Sex Ratio Improves But Women Participation In Workforce Remains low

The sex ratio in India is expected to improve from 943 in 2011 to 952 by the year 2036 as per the data of the Women and Men in India report of 2022 released on March 16, 2023. However, the participation of women in the workforce is less than that of men in the country.

The sex ratio in India at birth went up to 3 points from 907 in 2018-20 and 904 in 2017-19 according to the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. But yet women are still left out of the labour force of the country, which is restricting their scope of financial independence.

Sex Ratio Improves, But Participation Of Women In Workforce Remains Low

India's Labour Force Participation Rate is defined as the percentage of people in the labour force of India in the total population, those above the age of 15 are on the rise since the 2017-18 but still, women are severely behind men in this. The rate earlier for males was 77.2% and 32.8% for females in 2021-22, which less or no improvement in this over the years as per the observation.

The author of the report said, “Such a low participation of females as compared to males in our country's labour force may be due to the social, educational, gender discrimination and qualifications in terms of wages as well as opportunities at their workplace,".

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Even the wage earned per day by casual labours can even highlight the severity of the condition as men earn more than compared to their female counterparts in urban areas in works other than public works. The growth in a population already is on a downfall trend from 2.2% in the year 1971 to 1.1% in 2021 and is expected to fall even further to 0.58% by 2036. This means that 1.2 billion dollars people with 48.5% female population as per the census of 2011 and is expected to reach 1.5 billion by 2026 with improvement in the female population share.

The report even argued that the sex and age structure of a country's population can majorly affect gender issues in various ways as age structures impact different aspects of a society may that be trends in mortality or fertility." Gender influences people's reach as well as experience with healthcare facilities and lack of resources and decision-making capabilities, restrictions on mobility etc. can make access to healthcare and other services difficult for girls and women as compared to boys and men.