Improving women’s work participation rate: Men@(House)Work

Source: The post is based on the article “Men @ (house) Work” published in The Times of India on 27^th August 2022.

Syllabus: GS 3 Inclusive Growth

Relevance: Women’s Work Participation; Work From home

News: Recently, the PM of India while speaking of “Nari shakti in the workforce and Vision 2047”, advocated for flexible, work-from-home options to boost women’s labour force participation.

What are the various aspects of women’s participation in economic activities?

Importance: As per Oxfam estimates, India’s GDP would be higher by 43% if Indian women had the same work participation rates as men.

The present status of women’s work participation: India has a dismal record in terms of women’s work participation.

What are the causes behind dismal women’s work participation?

The reasons range from higher education, rising aspirations to simply fewer jobs in the Indian job market.

Women are forced to work a double shift of housework and care responsibilities.

Most women are forced to drop out or choose a softer, less rewarding track if they are pursuing a physical workplace.

What are the challenges associated with providing flexible work to women?

The pandemic has shown how easy it is to allow many kinds of workers to work more productively at their own convenience. However, there are two major issues associated with it.

1) Studies show that remote work tends to stall promotion and career advancement for women. 2) Work from home or flexible work may not apply to all kinds of work.

What should be done to improve women’s work participation?

An environment must be created that the home is not exclusively a woman’s domain, it is also the responsibility of men. Therefore, men must contribute equally to care and household work.

There should be greater state or workplace investment in childcare, to make sure that women workers do not have to take a hit to their careers and have the same chances as men.