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Informist, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025

NEW DELHI – State governments need to eliminate legal and regulatory hindrances in order to foster greater women's participation in the country's workforce, the Economic Survey for 2024-25 (Apr-Mar) said Friday. "For women, governments around the country will have to eliminate legal and regulatory hurdles that hold back their participation in the labour force besides undertaking facilitative measures. In other words, governments must get out of the way of women joining the workforce," the survey, tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, said.

The survey said childcare facilities and creches will help foster female participation in the labour force since women consider childcare responsibilities while deciding on employment. It pointed out the need to prioritise targeted skill development and entrepreneurial support to women, given the shift in their employment trends. Women have moved from salaried employment to self-employment or contribution in household enterprises, the survey said, citing the periodic labour force survey.

"The impact of the pandemic felt in lost years of schooling, and the health of the elderly resulted in women leaving regular wage/salary work and taking up flexible work so that they could take care of children who stayed at home due to school closures and elders who needed extra care and attention," the survey said. The enhanced flexibility of "own account work" also attracted women, leading to a rise in the share of overall employment. 

Citing a recent paper by the World Bank, which highlighted the need to promote women-owned enterprises to boost female labour force participation ratio and rural economic growth, the survey said there is a need to focus on credit access, skill training, and formalisation to build women's entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Further, there is a need to remove prohibitions on women from working in factory processes. It said India's ten most populous states collectively impose 139 prohibitions on women from participating in specific factory processes. "For example, some states allow women to participate in abrasive blasting (used to clean metal surfaces), but others prohibit women from participating in the same process. Similarly, women are prohibited from participating in any process to manufacture lead or its compounds. However, scientific literature indicates that lead is not likely to pose special health risks to women," the survey said. These prohibitions exclude women from high-paying jobs, making the prohibitions counterproductive, it said.

Women entrepreneurs in rural areas face additional challenges, including limited business skills, market access, and technology gaps, compounded by a lack of mentorship and networking. The survey therefore said "streamlining support through credit linkages, sensitising bankers, and efficient delivery mechanisms is essential".

Overall, labour laws intended to protect the rights of women workers have, more often than not, discouraged hiring by creating systemic barriers to their entry into the workforce, the survey said.  End

Reported by Sourabh Kumar

Edited by Saji George Titus

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