Female Labour Force Participation in India

• 07 Oct 2025

Source: TH 

Why in News?  

India’s female labour force participation rate (FLFPR) has seen a significant rise in recent years. While this seems promising for gender equality, a closer look reveals persistent challenges in employment quality, wages, and sectoral distribution for women. 

What are the Trends in Female Labour Force Participation in India? 

• FLFPR:  FLFPR includes women who are either employed or actively seeking work. The rise in this metric does not necessarily reflect improved economic inclusion if the work is unpaid or non-remunerative. 
  • According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) (2023-24), the FLFPR declined from 31.2% in 2011–12 to 23.3% in 2017–18, marking a period of withdrawal of women from the labour market. 
  • However, it rose sharply to 41.7% in 2023–24, suggesting renewed female engagement in economic activity. 
• Rural Women Driving the Increase: The recent increase in FLFPR has been driven largely by rural women, not by urban participation.  
  • Rural distress, inflation, and the need to supplement household income have compelled more women to engage in work-related activities. 
  • However, these are not necessarily formal or paid jobs, much of this rise is due to unpaid or self-employment roles. 
• Return to Agriculture Instead of Diversification: Contrary to expectations of structural transformation, women are moving back into agriculture, not out of it. 
  • The share of rural women in agriculture rose from 71.1% in 2018–19 to 76.9% in 2023–24, while their presence in the industrial and service sectors declined. 
  • This reflects a reverse structural shift, often linked to limited non-farm opportunities for women. 
• Unpaid and Self-Employment on the Rise: Women’s participation has increased mainly in unpaid family labour and own-account work, not in salaried or wage employment. 
  • Between 2017–18 and 2023–24, women reporting “domestic duties” declined from 57.8% to 35.7%, but “helpers in household enterprises” rose from 9.1% to 19.6%, and “own account workers and employers” from 4.5% to 14.6%. 
  • Thus, much of this rise represents a shift from unpaid domestic work to unpaid or low-paid self-employment. 
  • This indicates that increased participation has not translated into better income security or job quality. 
  • The rise in participation, therefore, reflects economic distress rather than genuine economic inclusion.

What Structural Constraints Continue to Undermine Women’s Labour Market Outcomes? 

• Overrepresentation in Low-Productivity Sectors: A disproportionate number of women remain concentrated in agriculture and informal sectors, limiting access to high-paying, stable jobs. 
  • Despite India's growth in manufacturing and services, these sectors have remained male-dominated and inaccessible to many rural women. 
• The Double Burden: In rural India, women’s domestic and economic roles often overlap, making it difficult to clearly classify their work as “employment.” 
  • Many are involved in subsistence or family-based enterprises, which are often unpaid or undercounted in official data, inflating FLFPR figures without reflecting actual empowerment. 
    • The Economic Survey 2024 shows women's unpaid care work contributes 3.1% to GDP. 
  • Such ‘invisible’ labour rarely contributes to income or asset ownership, thereby offering no pathway to empowerment. 
• Gender Norms and Mobility Barriers: Societal expectations around women’s roles, limited access to safe public transport, and lack of childcare infrastructure significantly curtail their mobility and job choices. 
  • Women often prefer home-based or nearby work, which further entrenches them in low-paying, unregulated sectors. 
• Informality and Absence of Social Protection: Over 90% of employed women are in the informal sector, where there is little to no access to social security, maternity benefits, or legal safeguards. 
  • Such employment is typically irregular, seasonal, and dependent on family or local networks, making women’s incomes volatile and dependent. 

How can India Transform Rise in FLFPR into Qualitative Economic Inclusion? 

• Redesign Employment Metrics: Move beyond mere participation rates to include measures of earnings, work conditions, hours worked, and asset control. 
  • Integrate National Statistics Office (NSO) Time Use Surveys to capture unpaid care work and redefine what constitutes ‘productive labour’. 
  • Redefine ‘employment’ to reflect value-added work, not just activity. 
• Targeted Formal Employment Creation: Introduce gender-sensitive incentives under schemes like Production-Linked Incentive (PLI),  Make in India, and MSME support to create wage jobs for women. 
  • Promote labour-intensive industries (e.g., textiles, food processing) in rural areas to facilitate proximity-based employment. 
  • Expand MGNREGA-like schemes for women-specific tasks (e.g., afforestation, eldercare). 
• Enhance Care Infrastructure and Social Services: Establish community childcare centres, elderly care services, and public cooking facilities to reduce women’s unpaid burden. 
  • These services act as ‘social infrastructure’ enabling higher female workforce participation. 
• Invest in Skills and Digital Inclusion: Launch region-specific, demand-driven skill programs focusing on sectors like health, education, logistics, and digital services. 
  • Empower women to join platform and gig economy jobs with regulatory safeguards and digital access. 
• Recognize and Support Self-Employed Women: Strengthen Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and link them with formal credit and market platforms. 
  • Provide enterprise training, e-commerce linkages, and digital financial literacy to make self-employment more sustainable. 
• Challenge Deep-rooted Gender Norms: Public campaigns, school-level sensitisation, and media narratives must promote shared domestic responsibilities and female role models in non-traditional jobs.
  

Conclusion 

India’s rising female labour force participation reflects resilience, not necessarily empowerment. True progress lies in turning this quantitative surge into quality employment, fair wages, and equal access to opportunities. Achieving this transformation is central to SDG 5: Gender Equality, ensuring women’s full and effective participation in economic life. 

Drishti Mains Question: 

Rising female labour participation in India reflects resilience, not empowerment. Discuss with reference to the quality of women’s employment.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 

1. What is India’s current Female Labour Force Participation Rate (FLFPR)? 
As per Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2023–24, India’s FLFPR stands at 41.7%, up from 23.3% in 2017–18. 

2. Which group has driven the rise in FLFPR? 
The increase is primarily led by rural women, often entering the workforce due to economic distress and household income needs. 

3. What sectors dominate women’s employment in India? 
Around 76.9% of rural women remain in agriculture, with declining participation in industry and services. 

4. Why is the rise in FLFPR seen as distress-driven? 
Most new work is in unpaid or self-employment, indicating economic compulsion rather than formal job creation. 

UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Questions (PYQs)  

Prelims

Q. Disguised unemployment generally means (2013) 

(a) large number of people remain unemployed   

(b) alternative employment is not available   

(c) marginal productivity of labour is zero   

(d) productivity of workers is low   

Ans: (c)

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Mains

Q. Most of the unemployment in India is structural in nature. Examine the methodology adopted to compute unemployment in the country and suggest improvements. (2023)  

Q. “Success of ‘Make in India’ program depends on the success of ‘Skill India’ programme and radical labour reforms.” Discuss with logical arguments. (2015)  

Q. “While we flaunt India’s demographic dividend, we ignore the dropping rates of employability.” What are we missing while doing so? Where will the jobs that India desperately needs come from? Explain.  (2014)