Closing Women’s Workforce Gap Could Drive Economic Growth: Study

Mumbai: Falling fertility is narrowing India’s window to get rich before getting older. Many more women need to enter paid employment and advance, according to a new study published by Axis Bank, one of India’s largest private sector banks.

The report, titled “The Missing Half: Women and India’s Struggle for Growth,” draws on global evidence, deep analysis of India data and an exclusive survey of nearly 11,000 college-educated women across 42 cities in India.

The report argues that to sustain the growth of around 7 per cent required for ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2050 within 25 years, overall worker participation in paid work needs to increase from around 47 per cent to around 60 per cent. Women’s participation in paid work will be critical to achieving this.

However, India currently has one of the lowest rates of female labor force participation in paid work among G20 economies. Moreover, even working women mostly work in agriculture, self-employment or unpaid work. Approximately 60 percent of women in paid employment work informally, without a contract or social security benefit. 61 of the female workers are engaged in agriculture. Approximately 125 million educated women are out of the workforce, and 60 percent of graduates choose to stay away from paid work. Studies show that there is a 20 percent decline in women’s labor force participation after marriage in India. Participation fell further after the birth. This is a global problem: Even in developed economies, mothers’ employment after childbirth drops by 25 percent and their earnings by 33 percent. Approximately 61 percent of women surveyed say safety and mobility are the biggest barriers to entering the workforce.

The report finds that India has climbed from the bottom of the ‘U’ curve, formed when countries’ participation is planned according to income, but progress has been slow when growth targets are taken into account. Recent improvements in household infrastructure (electricity, clean cooking fuel, piped water, and better housing) have eased unpaid workloads, and increased higher education enrollment among women is easing the “marriage penalty.”

Concerns about safety, mobility, childcare and inflexible work structures continue to hold women back. Moreover, India has very few jobs globally in sectors that are dominated by women and employ women on a large scale.

Re-entry into work after breaks remains particularly challenging, with women citing rigid recruitment norms, loss of skills, age bias and limited flexible roles as major barriers. Structural support, such as child care, flexible work options, safer commuting and reliable routes back to work, is far more important than inspiration alone.

The report concludes that increasing women’s participation in the workforce is central to India’s long-term growth and is not just a social contribution but an economic imperative. It calls for coordinated action to expand jobs in sectors where women work on a large scale, formalize flexible and part-time roles, invest in childcare and safer urban mobility, remove outdated regulatory barriers and strengthen leadership lines.