{"id":368504,"date":"2026-07-29T20:22:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T14:52:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=368504"},"modified":"2026-07-29T20:22:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T14:52:30","slug":"ai-inclusion-for-informal-women-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/ai-inclusion-for-informal-women-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"AI Inclusion for Informal Women Workers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Source: The post \u201cAI Inclusion for Informal Women Workers\u201d has been created based on &#8220;AI Inclusion for Informal Women Workers\u201d published in \u201cThe Hindu\u201d on 29th July 2026.<\/p>\n<p><strong>UPSC Syllabus: <\/strong>GS 2 \u2013 International Relations<\/p>\n<p><strong>Context<\/strong>: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, logistics, and financial services. However, India&#8217;s journey towards <strong>Viksit Bharat 2047<\/strong> depends on whether the productivity gains from AI are shared equitably, particularly among informal women workers, who constitute the majority of India&#8217;s female workforce.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"yellow-h2-box\"><strong>Why AI must empower informal women workers<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li><strong> Women form the backbone of the informal economy.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>According to the <strong>ILO (2018)<\/strong>, around <strong>82% of working women in India are employed in the informal sector<\/strong>, including agriculture, domestic work, home-based production, and micro-enterprises.<\/li>\n<li>Therefore, AI-led economic growth will be inclusive only if it reaches this large workforce.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><strong> AI can improve agricultural productivity and livelihoods.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>AI-enabled precision agriculture can provide real-time crop advisory, crop health monitoring, input optimisation, and better market access.<\/li>\n<li>According to <strong>PLFS 2023\u201324<\/strong>, <strong>9% of rural women are engaged in agriculture<\/strong>, making them a key beneficiary of AI-based agricultural solutions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><strong> Evidence shows that women benefit significantly from AI tools.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>A <strong>2024 Farmer.Chat study<\/strong> across 12 States found that <strong>61% of women users reported an improved quality of life within 45 days<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The study also found that women\u2019s engagement with the platform was <strong>two to three times higher than that of men<\/strong> when AI tools were designed according to their language, mobility, and livelihood needs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li><strong> Gender-responsive AI promotes inclusive economic growth.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>India&#8217;s <strong>AI Governance Guidelines (2025)<\/strong> recognise principles such as fairness and equity.<\/li>\n<li>Gender-responsive AI can improve women&#8217;s access to employment, welfare schemes, financial services, and digital opportunities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"5\">\n<li><strong> AI can strengthen financial and digital inclusion.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>AI can help women access government entitlements, digital platforms, financial services, and better livelihood opportunities.<\/li>\n<li>This can increase productivity and economic participation among informal women workers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"yellow-h2-box\"><strong>Challenges<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>AI systems may reinforce existing gender inequalities if they are not designed with a gender-responsive approach.<\/li>\n<li>AI models often suffer from biased data, limited representation of women, and inadequate support for regional languages.<\/li>\n<li>Women in the informal sector face low digital literacy, limited access to smartphones, and poor digital infrastructure.<\/li>\n<li>The absence of gender impact assessments may result in AI systems producing discriminatory outcomes in areas such as credit, employment, and welfare delivery.<\/li>\n<li>Technology-facilitated gender-based violence, including deepfakes, online harassment, and non-consensual imagery, discourages women from participating in digital platforms.<\/li>\n<li>Weak grievance redressal mechanisms and the lack of accessible remedies in regional languages reduce trust in AI-enabled services.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2 class=\"yellow-h2-box\"><strong>Way Forward<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Gender impact assessments should be made an integral part of AI systems that affect employment, welfare delivery, financial inclusion, and women&#8217;s safety.<\/li>\n<li>AI investments should adopt Gender Responsive Budgeting by assessing which women will benefit, which barriers are being addressed, how outcomes will be measured, and how corrective action will be financed.<\/li>\n<li>AI literacy should be treated as public infrastructure and integrated with schemes such as DAY-NRLM, DDU-GKY, Skill India, and Mission Shakti through the Sakhi network.<\/li>\n<li>AI tools should be designed in regional languages and should address women&#8217;s mobility, literacy, land ownership, and livelihood constraints.<\/li>\n<li>Strong implementation of the IT (Amendment) Rules, 2021 and mandatory labelling of AI-generated synthetic content should be ensured to protect women from online harms.<\/li>\n<li>Accessible grievance redressal mechanisms and survivor-centric remedies should be made available in regional languages to enhance trust in AI systems.<\/li>\n<li>AI policies should promote inclusive design, ethical governance, and continuous monitoring to ensure that productivity gains reach women farmers, home-based workers, self-help group members, and platform workers.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Conclusion<\/strong>: Artificial Intelligence has the potential to become a powerful driver of inclusive growth in India. However, its success should not be measured only by technological advancement but by whether it expands opportunities, enhances productivity, and improves the livelihoods of informal women workers. A gender-responsive AI ecosystem will be essential for achieving the vision of <strong>Viksit Bharat 2047<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Question<\/strong>: &#8220;Artificial Intelligence (AI) can become a powerful tool for inclusive development only if it empowers India&#8217;s informal women workers.&#8221; Discuss. Also examine the challenges and suggest a way forward.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/op-ed\/ais-next-test-reaching-indias-informal-women-worker\/article71273832.ece\">The Hindu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source: The post \u201cAI Inclusion for Informal Women Workers\u201d has been created based on &#8220;AI Inclusion for Informal Women Workers\u201d published in \u201cThe Hindu\u201d on 29th July 2026. UPSC Syllabus: GS 2 \u2013 International Relations Context: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, logistics, and financial services. However, India&#8217;s journey towards Viksit&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/ai-inclusion-for-informal-women-workers\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">AI Inclusion for Informal Women Workers<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230],"tags":[212,239,10498],"class_list":["post-368504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-international-relations","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368504","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=368504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368504\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}