCI FLO, the women's wing of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), called for comprehensive reforms to boost the care economy of India that could generate over 11 million jobs, 70 per cent of which would go to women, and unlock a new economic segment.
The forum, in a report released on the occasion of the completion of four decades of FICCI FLO, said unpaid work is crucial for households and economies to function yet remains mostly invisible and unaccounted for in estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) and economic growth.
“The undervaluation and invisibility of care work, predominantly performed by women, has resulted in a market failure, where skilled and talented women are unable to realise their economic potential, leading to a misallocation of resources at the macroeconomic level,” FICCI FLO president Sudha Shivkumar said.
Boosting investments in the care economy can not only bridge gender gaps in women’s labour force participation but also unlock a new economic segment, the forum observed in the report.
It called for re-imagining the country's care economy with both public and private investment.
According to the report, “Evidence from the International Labour Organisation suggests that increasing investments in the care services sector have the potential to generate 475 million jobs globally by 2030. For India specifically, direct public investment equivalent to 2 per cent of GDP can potentially generate 11 million jobs, nearly 70 per cent of which will go to women.”
The forum highlighted a roadmap in this regard that includes five key areas: leave policies, care service subsidies, investment in care infrastructure, skill training for care workers, and quality assurance mechanisms.
