Opinion: Worrying gender gap at work

Gender has long been identified with gender justice but equality in employment is also important for national economic health

By Nripendra Abhishek Nrip, Monika Raj

The development of a country is also determined by the development of women in any period. Women in India may have contributed and excelled in many fields in the last few decades, but even today their status is not good in social as well as labour participation. They are ranked the lowest in the world in terms of participation. The destiny of India is that the woman is only known as a ‘caretaker’ while the man is known as a ‘breadwinner’. The gender gap that came from ancient society is still intact and is likely to take years to bridge completely.

But, it is not that the level of women has not improved. If we look at the education of women globally in the last two decades, there has been a significant improvement. Rates of fertility are declining too. Both these factors have resulted in an unparalleled increase in women’s participation in the paid labour force worldwide. However, in the case of India, the situation is not clear. The social structure of India has been different from the beginning where women have to struggle even to break the threshold.

Dismal Participation

A report in the Periodic Labour Force Survey 2018-19 suggests the female labour force participation rate among women over the age of 15 years in rural areas accounts for about 26.4% and less than 20.4% in urban areas of India. Affecting the efforts and progress made by the government towards gender equality over the years, the pandemic has further widened this gap. The importance of gender has long been identified with the landscape of gender justice. However, equal availability of job opportunities is also about national economic health.

As we see globally, almost half of women work, and the gap between women and men in employment has narrowed recently due to the increase in the female labour force in many countries, according to the World Employment and Social Attitudes-Trends 2020 released by the International Labour Organization. Apart from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and North African countries – Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia – are also facing the same situation.

Tough Task

Due to the poor status of women at the social level, the average employment population of women is also in poor condition, which openly demonstrates gender inequality. Nevertheless, the trends of women’s participation in India’s market economy are moving in the opposite direction. Though their access to the educational field has been massive over the last two decades, the share of Indian women in the workforce has decreased over time.

India has to make massive efforts to achieve gender equality in employment. These efforts will include factors such as economic opportunity, legal protection and material security. If we keep in mind that women are already part of our economy and are doing low-wage jobs in the informal sector, proper skill development for them will emerge as an area that needs to be prioritised.

Employment Opportunity

The government of India has been emphasising imparting training for skills. In some sectors, women are considered more suitable than men. However, there is no reason to restrict women to traditional areas of work. Women, if equipped with appropriate skills, have the natural ability to overcome traditional hurdles and improve themselves in new jobs. Therefore, skill centres as well as the provision of space in Aadhaar centres for courses of specific use should be created for women in the cities.

The employment sector for women should not be confined to cities and should also be linked to the rural economy. Rural women who cannot have access to cities should prefer to work near their homes and at their own convenient time. For this, under the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, there is a provision to give them 100 days of employment at the rate of wages already fixed.

Being engaged in non-paid work, women are not able to acquire education and skills for employment. This keeps them constantly out of the workforce. In such a situation, care homes should be created for the elderly and children so that the participation of women in the labour force can increase. To address this problem in rural India, it is necessary to address the problems related to the demand of workers. At the same time, there is also a necessity to formulate policies based on gender needs to reduce the burden of non-paid work on women, which is due to structural flaws. It will not be easy to increase the participation of women in the labour force without addressing these issues.

Often women’s work is seen as a sign of the inability of their husbands in our male-dominating society. Agriculture has also been an important sector for women’s employment in India, but in the last three decades, the country has seen a steep decline in agro-employment, while rural non-farm employment and livelihood opportunities have not increased to that level in comparison.

To ensure full participation and inclusion of women in the economy, barriers such as access to the labour market and property rights, targeted credit and investment should be removed. The pandemic has impacted the employment of women more than men.

Strong and inclusive efforts need to be made to ensure equal opportunities for women entering the labour force, including providing transportation, security and hostel facilities for them as well as providing social security such as childcare and maternity benefits.