Is moral policing the newest deterrent to female labour force participation?
2 years, 4 months ago

Is moral policing the newest deterrent to female labour force participation?

Hindustan Times  

Last week, working women across India awakened to a new reality. Women being forced to choose jobs that are closer to home for fear of sexual harassment on public transport, picking up part-time jobs to manage the burden of unpaid care work, or refraining from working in factories and doing office jobs considered “suitable for women” are all examples patriarchal social norms restricting women’s choices and financial independence. Our research establishes that these social norms are amongst the key drivers of falling female labour force participation in India. Moral policing from employers, placing the onus of protecting one’s honour and reputation on employees rather than their harassers, and failure to condemn the use of private social media profiles to cause embarrassment in the workplace – are all actions more likely to be deployed to target and demean women and can ultimately discourage women’s entry and growth in the workforce, even at the macro level. Otherwise, we can continue pondering about why, despite being one of the fastest growing economies in the world, India continues to have among the lowest rates of female labour force participation globally.

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History of this topic

Lifting the burden keeping Indian women from work
7 months, 3 weeks ago

Lifting the burden keeping Indian women from work

New Indian Express  

Women’s work participation across the world has been low and its recovery from the post-pandemic period has been slow. The International Labour Organization’s World Employment and Social Outlook Report for 2023 reflects on this persistent gender gap and pegs women’s participation in the labour market at 47.4 percent, as compared to men’s at 72.3 percent. Apart from the ILO's highlight …

Relieve the unfair burden of staying single in India Inc
1 year, 9 months ago

Relieve the unfair burden of staying single in India Inc

Live Mint  

Corporate India, by and large, has a rigid hierarchy in place where the decisions of a single working woman are often questioned more than those of her counterparts who are male and married, female and married, and also male and unmarried. An article in The Washington Post, titled ‘These single women say they face a workplace penalty, too’, details studies …

What women need to participate in the changing world of work
1 year, 10 months ago

What women need to participate in the changing world of work

Hindustan Times  

The world of work is changing rapidly - technology, innovation, the climate crisis, and demographic shifts are some of the important drivers for the future of work. Thus, providing universal social protection, upskilling women, supporting their shift from informal to formal work and promoting entrepreneurship are essential to reduce their vulnerability and ensure decent working conditions. Tech-enabled emerging sectors that …

Making India safer for women
1 year, 11 months ago

Making India safer for women

Hindustan Times  

A woman stabbed 51 times by her stalker with a screwdriver in Chhattisgarh’s Korba district. National Crime Records Bureau data shows that in 2021, a crime against a woman was recorded nearly every minute, with abduction, rape and domestic violence forming the bulk of the cases. It has left the police baffled and society shocked, underlining a fundamental disconnect between …

How Crimes Against Women Deter Female Workforce From Stepping Out For Work
2 years, 3 months ago

How Crimes Against Women Deter Female Workforce From Stepping Out For Work

News 18  

Recently, PM Narendra Modi exhorted the importance of having a flexible, work-from-home ecosystem that would immensely boost women’s participation in India’s labor force. This, is despite recent data from the National Crime Records Bureau, reporting a steady decline in India’s total crime rate, which fell by 7.6% to 61 lakhs last year. This means that the crime rate per lakh …

May the Female Force Be With You: India Must Harness the Strength of Women in the Workforce
2 years, 7 months ago

May the Female Force Be With You: India Must Harness the Strength of Women in the Workforce

News 18  

Michelle Obama’s famous remarks that “No country can ever truly flourish if it stifles the potential of its women and deprives itself of the contributions of half of its citizens” deserves more attention than ever as we celebrate this International Labour Day. As a result of its strict adherence to social norms and patriarchal values, Indian society disproportionately places the …

What is keeping women from going to work?
3 years ago

What is keeping women from going to work?

Hindustan Times  

Though the Indian economy more than doubled in size and the number of working-age women grew by a quarter over the last two decades, the number of women in jobs declined by ten million. The paper also explores two key gender-oriented factors as potential reasons that can lead to high crime rates against women and girls: these are consumption of …

Crimes against women keep them out of the job market
3 years ago

Crimes against women keep them out of the job market

Live Mint  

India’s female labour force participation rate is a puzzling feature of our economy. Evidence shows strong correlations between a declining FLFPR and barriers that impede women’s labour-market choices. The results for crimes of rape, molestation and sexual harassment show unexpected results, with a positive correlation suggesting that an increase in the crime rate is associated with an increase in the …

Data | Women make up only 12% of India's police force
3 years, 3 months ago

Data | Women make up only 12% of India's police force

The Hindu  

Only 12% of the Indian police were women as of 2020. Share of women in police The map shows the share of women in the civil police force in 2020. Click to remove AMP mode Women in higher ranks While 12% of the police force were women, their share in the higher ranks was even lower at 8.72%. Poor support …

India’s women and the workforce
3 years, 9 months ago

India’s women and the workforce

Hindustan Times  

Why is women’s employment declining in India? The thrust of the predominant explanations is that women are dropping out of paid work or the labour force either because of fear of sexual violence outside the home; or fear of being stigmatised by the community that might see their work as a marker of low status, i.e. Women’s education has increased …

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