New Delhi: India is letting go between $700 billion and $1.4 trillion in economic output because millions of women remain outside the workforce, according to a study by Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP), a policy think tank, that argues that the country’s biggest challenge is not just social norms but a shortage of quality jobs for women.
A seminar on the study, titled ‘Why Do Fewer Women Work in India? A Supply-Demand Perspective’, was held Friday at the CSEP. The study estimates that India would need to add nearly 90 million women to the labour force to match female workforce participation levels of developed economies.At current levels of productivity, India could raise its gross domestic product (GDP) by around $736 billion, but shifting more women into non-farming and higher-productivity jobs could nearly double this gain to $1.4 trillion.
Speaking at the seminar, S. Mahendra Dev, Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM), said increasing women’s participation in the workforce would be crucial to achieving India’s 2047 Viksit Bharat ambitions.“Creating quality employment is most important for inclusive growth. If we take women’s participation rates to around 54 percent, comparable to developed economies, India can add between $700 billion and $1.4 trillion to GDP while making growth more inclusive,” Dev said.The paper challenges the conventional view that India’s low female labour force participation is primarily due to patriarchal norms, unpaid care work and household responsibilities. It instead argues that weak labour demand and the economy’s inability to generate enough suitable jobs is an important reason why women remain outside of formal employment.Discussing the findings, while speaking at the seminar virtually, Franziska Ohnsorge, Chief Economist for South Asia at the World Bank, said India would need both demand-side and supply-side reforms to bring millions of women into the workforce.“The breakthrough in employment may only come once we have a big break in demand,” she said, adding that new free trade agreements and stronger exports could create the demand shock needed to generate more formal jobs for women.
