India Discrimination Report 2022: Tale of women workers: Rapid exit from workforce, sliding earnings

Source: The post is based on the article “Tale of women workers: Rapid exit from workforce, sliding earnings” published in Indian Express on 15th September 2022.

What is the News?

Oxfam India has released a report titled ‘India Discrimination Report 2022’. The report is based on the data from the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

What are the key findings of the India Discrimination Report 2022?

Women: Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) for women in India declined from 42.7% in 2004-05 to 25.1% in 2021. This shows the withdrawal of women from the workforce despite rapid economic growth during the same period.

– In 2019-20, 60% of all males aged 15 and above had regularly salaried or self-employed jobs; the rate for females was 19%.

– For regular, self-employment in urban areas, the average earning for males was Rs 15,996. It was less than half of that — Rs 6,626 — for women.

– Overall discrimination in wages for people from SC, ST and Muslim communities declined in regular/salaried jobs, it increased for women in this period — from 67.2% in 2004-05 to 75.7% in 2019-20.

SC/ST: Mean income for people from SC or ST communities with regular employment in urban areas was Rs 15,312 in 2019-20 against Rs 20,346 for those from the ‘general’ category. This means the general category is earning 33% more than SCs or STs.

Muslims: 68.3% of Muslims in urban areas faced discrimination in 2019-20 — up from 59.3% in 2004-05.