Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: World Bank Index on the Life Cycle of Working Women

Mains level: Women in workforce

women

Central idea: The article reports on India’s score in the World Bank Index on the life cycle of working women.

World Bank Index on the Life Cycle of Working Women

It is a tool developed by the World Bank to measure and track the progress of women’s economic participation and opportunities over their lifetimes.
It is based on a set of indicators that measure factors such as laws and regulations affecting women’s employment, access to finance, and gender-based violence and harassment in the workplace.

The index is divided into three categories:

Each category includes a set of indicators that measure the specific challenges and opportunities faced by women at different stages of their careers.
The purpose of the index is to provide policymakers and stakeholders with data and insights that can be used to inform policies and programs aimed at improving women’s economic opportunities and outcomes.
The index is updated periodically to track progress over time and identify areas where more action is needed.

India’s performance

India has scored 74.4 out of 100 in the World Bank Index on the life cycle of working women, which measures factors like laws, regulations, and practices affecting women’s economic participation.
This score places India at 140th out of 190 countries surveyed in the index.

India has made progress in certain areas, such as maternity benefits and anti-discrimination laws.
There are still significant gaps in areas like equal pay and access to finance.
The report also highlights the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women’s economic participation, with many women facing job losses and reduced hours of work.

The report concludes by recommending actions that can be taken to improve women’s economic participation, such as-