Editorial: Widening gender gap

Despite Equal Remuneration Act, passed in 1976, to ensure men and women receive equal pay for equal work, the disparity has only widened

Hyderabad: Though the Constitution guarantees equal pay for equal work for men and women and prohibits gender discrimination, the harsh ground reality is that women are paid far less than their male counterparts in several sectors. The disparity between men and women has, in fact, widened over the past decade. This is a key takeaway from a report by the National Statistics Office (NSO), released recently, on gender parity across the Indian States. The income effect is a leading measurable metric in wage parity that has been affected by the larger disruption of female labour participation on account of migration from towns to villages following Covid lockdowns. While India’s Labour Force Participation Rate has been on the rise since 2017-18, women are still lagging behind men. The rate was 77.2 % for males and 32.8% for females in 2021-22, with no improvement in this disparity over the years. Several social factors, including poor access to education and gender discrimination in terms of wages and opportunities at workplaces, are responsible for this widening gap. The Equal Remuneration Act was passed in 1976 to ensure that men and women receive equal pay for equal work. But, it is observed more in the breach than in the practice. Many jobs require employees to work irregular hours, such as overtime or night shifts and due to security reasons women are unable to work irregular hours. This can result in women being passed over for promotions or being paid less than men.

Despite growth in the economy and the working-age population in India, the participation of women in the labour force has been declining. According to the World Bank, Indian women’s participation in the formal economy is among the lowest in the world — only parts of the Arab world fare worse. This is an alarming trend when seen against the backdrop of increasing crime against women and widespread gender discrimination. The pandemic has only worsened the situation, impacting women disproportionately because a majority of them work in informal sectors, characterised by lower paying and less secure jobs, income volatility, and the lack of a robust social safety net. On the share of women in the labour force and wage equality, India ranks a lowly 143 out of the 146 countries. With a female population of over 662 million, India’s situation has an overwhelming impact on the global picture. Women continue to face many barriers to enter the labour market relating to access, choice of work, working conditions, employment security, wage parity and discrimination. As India aspires to be a global power, it must set an example, and embark on a path of sustainable, gender-inclusive economic growth. Effective enforcement of the existing laws on gender parity and improving training and development opportunities could be the way forward to bridge the gender gap.

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