{"id":368428,"date":"2026-07-28T20:03:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T14:33:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=368428"},"modified":"2026-07-30T21:56:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T16:26:11","slug":"ais-next-test-reaching-indias-informal-women-worker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/ais-next-test-reaching-indias-informal-women-worker\/","title":{"rendered":"AI’s Next Test \u2014 Reaching India’s Informal Women Worker"},"content":{"rendered":"

UPSC Syllabus: Gs Paper 2- science and technology\u00a0 And Paper 1- society<\/strong><\/p>\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/h2>\n

India’s journey towards Viksit Bharat 2047<\/strong> depends on whether the benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI)<\/strong> reach everyone or remain limited to a few. AI is changing agriculture, healthcare, logistics and financial services. Its impact will depend on how these systems are designed, whose data they use, and whether they meet the needs of women working in the informal economy. Inclusive AI can strengthen growth, while exclusion can deepen existing inequalities. AI’s Next Test \u2014 Reaching India’s Informal Women Worker.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"AI's<\/p>\n

AI and India’s Informal Women Workers<\/strong><\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Informal employment dominates women’s work:<\/strong> According to the ILO (2018)<\/strong>, around 82% of working women in India<\/strong> are employed in the informal sector. They work in agriculture, home-based production, domestic services and micro-enterprises.<\/li>\n
  2. Women form a major agricultural workforce:<\/strong> The PLFS 2023\u201324<\/strong> reports that 76.9% of rural women<\/strong> are engaged in agriculture. This makes them one of the largest groups that can be affected by AI-based agricultural technologies.<\/li>\n
  3. AI inclusion is an economic issue:<\/strong> The impact of AI on women is mainly about economic inclusion<\/strong>. Whether women can access AI tools and opportunities will determine if AI reduces or widens existing inequalities.<\/li>\n
  4. Design of AI will decide inclusiveness:<\/strong> The benefits of AI depend on who the systems are built for, whose data they use and which languages they support<\/strong>. These choices will determine whether AI promotes inclusive growth or strengthens structural inequalities.<\/li>\n
  5. Gender-responsive AI is essential:<\/strong> UN Women<\/strong> has warned that AI can reinforce stereotypes, discrimination and digital violence if gender concerns are ignored in its design, testing and oversight.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Opportunities Created by AI<\/strong><\/h2>\n
      \n
    1. Improving agricultural productivity:<\/strong> AI can support farmers through precision agriculture, real-time crop health advice, better input use and improved market access. These services can help women farmers improve their productivity and income.<\/li>\n
    2. Evidence of positive impact:<\/strong> A 2024 Farmer.Chat study<\/strong> conducted across 12 States<\/strong> found that 61% of women users <\/strong>reported an improved quality of life within 45 days<\/strong>. Their engagement with the platform was two to three times higher <\/strong>than that of men.<\/li>\n
    3. Importance of inclusive design:<\/strong> Better outcomes were seen when AI tools considered women’s language needs, land access patterns, mobility limits and livelihood requirements. This shows that technology becomes more useful when it is designed around users’ realities.<\/li>\n
    4. Opportunity beyond agriculture:<\/strong> AI has the potential to support women involved in home-based work, self-help groups and other informal activities by improving access to information and economic opportunities.<\/li>\n
    5. Expanding access to AI:<\/strong> India’s growing AI ecosystem creates an opportunity to extend digital tools to women who have traditionally remained outside formal technological systems.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Challenges and Risks<\/strong><\/h2>\n
        \n
      1. Unequal access to AI benefits:<\/strong> AI may increase inequality if its benefits remain concentrated among people who already enjoy better digital access and resources instead of reaching informal women workers.<\/li>\n
      2. Bias in AI systems:<\/strong> AI systems may produce unfair outcomes when they are trained on limited data or ignore women’s realities. This can reinforce existing gender bias rather than reducing it.<\/li>\n
      3. Risk of job displacement:<\/strong> According to the ILO<\/strong>, women are three times more likely<\/strong> than men to lose their jobs because of AI-driven automation. This makes gender equality an important concern in AI adoption.<\/li>\n
      4. Clerical jobs face the highest exposure:<\/strong> Women are heavily represented in clerical and administrative work such as typing, bookkeeping and data entry. These repetitive and rule-based jobs are among the most vulnerable to generative AI.<\/li>\n
      5. AI is reaching skilled occupations:<\/strong> AI is also affecting software, finance and media jobs because these sectors depend heavily on digital work. This shows that automation is expanding beyond routine tasks.<\/li>\n
      6. Technology-facilitated violence reduces participation:<\/strong> Deepfakes, online harassment and non-consensual images discourage women from participating in digital spaces. Fear of such abuse can limit their economic opportunities.<\/li>\n
      7. Digital access alone is not enough:<\/strong> Simply providing AI tools cannot ensure inclusion. Without suitable skills, language support and safe digital environments, many women may still remain excluded.<\/li>\n
      8. Need for timely policy action:<\/strong> The growing impact of AI on women’s employment highlights the need for governments, employers and labour organisations to prepare workers for technological change while protecting inclusion and equity.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Policy and Governance Priorities<\/strong><\/h2>\n
          \n
        1. India AI Governance Guidelines (2025):<\/strong> The India AI Governance Guidelines (2025)<\/strong> introduced seven guiding principles<\/strong>, including fairness and equity<\/strong>, to promote responsible and inclusive AI governance.<\/li>\n
        2. IndiaAI Mission:<\/strong> The IndiaAI Mission<\/strong> supports AI development, deployment and capacity building to expand AI adoption across different sectors.<\/li>\n
        3. BHASHINI (BHASHa Interface for India):<\/strong> The BHASHINI<\/strong> platform promotes multilingual access to AI and digital services, making AI more accessible to people speaking different Indian languages.<\/li>\n
        4. Information Technology (Amendment) Rules, 2021:<\/strong> The Information Technology (Amendment) Rules, 2021<\/strong> require grievance redressal mechanisms for harmful online content to improve protection against digital abuse.<\/li>\n
        5. MeitY’s proposed labelling of AI-generated synthetic content:<\/strong> MeitY’s<\/strong> proposed mandatory labelling of AI-generated synthetic content aims to improve transparency and reduce the misuse of AI-generated content.<\/li>\n
        6. National Commission for Women’s review of cyber laws:<\/strong> The National Commission for Women’s<\/strong> review of cyber laws provides recommendations to strengthen legal protection against technology-facilitated gender-based violence.<\/li>\n
        7. Growing AI ecosystem:<\/strong> The India AI Impact Summit 2026<\/strong> showed that India’s AI ambitions are supported by a growing ecosystem of practitioners, innovators and civil society.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Way Forward<\/strong><\/h2>\n
            \n
          1. Gender-responsive AI design:<\/strong> AI systems should be designed, tested and monitored by considering women’s language, mobility, land access and livelihood needs so that technology expands opportunities instead of reinforcing inequalities.<\/li>\n
          2. AI literacy through existing government programmes:<\/strong> AI literacy should be integrated into Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana\u2013National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY), Skill India and Mission Shakti’s Sakhi network<\/strong>. Training should match women’s time constraints, literacy levels and livelihood needs.<\/li>\n
          3. Inclusive AI deployment:<\/strong> AI benefits should reach women farmers, home-based workers, self-help group members and platform workers<\/strong> through inclusive design, procurement standards and outcome-based implementation.<\/li>\n
          4. Strengthen digital safety:<\/strong> Legal safeguards and grievance redressal mechanisms should be effectively implemented in regional languages to protect women from deepfakes, online harassment and other forms of technology-facilitated violence.<\/li>\n
          5. Prepare workers for AI-driven changes:<\/strong> Governments, employers and labour organisations should work together to reduce job displacement risks and ensure that AI improves job quality, productivity and inclusion without widening gender inequalities.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

            India’s AI success should be measured not only by technological progress but also by its ability to create meaningful economic opportunities for women in informal work<\/strong>. Gender-responsive governance, inclusive AI design, digital safety and skill development can ensure that AI supports Viksit Bharat 2047<\/strong> by making its productivity gains accessible to those who have traditionally remained excluded.<\/p>\n

            Question for practice:<\/strong><\/p>\n

            Examine the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in promoting economic inclusion of India’s informal women workers and discuss the policy measures needed to ensure gender-responsive AI governance.<\/p>\n

            Source<\/strong>: The Hindu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            UPSC Syllabus: Gs Paper 2- science and technology\u00a0 And Paper 1- society Introduction India’s journey towards Viksit Bharat 2047 depends on whether the benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI) reach everyone or remain limited to a few. AI is changing agriculture, healthcare, logistics and financial services. Its impact will depend on how these systems are designed,… Continue reading AI’s Next Test \u2014 Reaching India’s Informal Women Worker<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":368620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230],"tags":[212,242,10498],"class_list":["post-368428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-science-and-technology","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AIs-Next-Test-%E2%80%94-Reaching-Indias-Informal-Women-Worker.png?fit=1280%2C850&ssl=1","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}