By Sankalp Sharma
Women constitute almost 50 percent of the population in any country with normal sex ratios, but are highly underrepresented in the workforce. The labour force participation rate (LFPR) is an indicator, which helps one to assess participation of labour force in a population. It is calculated as the number of people in the workforce as a percentage of the total population. The total number of people in the workforce is assessed by taking into account the number of people in the 15-65 age bracket.
The fact that women are highly underrepresented in the workforce can be assessed from the World Bank dataset (1) according to which the labor force participation rate (LFPR) for women in the world in 2011 stands at 51.28% as compared to LFPR for males which stands at 77.20%. There are several reasons for this, which can broadly be clubbed into historical and social factors.
Chart 1: Labour Force participation rates for Women in 2011 in selected Economies.
Source: The World Bank (2011).
Labour Force Participation Rate for Women (1990-2011) for selected economies
Source: The World Bank (2011).
What makes the Indian context somewhat more interesting or rather, disgusting is the extremely low LFPR among women in India. Compared to the other BRICS economies, India has the lowest LFPR for women, which stands at a meager 29% in 2011. This means that roughly 71 % of the workforce, which has the capability to work does not end up working formally in India. While these statistics are startling, one should consider them with a pinch of salt, since work is not just economically active work, as defined by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), but includes a large amount of informal work that women end up doing in developing countries like India. Compared to 29% Women participating in the labour force in India in 2011, the other BRICS economies have LFPR’s above the 40% mark with China leading the BRICS with an overall 67 % LFPR for women.
Another interesting way to look at this indicator is from a longitudinal perspective. One can easily observe that the labour force participation rates for South African Women have risen considerably after initiation of democracy in South Africa in the early 1990’s. For Brazil too, the rates have risen from roughly 44% to 59%. China shows a mild decline over the 20-year period, while Russia and the world have largely remained consistent over the 20-year timeframe with LFPR for women hovering in the range of 50 to 60% of the population. For India, there are some specific insights from this longitudinal analysis. India’s LFPR for women remained in the 34 to 37% bracket from 1990-2005 but began a steady decline thereafter to reach 29% in 2011. This decline is attributed partially to higher enrollment in secondary schools for women across India. Furthermore, only 44 per cent of the decline in the female worker participation ratio in India from 2004–05 to 2009–10 can be accounted for by increased participation of women of working age (15 and above) in education (Rangarajan et al., 2011). The disparities in LFPR’s for women for several economies can be found in the most recent round of Global Employment Trends 2013 of International Labour Organization (ILO).
With its low LFPR for women, India lags behind considerably in comparison to other BRICS nations and any dream of becoming an economically competitive nation globally will remain just that; a dream. Imagine running in a race with your one hand tied. What chance would one have of winning or atleast successfully competing in the race?
Sankalp Sharma is Senior Researcher at the Institute for Competitiveness, India. He is the co-author of the State Competitiveness Report 2012 and 2013 and the India Competitiveness Report 2013. He has contributed to a number of articles on governance and economic policy in various magazines and online platforms. His upcoming publications include a paper on Urban Mobility in India to be published by the Rockefeller Foundation.
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