Mentor’s Comment:

The question holds importance due to India’s worst performance in global gender gap report released by World Economic Forum.

The introduction will should explain how we performed in gender parity and the reason why there is low participation of women in India’s workforce.

Further, mention what hurdles women faces especially in India due to its being patriarchal mindset of society. Marriage and childcare are two major constraints in the development of women. Education to girl child, discrimination in family due to priority is being given to male child, absence of flexible work hours for working women etc.

Next, mention about policy initiatives towards empowering women. Ujjwala scheme and subsidies, Maternity Benefit Amendment Act 2016, legal entitlement to women through National Commission, reservation of seats in local bodies of Panchayats and Municipalities etc.

Next, conclude with way forward. What more need to be done.

 

Model Answer:

How we performed in Gender Parity

• Despite the pronounced gendered approach to policy initiatives recently in  India,  the  country  slipped  21  places between 2016 and 2017 in The Global Gender Gap Report released by the World Economic Forum.
• India’s low  rank  on  gender  parity  in  labour  force  participation  (LFP)  fell  further,  by  four  points,  to  139  (among 144 countries). Reasons –Why there is low participation.
• The observed decline in female LFP has been the largest and most significant for rural married women.
• In urban areas, while there has been no decline in participation by married women over time, the figure has been stagnating.
• On the other hand, there has been no fall in the employment rate for men in the same demographic group.

Marriage and Childcare-Two Major constraints

• In 2011,  around  50%  of  unmarried  women  in  the  15-60  age  brackets  were  in  the  labour  force,  while  the proportion for married women was 20%.
• There has been a rise in LFP rates among urban unmarried women between 1999-2011, from 37% to 50%, but, for married women, it has been stagnant for 30 years.
• For married and unmarried men, the participation rates are high (around 95%) and constant over time.
• An exclusive focus on educating and skilling women or financial inclusiveness is unlikely to be effective in making women economically  more  empowered  unless  policy  measures  address  the  constraints  of  childcare  faced  by married women.
• With patriarchal  norms  underlying  the  traditional  role  of  men  and  women  in  Indian  households  and  non-marketization  of  childcare,  coupled  with  a  shift  towards  nuclear  families,  the  burden  of  domestic  work  lies  on women.
• Absence of  flexible  work  hours  and  easier  physical  access  to  work  has  been  compounded  by  the  persistent gender gap in wages.
• Against a rapid increase in the number of years women get an education, an increase in age for marriage and a reduction in  fertility  levels,  these  trends  seem  contradictory  to  the  trend  of  labour  force  participation  seen  in India.

Policy Initiatives – a glimmer of hope

• Adoption of  technologies  that  potentially  reduce  the  burden  of  housework—for  instance,  the Ujjwala programme’s  subsidization  of  cooking  gas,  which  can  induce  a  shift  towards  cleaner  fuel  that  also  reduces cooking time–is one small but important step in the right direction.
• Under the Maternity Benefit Amendment Act (2016), provision of a  crèche  facility  has  become  mandatory for establishments employing at least 50 individuals.
• But the Rajiv Gandhi National Crèche Scheme for the Children of Working Mothers, started by the government for low-income families, has been marred by poor infrastructure and limited benefits due to its flawed design.

Way Forward

• There is no silver bullet that works best in empowering women economically in our country.
• But the heart of the matter is that to get more women to work, we have to get them out of their homes.
• Hence, an  exclusive  focus  on  educating  and  skilling  women  or  financial  inclusiveness  is  unlikely  to  be  effective unless policy measures address the constraints of childcare faced by married women.
• With patriarchal norms underlying the traditional role of men and women in households and non-marketization of childcare, coupled with a shift towards nuclear families, the burden of domestic work lies on women.
• At the same time, the absence of flexible work hours and easier physical access to work have been compounded by the persistent gender gap in wages.