India has lowest share of women working among G20 countries, shows data

Trend has only worsened in recent years

Recent moves to increase political representation for women come even as their participation in the economy has been in retreat.

They are less likely to work than they were a few years ago and continue to be less likely to own assets than men. The cabinet reportedly approved a bill for women's reservation in Parliament on Monday.

India has the lowest share of working women among the group of 20 (G20) countries. The female labour force participation rate was 24 per cent, lower than the next in line—Saudi Arabia at 27.8 per cent. On top were Australia (62.1 per cent), China (61.1 per cent), and Canada (60.9 per cent). Other BRICS peers like Brazil, Africa, and Russia have over 50 per cent female labour force participation rates.

The female labour force participation rate is the proportion of the population aged 15 and older who are working or seeking work.

The number of employed women has largely been in decline, falling by a third over the last seven years. In financial year 2016-17 (FY17), the labour pool was around 446 million, of which women constituted 68 million, making up just 15 per cent of the total workforce. In FY23, out of the 439 million total labour force, women constituted 45 million, making up around ten per cent of the labour pool. There were around 22.7 million women workers in urban India in FY17, which declined to 12 million in FY23. The rural Indian female labour force fell from 45 million to 33 million in the same period.

While both female labour participation rates in urban and rural India were around 15 per cent in FY17, the female ratio to the total workforce fell to 7 per cent for urban regions by FY23 and 9.7 per cent for rural areas in 2022 (chart 2).

Women are also less likely to own assets like a house or land.

As per the government's National Family Health Survey (NFHS), while female land ownership increased from 37 per cent in 2015-16, it is still only 42 per cent in 2019-21. House ownership has also increased from 28 per cent to 32 per cent (chart 3).

Land ownership among men is 42 per cent. Around 60 per cent of men own a house.