A Take on Female Labour Force Participation in India
Amid political, social, and economic savvy discussions, ‘Female Labour Force Participation’ is a topic that seldom becomes a topic in vogue. No matter with what depth we research this topic, the onset of fairness within this topic is unlikely to arise unless we indulge in thinking logically regarding the often-overpowered gender. You might say, “Ah! Women go to the office.” or “I pay fairly to our non-male house helps.” or you might dare to say, “My mother has sacrificed so much, and yet, she is happy.” to prove some point you fancy.
But let us think about women getting married at an earlier age and sometimes before completing education, their career development getting delayed due to pregnancies, and women leaving their jobs after marriage due to their spouses’ work locations and societal expectations. Why is there a more male percentage of workers in most workplaces? We have household work and childcare utterly dependent on women in several cases, whether the woman has a paid job. Some women are unable to access education despite no discernible societal reasons.
I shall take one elaborate example to explain this topic by taking a glimpse at a corporate scenario. This easily untold scenario brushes with societal factors. Let’s say X and Y are 22-year-olds from ABC Engineering College. X is a woman, and Y is a man. They get recruited by a company with a package of 8 LPA. They marry. They both earn 15 LPA by the time they are 27. Now, X is expecting a child. Per company policies, she takes maternity leave for six months. X returns after her break and continues working for a month. After that, she realizes that her child needs more care, and the most feasible way is to take a career break. Y decides to return to work when her toddler is two years old. Due to a gap of around 2.5 years, she finds it difficult for companies to hire her. The role can be better; sometimes, the pay is less. Ultimately, she settles for the same position she was in when she was 27 years old, with a low pay increase.
On the other hand, Y, with no career gap, shifts to another company with a higher role in the hierarchy and an excellent salary. Had there been another way for her child to be cared for, she would not have had that long gap. Why was it X who needed the sacrifice? It is tricky to answer since several factors remain hidden from the scenario. Also, we are still determining what happened further. What transportation means do they use to travel to their respective workplaces? Who uses the family car for the same, if they own one? Did she feel left out because her peers were doing better professionally? How is the household responsibility shared between X and Y? Does Y take care of their child equally? We never know because, in India, we prefer to keep ‘Ghar ki baat, ghar pe,’ (Translate: Whatever happens at home, stays at home) do we not?
For something as easily ignored as gender disparity, plenty of examples support the lack of female labor force participation in India. To list everything is out of the scope of this blog’s unsaid word limit. The average woman earns only 21% of what an average man makes. This factor is enough discouragement, although approximately 46.2% of all working people are women. So, what can we do about it? Policies have been made to improve girl children’s education, curb child marriages and threaten social evil like dowry. We may need more policies for this issue, but one thing is more important- to unlearn everything that makes you think this is not an issue. And once you have learned, spread awareness because you have the power. You have the world in your hands through that mobile phone of yours. Every little step matters. One step of yours might create a chain reaction and change this world. Who knows?
-Shambavi Devi
MBA (Analytics) Batch of 2022–24
