Female labour participation improved across most Indian states in 2018

The Periodic Labour Force Survey that estimated unemployment at a 45-year high showed women's LFPR at 19.5 per cent at the end of December 2018

Dhiraj travels from Meerut to Delhi every week to offer at-home beauty treatment to housewives in East Delhi apartments. This 32-year-old lady earns about Rs 12,000 a month, but her mother-in-law, a government school teacher in Meerut, objects to her travelling job. "She thinks I should try to get myself a school job like her. She expects me to wait at home and take care of my daughter, whom I leave with my sister," says Dhiraj.

Her mother-in-law's vision is shared by a majority of women across Delhi-NCR. Dhiraj's clientele of women from low-middle-class families staying in these East Delhi