Official employment surveys have shown that women’s participation in the labour force is low and has been diminishing. However, these surveys EUS, Employment and Unemployment Survey and the PLFS, Periodic Labour Force Survey are not sufficient enough to explain this sudden trend or offer solutions to how this can be changed.
According to the survey conducted by the CASI, Centre for the Advanced Study of India which was conducted around in January-August in 2019 in around 15,000 households in four cities had reached the following conclusions as to the probable reasons why women workforce has been declining this century.
Lack of participation of the rural women in the labour force
The LFPR, Labour Force Participation Rate. Women’s labour force participation rate in the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey conducted in this pandemic was shown to be just a meagre 18.6% compared to men’s 55.6% LFPR. The earlier rate was not this low and it shows that it has fallen over time because of the lack of participation of rural women. However, that of rural women is comparatively higher than urban women.
Official surveys offer no solutions
The PLFS does offer clues like marriage reduces a women’s participation in the labour force. In the 21-25 and 26-30 years regiments, unmarried women are twice likely to participate in the workforce as married women. This suggests that expectations of a woman’s household work fulfilment negatively affects their workforce participation. However, some surveys show that the available jobs for women looking for employment do not suit their requirements or interests. The PLFS shows that agriculture is the choice of work for married women which explains the reason why the participation rate of urban women in the labour workforce is lower than that of rural women.
Household constraints constrict work options available to women
Even assistance available with household work does not change a woman’s disposition to work suggests that societal expectations play a major role in women’s need for flexible and proximal workforce options and thus reduce the work options available to willing women.
