Things have changed in our country still there are less than 25 percent of women of working age in the labour force of India. Among G-20 countries, only Saudi Arabia is worse. Reports from the latest two surveys from the employment services reveal that the numbers have changed immensely after 2004. If we go deep it can be concluded that rural India is still lacking women doing jobs.
If we talk about religions, Sikhs and Muslims have reported the highest share of women attending to domestic duties. Only upper caste are showing interest in working in the corporate sector. One of the major reasons for women not working in companies is the society which burdens them with other tasks. In rural India, it means doing things like fetching water or collecting firewood and in urban India, doing household works and childcare takes most of their time.
Different states showing different numbers
In Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, women face more barriers as compared to states such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka or Kerala and this is due to the mindset of people. Surveys show that women are interested in doing part-time jobs more because of lack of time.
Failing government policies
Works such as tailoring, cosmetics, dairy industry are most preferred by Indian women. Government has introduced programmes like skill India but these are mainly focused on males. The demand for such courses is at its peak as more women are becoming aware of financial independence and want to help their families.
Education not helping women?
The belief that education leads to jobs is a myth in India. In rural India, 67% of girls who are graduates do not work, shocking! isn’t it? More girls are being educated in than boys every year but somehow boys find work as they are seen as the financial supporters of the family.
Sectors with growth are dominated by men
Sectors with the maximum growth have maximum hiring. For example, Telecom and banking are growing well right now and around 80 percent of employees are men in these sectors. It’s not that women don’t want to work but they don’t get opportunities in lucrative jobs.
