Significant rise in women workforce participation: Minister Karandlaje

New Delhi: The participation of women in the country's workforce has seen a significant increase over the past six years, Shobha Karandlaje, Union minister of state for labour & employment, said on Thursday. Responding to a question from Rajya Sabha member of parliament Sagarika Ghose on women employment, Karandlaje told the upper house that the worker population ratio, or the percentage of employed people in the population, and labour force participation rate for women aged 15 and above have shown a steady rise, reaching 40.3% and 41.7%, respectively, in 2023-24, up from 22.0% and 23.3% in 2017-18.' Provisions aiding equal opportunity "The government has incorporated a number of provisions in the labour laws for equal opportunity and congenial work environment for women workers like paid maternity leave, flexible working hours, equal wages etc.," she added. Also read | Urban labour market shows improvement as unemployment declines in September qtr Apart from the central schemes to enhance the employability of female workers, the government is also providing training to them through a network of women industrial training institutes, national vocational training institutes and regional vocational training institutes, she said, adding as many as five new initiatives were announced in this year's budget to facilitate employment, skilling and other opportunities for 4.1 crore youth over five years with a central outlay of ₹2 trillion.