Gender Discrimination Behind Low Women’s Participation In Workforce, Gap In Earnings: Report
Gender discrimination is a reality in workplaces and the bias is affecting working women both in urban and rural India, a new study has found.
The ‘India Discrimination Report 2022’ by Oxfam India showed that discrimination causes 100 percent of employment inequality faced by women in rural areas in labour market and 98 percent in urban areas.
Women in workforce is 25.1 percent
“Woman in India despite their same educational qualification and work experience as men will be discriminated in the labour market due to societal and employers’ prejudices,” the report released on Wednesday said.
Citing government data the report said that discrimination is a driving factor behind low Women’s Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in the country.
As per the Union Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation, LFPR for women in India was only 25.1 percent in 2020-21 for urban and rural women.
Participation of women in workforce declining
“The LFPR for women in India has rapidly declined from 42.7 percent percent in 2004-05 to mere 25.1 percent in 2021 showing the withdrawal of women from the workforce despite rapid economic growth during the same period. In 2019-20, 60 percent of all males aged 15 years and more have regular salaried and self-employed jobs while 19 percent of all similarly aged females get regular and self- employment,” it said.
Social pressure on women
The report also found that a sizeable segment of qualified women were unwilling to join the labour market because of “family responsibilities” and the need to conform to social norms.
Women earn less than men
It is not just women’s workforce participation that is being affected by gender bias.
There is also a significant gap in the earnings between men and women in the case of regular and self-employment in urban areas. The average earning is Rs 15,996 for men and merely Rs 6,626 for women in urban areas in self-employment. The men’s average earnings is nearly 2.5 times that of the earnings of women.
The lower wages for salaried women are due to 67 percent of discrimination and 33 percent due to lack of education and work experience, it said.
“What the report finds is if a man and woman starts on an equal footing, the woman will be discriminated in the economic sphere where she will lag behind in regular/salaried, casual and self-employment. The inequality in the labour market for gender and other social categories, the report finds is not just due to poor access to education or work experience but because of discrimination”, Amitabh Behar, CEO of Oxfam India said.
What government should do
Based on the findings of its study Oxfam India urged the government to actively enforce effective measures for the protection and right to equal wages and work for all women.
The Government of India should also incentivise the participation of women in the workforce including enhancements in pay, upskilling, job reservations and easy return-to-work options after maternity, it said.
“Strengthen civil society’s engagement in ensuring a more equitable distribution of household work and childcare duties between women and men and facilitating higher participation of women in labour market,” the report suggested.
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