Women Participation in Contingent Workforce

Bookchapter, 2023

Gender roles are predefined, accepted and silently followed for quite some time in the history of every society. In Asia, the women's liberation movement started in the late 1960s and continued through the 1970s which brought women into the workforce. Women are not considered the main part of the workforce in India though they are working outside of the home (in agricultural lands, household dairies, and small-scale industries) for a few decades. Indian females must do domestic duties whereas it's an option for males. Women though working outside have to slip into a housewife role after getting home. It has been observed that women's employability increased but not women's employment for a decade. This paper explores the historical trends in terms of women's employment and empowerment from the 1970s to the date in India. It also explores how are the gender differences in the Indian demographic labour force. And it discusses the reasons for the trends presented.

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 2011

The low rate of women’s labour force participation (LFPR) in India is not something new, but the decline of this LFPR is a cause for concern, unless it marks a shift away from labour participation due to the pursuit of education by the women concerned or even due to household income effects. If it is an outcome of the lack of adequate employment avenues that discourages women from seeking employment, then why is it not reflected in the male labour force participation rates as well? Amidst the declining LFPRs of women, which have been observed for all age cohorts, two of the observed trends relate to the shift away from agriculture and into non-agriculture, and a more educated workforce. While undertaking a disaggregated analysis by examining the magnitudes of change apart from the proportions and shares, this paper highlights the losses and gains in women’s employment across sectors. The gradual increase in the number of regular workers as the proportions of women engaged in self-employment and casual work decline is one clearly positive change observed more markedly in the urban areas. What consequences do these changing patterns have on the nature of work that women undertake and are these patterns reflections of a gradual but definite transformation with the potential for dynamic changes? This paper also seeks to address these questions.

World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews, 2021

Women constitute half of the population in India women development and empowerment is the pillar to enhance the economy of India. If India includes 50 % of the women into the workforce the annual growth can reach from1.5 % GDP to 9 %. Just because half of the population is kept away from the workforce, our development is slow. Gender inequality is the main drawback of the Indian society, which has made India remained underdeveloped in many ways. Traditional values and orthodox mentality has never allowed India developed internally. Poverty and hunger is also the product of gender inequality in India, women discrimination at the workplace, there is less payment for more work no social security they are becoming victims of sexual exploitation where as there are some states which are very safe for women like Pune Chandigarh where the police is in charge of making the city safe for women and girl. It is very necessary for the starting to promote gender equality at the school level, peop...

Valley International, 2022

Significant human activities were started underway in India since the Holocene Period (10,000 years ago) and civilization also was in progress while Mesopotamia and Egypt have long been recognized in between c.7000-600 BCE for their celebrated contributions to social and cultural development. A large number of women in India are actively engaged in traditional and non-traditional work and seriously contribute to society for overall growth and development. However, there are far fewer women than men in the paid workforce. In urban India, women participate in the workforce in impressive numbers, as such only 30 percent in the software industry. This paper had tried to investigate the reasons behind the less number of women involved in the workforce as well as the Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in India. All data had been collected from secondary sources and presented via tables and graphs from different angles. It had concluded with some recommendations to get out from the critical trap regarding women in India.

2012

In recent years, women are playing an important role in economic development. They contribute significant proportion in Gross Domestic Product through actively participating in industries, services and in agricultural activities. What is worse with women workers is that they still lag behind in achieving job opportunities in comparison to men. The present paper tries to look at the extent of disparity in women work and labour force participation in urban-rural sectors and across the states of India. The study uses data from different rounds of National Sample Survey. The analysis depicts that women workforce and labour force participation has declined in recent years and the gap between female and male work participation ratio has increased in India. It has been observed in developed southern states of India, because of highly educated society and sincere freedom of women in decision making, the women work participation in regular jobs is high in comparison to the northern states of India. The study also reveals the controversy in the context of urban-rural India, where women work participation is high in urban area and low in rural area. The study also reveals the fact that the gap between men and women is high in urban India, while it has increased in rural and urban India both.

V.V.Giri National Labour Institute , 2024

policy paper provides an overview of the trends in women’s participation in the work force. It uncovers some of the challenges faced by women to participate in the labour force. It also outlines some of the developments as far as women’s participation in the labour force is concerned. Despite slow progress, India has witnessed a rise in women’s employment in recent years which can be attributed to several initiatives undertaken by the government. The policy brief also reflects on some of the government initiatives to boost women’s engagement in the labour market and documents good practices in certain States. The paper concludes with policy recommendationsfor improving female labour force participation.

Work-life balance has become a subject of concern for both research scholars and business leaders in view of the contemporary demographic, technological, market, and organisational changes associated with it. However, there has been little academic attempt to provide a holistic picture of work-life balance benefits and programmes (WLBPs) offered by various organisations in India. With the basis of extant literature, primary and secondary data, the present paper has made an effort to understand the current status of WLBPs in Indian organisations and to identify its future prospects. The paper has discussed the challenges for effective implementation of such policies, which can help HR managers to be cautious before introducing WLBPs in their respective organisations. Analysis of literature and available data suggests that family-friendliness of employers in India have been reflected in various welfare provisions which has been a matter of concern for employers since industrialization. With time, the scope and coverage of such initiatives have broadened and have become more individual growth and family well-being oriented. However, these policies and practices are more prominent in new economy organisations such as software and services organisations. Moreover, the range of WLBPs varies across organisations and there is still a long way to go when WLBPs will become strategic HR initiatives in most organisations.

Indian Journal of Labour Economics , 2020

The global estimates indicate a low participation of women in the labour force and prominent gender gap at 50 percentage points evidenced in regions like South Asia as reported by the International Labour Organization. Within the South Asian context, India has witnessed a decline in the female labour market participation from 34.1% in 1999-2000 to 27.2% in 2011-2012 as per the National Sample Survey Organization. Also, the domestic duties participation for women in India has increased. Women perform a large number of economic activities but most of their contributions remain underestimated with underreporting of women's work. The present paper is contextualized within the emerging labour process theories to understand the gender differentials in employment trends in India. There is an attempt to analyse women's unpaid work with specific emphasis on their participation in household and related activities (domestic duties), thereby exploring intrahousehold dynamics and role of socio-cultural norms in interpreting gender roles in the household. The paper engages with intersections of caste, marital status and household size to understand women's constraints to participate in paid employment within the emerging labour processes in the contemporary society.

Flexible working refers to those working arrangements that are significantly different from regular work patterns. It allows employees to choose his/her place or time of work by exploiting the technological advancements that makes it possible to connect to work virtually without having to commute to office and/or do so during hours of the day that suits a particular employee. While men and women can be beneficiaries of such flexible working arrangements, it is the Woman Professional who is also more often expected to be responsible for child care, elder care and household duties and to whom the choice of working flexibly serves as a critical enabler and sustainer of her career. This cross industry study brings to light the barriers that mar the successful implementation of flexible working policies in Indian Corporate offices. It was found that the challenges to flexible working in could be broadly classified as 1) Cultural 2) Infrastructural and 3) Attitudinal. The findings of the study helped us conclude that the ingraining of flexible working in an organization's work culture calls for concerted effort from the employers', the women professionals' and their families' end.