Page 32 - EducationWorld Oct. 2022

Expert Comment

Curious conundrum of declining

women’s labour participation

NEERAJ KAUSHAL

NDIANS TAKE PRIDE IN COMPARING THEIR econ- In women’s participation in the labour
omy to the fastest and largest in the world. Last month
twitter was full of congratulatory messages as India force (WPLF), India trails the largest
Ibecame the world’s fifth largest economy, pushing the economies by at least 100 years and is
UK, its once colonial overlord, to sixth place.
Yet, when it comes to women’s participation in the la- closer to the Middle East
bour force (WLFP), India trails the largest economies by at
least a century. In 2021, Indian WLFP rate was 19 percent.
A hundred years earlier, in 1920, work participation rate of the following response, “There is a lot of work at home.
women in the US was 23 percent and in the UK 34 percent. We don’t get the time to go out to work.” To which women
These countries saw a sharp increase in women’s work par- around her retorted, “Her husband sends her enough mon-
ticipation through most of the 20th century. India, alas, has ey from the city, so she doesn’t need to work.”
experienced the opposite trend. An activist visiting from Puna, an important destination
According to World Bank data, India’s WLFP rate of 32 for migrant workers in UP, presented a more plausible ex-
percent in 2005 has fallen by more than a third. Centre for planation: When an entire family migrates — women, men
Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) surveys report an even and their children — they all work in the city. But if only
more dismal picture: in 2016, WLFP was 16 percent and the male member of a family migrates, women back home
it fell to 8.4 percent in 2022. Whereas WLFP reduction is prefer to exit the workforce. Perhaps, they feel insecure
greater among girls aged 15-19, other age groups have also and vulnerable without their husbands. Here too, women’s
experienced a decline. The former could be because young withdrawal suggests escape from sexual harassment and
girls are pursuing high-school or college education instead exploitation.
of working, which is a positive development. The latter im- ndia’s gender norms dictate women of ‘good’ families not
plies that women are withdrawing from work places, a puz- Ito venture out of their households alone to work. In poor
zling and worrisome trend. families, they work because there is no option. As family
The plain truth is that when it comes to women’s partici- incomes rise, they often withdraw from the workforce. Usu-
pation in paid employment, Indian gender norms are closer ally, women of higher caste families don’t work. As incomes
to the Middle East than the West or East Asia. Within the of lower caste families rise, they follow the norms of the
b
Middle East, there are two groups: countries with low but higher caste. One villager mentioned that the iradari (com-
rising WLFP and countries with low and declining WLFP. munity) doesn’t respect households in which women work
Alas, India falls within the latter category. outside the home. People are reluctant to marry their sons
Why is Indian women’s labour force participation fall- or daughters into families where women go out to work.
ing? Many blame the Indian government (or Indian econ- Most women I met on these trips were in favour of their
omy) for not creating sufficient number of jobs suitable daughters attending school/college. But what is the use of
for women. This is a faulty argument. Countries with high such education, if they are not going to utilize it for work? I
WLFP have not created employment opportunities specially asked. The response: Education improves marriageability.
for women. No one wants to marry their sons to illiterate girls, was the
It is tempting to conclude that gender discrimination standard reply.
in India is worsening, but there is no evidence of this. On Against this socio-economic backdrop will education
recent field visits, I found that the reality is more compli- raise women’s desire for economic independence? The good
cated. Several factors, including urbanisation, mechanisa- news is that Indian women’s enrollment in higher educa-
tion of agriculture, migration, rigid cultural norms mingled tion has surpassed that of males. Studies indicate that wage
with rising economic prosperity have contributed to fall in market discrimination against women is declining. Yet, cul-
women’s participation in formal employment. tural norms have a stifling grip on societies. In Iran, women
While visiting villages in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, are out in the streets protesting against the mandatory veil
I asked several groups of women why women’s workforce dictated by the clergy.
participation has been declining in rural India. In a Dalit The battle for gender equality is hard. It can be won only
village in the Badhoi district of eastern UP, one group high- when men and women, young and old, believe in it and fight
lighted sexual harassment by men of higher castes as the for it. The silver lining is that the incremental number of
primary cause. “Sexual harassment was common and ac- women entering higher education institutions will break
cepted by our ancestors. Not anymore. We refuse to work the shackles of India’s rigid cultural norms and encourage
for them,” said one woman angrily. Clearly, for this group women to enter the labour market in large numbers.
withdrawal from the workforce helped to end generational
exploitation and harassment by higher caste men. Another (Dr. Neeraj Kaushal is associate professor of social work at Columbia
woman, sporting a smart phone, dismissed my anguish with University, USA)

32 EDUCATIONWORLD OCTOBER 2022