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female participation in the formal labour force

UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS | VICE PRESIDENT CALLS FOR INCREASING FEMALE PARTICIPATION IN THE FORMAL LABOUR FORCE IN COUNTRY | 17TH JULY | PIB

/ July, 2022, UPSC Daily Current Affairs

SYLLABUS SECTION: GS II (SOCIAL ISSUES)

WHY IN THE NEWS?

The Vice President expressed concern over low female participation in the formal labour force in India,

and called for addressing this problem on a war footing by all the stakeholders.

HURDLES IN FEMALE LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION

  • Child care-related issues, a critical barrier to women’s labour force participation.
  • The biggest dividends will come from focusing on women in the informal sector.
  • In India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan, 76, 89, 71 and 66% of working women,
  • Respectively, are employed on own account or as family workers (ILO).
  • Digital divide: In India in 2019, internet users were 67% male and 33% female, and this gap is even bigger in rural areas.
  • This divide can become a barrier for women to access critical education, health and financial services, or to achieve success in activities or sectors that are becoming more digitised.
  • Use the income tax system to push female labour force participation. Women have a higher elasticity of labour supply than men (their labour supply is more responsive to their take-home wages) — lower income taxes for women can incentivise their participation.
  • Technological Disruption:Women hold most of the administrative and data-processing roles that artificial intelligence and other technologies threaten to usurp.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

  • The participation of women in the formal labour force is essential to significantly increase their contribution to the GDP as also for inclusive growth.
  • Educational institutions should introduce skill-based courses for increasing the employability of women.
  • Educational institutions should form linkages with the industries and tailor the courses in accordance with their requirements.
  • It is necessary to change established gender narratives and ensure upward mobility of women in various fields.
  • National Education Policy-2020 has set the goal to achieve 100 per cent enrolment of girls in schools by 2035 and 50 per cent in higher education institutions.

Source: PIB