India Targets 55% Female Workforce Participation by 2030

• 15 Nov 2025

For Prelims: Female Labour Force Participation Rate, Time Use Survey, NSO, Unpaid Family Labour, Informal Employment, Labour Codes (Wages, IR, Social Security, POSH) 

For Mains: Care Economy, Feminisation of Agriculture, Gender-Sensitive Employment Infrastructure, Quality of Work Indicators 

Source: ET 

Why in News? 

The Ministry of Labour and Employment has announced a strategic plan to raise India’s Female Labour Force Participation Rate (FLFPR) from 41.7% (FY24) to 55% by 2030. The target is aimed towards Bridging the Gender Employment Gap. 

Why is Raising Female Labour Force Participation Vital for India’s Growth? 

• Major Driver of Economic Growth: Women entering the workforce boost overall productivity, enhance innovation, and strengthen financial stability, making India more resilient and competitive globally. 
  • As per McKinsey report pushing gender equality can deliver a sizable additional economic growth and could add Rs 46 lakh crore (USD 700 billion) to India's GDP in 2025. 
• Diversifies Talent & Strengthens Industries: Women bring varied perspectives that deepen the labour pool, stimulate fresh ideas, and help industries adapt to changing economic trends. 
  • Sectors such as healthcare, education, financial services, and STEM stand to gain significantly from a balanced gender workforce. 
• Catalyst for Gender Equality: Workforce participation empowers women through financial independence, asset ownership, and bargaining power, which are critical for achieving SDG 5 (Gender Equality). 
• Transforms Household & Community Welfare: Empirical studies show that women tend to invest a greater share of their income in education, nutrition, and healthcare for their families.  
  • This enhances human capital development and breaks intergenerational cycles of poverty.  
• Foundation for Sustainable and Inclusive Growth: Expanding women’s role across sectors—from agriculture and MSMEs to AI and clean energy—promotes equitable and sustainable development.  
  • Women’s workforce integration is not just a rights-based issue but a strategic economic imperative, crucial for India’s transition to a USD 5 trillion economy and achievement of the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision. 

Female Labour Force Participation Rate (FLFPR) in India 

• Definition: The Female Labour Force Participation Rate (FLFPR) includes women who are either employed or actively seeking work. 
  • A rise in FLFPR does not automatically indicate improved economic inclusion, especially when the work performed is unpaid, informal, or non-remunerative. 
• Trends in FLFPR in India 
  • Long-Term Decline Followed by Recent Recovery: According to PLFS (2023–24), FLFPR declined significantly from 31.2% in 2011–12 to 23.3% in 2017–18, indicating a withdrawal of women from the labour market. 
    • However, the trend reversed sharply, rising to 41.7% in 2023–24, signalling renewed female engagement in economic activities. 
  • Rural Women Driving the Increase: The recent rise in FLFPR has been driven primarily by rural women, with urban participation showing limited improvement. 
    • Factors such as rural distress, inflation, stagnant wages, and the need to supplement household income have pushed more women into work-related roles. 
  • Rise in Unpaid and Self-Employment: Women’s participation has grown mainly in unpaid family labour and own-account work, not in salaried or wage employment. 

Significance of FLFPR 

• Indicator of Women’s Economic Engagement: FLFPR helps assess the extent to which women participate in economic activities and interact with the labour market. 
  • Higher FLFPR is often viewed as a sign of gender equality, improved agency, and greater economic integration. 
• Insights Into Job Quality and Economic Conditions: Rising FLFPR accompanied by growth in unpaid or informal work signals economic distress, not empowerment. 
• Policy Relevance: FLFPR trends help identify structural bottlenecks in employment generation, especially for women. 
  • It provides critical insights for designing policies on skill development, rural employment, childcare infrastructure, and labour market reforms. 

What Challenges Impede Higher Female Labour Force Participation in India? 

• Limited Access to High-Quality Employment: A large proportion of women remain concentrated in low-productivity sectors such as agriculture and informal work, restricting their access to stable and high-paying jobs. 
• The Double Burden of Domestic and Economic Roles: In rural India, women often juggle domestic responsibilities and economic activities, blurring the distinction between household work and formal employment. 
  • Women’s unpaid care work contributes 3.1% of GDP, yet this ‘invisible’ labour rarely results in income generation or asset ownership. 
• Gender Norms and Mobility Constraints: Deep-rooted gender norms, inadequate access to safe transportation, and the absence of reliable childcare services significantly restrict women’s mobility and influence their occupational choices. 
• High Vulnerability in the Labour Market: Over 90% of employed women are engaged in informal work where social security, maternity benefits, and legal protections are either absent or extremely limited. 
  • Such employment is often irregular, seasonal, and dependent on family or local networks. 

What Measures India has Taken to Improve FLFPR? 

• Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP): BBBP enhances long-term female participation in the workforce by ensuring higher school retention and improved life outcomes for girls. 
• National Education Policy (NEP), 2020: NEP 2020 prioritises gender equity in education, ensuring inclusive and equitable access to quality education for girls from disadvantaged groups. 
• One Stop Centres (OSC) and Women Helpline: One Stop Centres provide immediate support services-medical aid, legal counselling, temporary shelter, and police facilitation-to women affected by violence. 
  • The Women Helpline offers 24×7 support, enabling women to access justice and safely continue their economic activities. 
• Codification of Labour Laws: The four consolidated Labour Codes simplify 29 laws to improve compliance and promote job creation. 
• Protective Provisions for Women Workers: Policies include 26 weeks of paid maternity leave, mandatory crèche facilities in establishments with 50+ employees, and permission for night shifts with safety arrangements. 
  • The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013 provides a robust framework ensuring safe and dignified workplace environments. 

How can India Ensure Inclusive Female Workforce Participation? 

• Redesign Labour Metrics for Quality Work: India must go beyond tracking participation and incorporate indicators such as earnings, work hours, job security, and asset ownership.  
  • Integrating NSO’s Time Use Survey can help recognise unpaid care work and redefine productive labour to reflect actual economic contribution. 
• Create Gender-Sensitive Formal Employment: Policies like Production-Linked Incentives, Make in India, and MSME support should embed women-focused incentives.  
  • Expanding labour-intensive sectors in rural clusters and adapting MGNREGA for women-specific tasks can generate proximity-based, dignified wage work. 
• Strengthen Care and Social Infrastructure: Community childcare centres, eldercare services, and shared kitchens can substantially reduce women’s unpaid workload, enabling sustained workforce participation and smoother transition into formal jobs. 
• Skill Building and Digital Empowerment: Region-specific, demand-driven upskilling-especially in health, education, logistics, and digital services-along with safe access to gig/platform work can raise productivity and income. 
• Tackle Social Norms: Strengthening SHGs with credit, digital literacy, and market linkages, combined with behavioural campaigns promoting shared domestic roles, can create an enabling ecosystem for long-term economic inclusion. 

Conclusion 

India’s rising labour force participation must translate into secure, remunerative, and formal employment. Formal recognition of unpaid care work-valued at nearly 10–39% of GDP-highlights the vast invisible contribution of women. Strengthening the care economy, expanding non-farm jobs, and ensuring safe and equitable workplaces will be essential for unlocking India’s demographic dividend. 

Drishti Mains Question

Examine the factors influencing female labour force participation in India and evaluate the measures taken by the government to improve it.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the Female Labour Force Participation Rate (FLFPR)?
FLFPR measures the proportion of working-age women who are employed or actively seeking work, indicating women's economic engagement and access to labour market opportunities. 

2. Why has India’s FLFPR risen recently despite limited job creation?

FLFPR rose mainly due to rural distress, inflation, and household income pressures, pushing women into unpaid or low-paid agricultural and self-employment roles.  

3. What challenges hinder women’s meaningful workforce participation?
Gender norms, unpaid care burdens, informal employment, mobility constraints, and absence of childcare reduce women’s access to stable, secure, and remunerative jobs. 

4. How are government schemes addressing low female labour participation?
Schemes like BBBP, NEP 2020, Working Women Hostels, Labour Codes, OSCs, and maternity benefits promote education, safety, childcare, and formal work opportunities for women. 

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)