Closing the gender gap: India still has miles to go in growth story

A new report by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, titled “Women and Men in India 2024”, highlights a mix of encouraging progress and persistent challenges. One of the report’s key takeaways is the growing presence of women in the country’s workforce, governance, and economic activities. Notably, the sharp rise in the female labour force participation rate (LFPR) from 23.2 per cent in 2017-18 to 41.7 per cent in 2023-24 is significant. Yet, the achievement is shadowed by the fact that this still lags far behind the male LFPR of 77.2 per cent, and even below the global average female LFPR of 50 per cent, according to the World Bank. This reflects not just a gap in opportunity but in structural conditions, which continue to disadvantage women. However, encouragingly, wage gaps across both rural and urban areas are narrowing, indicating a shift towards more equitable economic recognition. In fact, between July-September 2023 and April-June 2024, the highest increase in wages was observed for urban women, rising by 5.2 per cent. 

Nevertheless, this shift coexists with an equally important trend: The rise in women’s participation in unpaid household work. According to the latest Time Use Survey, the amount of time spent by women on “unpaid domestic services for household members” in a day was 236 minutes, as against only 24 minutes spent by men. This illustrates a troubling dual burden — women are stepping into paid roles while still bearing the disproportionate burden of care work at home. This limits women’s ability to benefit from workforce participation and shows societal norms that undervalue domestic labour. Further, the report reveals a positive trend in the percentage of female-headed proprietary establishments across manufacturing, trade, and other services. This signals not only a growing entrepreneurial spirit among women but also a gradual breaking of traditional gender roles in ownership and enterprise. Financial inclusion among women has also increased, though the base remains small. As of March 2024, women had 39.2 per cent of all bank accounts and contributed to 39.7 per cent of deposits. Women’s account ownership is, however, geographically concentrated in the southern and eastern parts of the country. Access to capital markets has also expanded, with the number of female-owned demat accounts increasing more than three times between 2021 and 2024, although male account holders consistently outnumber female account holders. 

In the realm of decision-making, the report points to mixed outcomes. While there has been near gender parity in panchayati raj institutions, the percentage of women elected to the Lok Sabha is on a downward trend relative to the number of women candidates. Despite a greater push for women’s participation in electoral politics, of the members in the 18th Lok Sabha, only 13.6 per cent are women. This is concerning because representation at the highest legislative levels is crucial in ensuring that gender-sensitive policies are formulated and meaningfully implemented. Broadly, safety concerns, societal perceptions, and familial constraints remain major barriers to women’s mobility and participation. Addressing these involves improving public safety and increasing gender sensitivity through mass-awareness campaigns. Increasing women’s participation is essential for India to achieve rapid economic growth in the coming decades.