Abstract

India with its diversity and rich heritage has an ugly side to it. If women have been
worshipped as Goddess, there has been sati too. A silent witness, the oppressed women have
come a long way. Though the situation has improved some facts (education rate, sexual
harassment among others) are daunting. Many women have broken the barriers and we would
still witness a lot more. To help women is to help society. And through this journey of women
empowerment our nation will achieve its dream. The dream of reviving its past glory .To become
the golden peacock again .Since 1911, the March 8th is celebrated around the world as
International Women's Day. Most women across the globe rely on the informal work sector for
an income. If women were empowered to do more and be more, the possibility for economic
growth becomes apparent. Empowering women in developing countries like India is essential to
reduce global poverty since women represent most of the world's poor population. Eliminating a
significant part of a nation's work force on the sole basis of gender can have detrimental effects
on the economy of that nation. In addition, female participation in counsels, groups, and
businesses is seen to increase efficiency. For a general idea on how an empowered women can
impact a s53 percent higher returns on equity, 24 percent higher returns on sales and 67 percent
higher returns l (OECD, 2008)."This study shows the impact women can have on the overall
economic benefits of a company. If implemented on a global scale, the inclusion of women in the
formal workforce (like a Fortune 500 company) can increase the economic output of a nation.
Therefore, women can also help businesses grow and economies prosper if they have, and if they
are able to use, the right knowledge and skills in their employment.
Key words- work force, empowerment, global, economy,education.
Name- Vishwanath R Havalappagol
Designation - Assistant Professor.
College- Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU)
Tittle of the Paper- Empowering Women in Indian Workforce.

AddressVishwanath R havalappagol
Assistant Professor
Dept of MBA
VTU ,CPGSB, Muddenahalli
Chikkaballapur

Email-Id visan.sdmcs@gmail.com
Contact no- (91)- 9743348153
8431977355

Tittle of the Paper- Empowering Women in Indian Workforce .

Introduction
Women empowerment refers to increasing the spiritual, political, social, educational,
gender or economic strength of individuals and communities of women. Womens empowerment
in India is heavily dependent on many different variables that include geographical location
(urban / rural) educational status social status (caste and class) and age. Policies on Womens
empowerment exist at the national, state and local (Panchayat) levels in many sectors, including
health, education, economic opportunities, gender based violence and political participation.
However there are significant gap between policy advancements and actual practice at the
community level.
Empowerment of women is essentially the process of upliftment of economic, social and
political status of women, the traditionally underprivileged ones, in the society. It is the process
of guarding them against all forms of violence. Women empowerment involves the building up
of a society, a political environment, wherein women can breathe without the fear of oppression,
exploitation, apprehension, discrimination and the general feeling of persecution which goes
with being a woman in a traditionally male dominated structure.
Women constitute almost 50% of the worlds population but India has shown
disproportionate sex ratio whereby females population has been comparatively lower than
males. As far as their social status is concerned, they are not treated as equal to men in all the
places. In the Western societies, the women have got equal right and status with men in all walks
of life. But gender disabilities and discriminations are found in India even today. The paradoxical
situation has such that she was sometimes concerned as Goddess and at other times merely as
slave.
Empowerment of women in the workforce means allowing women to have more
control over their lives. It means giving them the freedom to make their own schedules, learn
new skills and gain self-reliance. Empowerment is created when the strengths that women
already bring to the company are recognized and utilized. Research provided by the United
Nations has shown that businesses that promote women empowerment and gender equality are

more profitable. As more businesses take part in gender equality measures and see their revenue
increase as a result, the case for empowering women in the workplace is likely to become a more
recognized goal.
The Indian labor market displays several striking features: very low rates of female labor
force participation; considerable variance in rates of female labor force participation across
Indian states; and a large share of both women and men working in the informal sector.2 3 The
literature on female labor force participation in India has traditionally focused on how
demographic characteristics and educational attainment affect the labor force participation
decisions of women. In a separate literature, well-known rigidities in Indian labor markets have
been put forth as the reason for the high share of informal employment in overall employment
for example, about 85 percent of Indias non-agricultural workers are employed in informal
sector jobs. Studies have noted the lack of medium-sized enterprises in India, and have linked
firm hiring decisions, growth, and productivity outcomes to cross-state differences in labor
market regulations. This paper builds on IMF (2015a, 2015b) and revisits the determinants of
female labor force participation in India, analyzes how labor market rigidities affect female labor
force participation, and also studies the drivers of formal versus informal sector employment.
The cross-state differences in labor force participation rates and labor market regulations allow
us to study how labor market rigidities relate to labor force participation, and whether there are
policies that any given state can implement to increase female participation. India has one of the
lowest female labor force participation (FLFP) rates typically measured as the share of
women that are employed or seeking work as a share of the working-age female population
among emerging markets and developing countries. At around 33 percent at the national level in
2012, Indias FLFP rate is well below the global average of around 50 percent and East Asia
average of around 63 percent. India is the second-most populous country in the world with an
estimated 1.26 billion persons at end-2014. Accordingly, a FLFP rate of 33 percent implies that
only 125 million of the roughly 380 million working-age Indian females are seeking work or are
currently employed (see Census of India 2011 for additional details). Moreover, Indias gender
gap in participation (between males and females) is the one of the widest among G-20 economies
at 50 percent. Furthermore, female labor force participation has been on a declining trend in
India, in contrast to most other regions, particularly since 2004/05. Drawing more women into
the labor force, along with other important structural reforms that could create more jobs, would

be a source of future growth for India as it aims to reap the demographic dividend from its
large and youthful labor force. 4 That gender equality plays an important role in economic
development has long been understood in the literature. Various studies have highlighted how
lower female labor force participation or weak entrepreneurial activity drags down economic
growth, and that empowering women has significant economic benefits in addition to promoting
gender equality (Duflo 2005; World Bank 2012). The World Economic Forums 2014 Global
Gender Gap Report finds a positive correlation between gender equality and per capita GDP, the
level of competitiveness, and human development indicators. Seminal work by Goldin (1995)
explored the U-shaped relationship between female labor supply and the level of economic
development across countries. Initially, when the income level is low and the agricultural sector
dominates the economy, womens participation in the labor force is high, due to the necessity of
working to provide for consumption of goods and services. As incomes rise, womens labor force
participation often falls, only to rise again when female education levels improve and
consequently the value of womens time in the labor market increases. This process suggests
that, at low levels of development, the income effect of providing additional labor dominates a
small substitution effect, while as incomes increase, the substitution effect comes to dominate. 5
Gaddis and Klasen (2014) explore the effect of structural change on FLFP using sector-specific
growth rates. They find a relationship consistent with a U pattern, but small effects from
structural change.

Review of Literature
H. Subrahmanyam (2011) compares women education in India at present and Past. Author
highlighted that there has a good progress in overall enrolment of girl students in schools. The
term empower means to give lawful power or authority to act. It is the process of acquiring some
activities of women.
M. Bhavani Sankara Rao (2011) has highlighted that health of women members of SHG have
certainly taken a turn to better. It clearly shows that heath of women members discuss among
themselves about health related problems of other members and their children and make them
aware of various Government provisions specially meant for them.

Doepke M. Tertilt M. (2011) Does Female Empowerment Promote Economic Development?

This study is an empirical analysis suggesting that money in the hands of mothers benefits
children. This study developed a series of non cooperative family bargaining models to
understand what kind of frictions can give rise to the observed empirical relationship.
Duflo E. (2011) Womens Empowerment and Economic Development, National Bureau of
Economic Research Cambridge The study argues that the inter relationships of the
Empowerment and Development are probably too weak to be self sustaining and that continuous
policy commitment to equally for its own sake may be needed to bring about equality between
men and women.
Sethuraman K. (2008) The Role of Womens Empowerment and Domestic Violence in child
Growth and Under nutrition in a Tribal and Rural Community in South India. This research paper
explores the relationship between Womens Empowerment and Domestic Violence, maternal
nutritional status and the nutritional status and growth over six months in children aged 6 to 24
months in a rural and tribal community. This longitudinal observational study undertaken in rural
Karnataka. India included tribal and rural subjects. Venkata Ravi and Venkatraman (2005)
focused on the effects of SHG on women participation and exercising control over decision
making both in family matters and in group activities.
There is a growing literature on the economic implications of gender participation gaps
(summarized in IMF, 2013). This literature stresses that gender gaps in labor force participation,
entrepreneurial activity, or education act to impede economic growth (e.g. Cuberes and Teignier,
2012, 2014; Esteve-Volart, 2004, and Klasen and Lamanna 2008, among others). Cuberes and
Teigner (2014) examine the quantitative effects of gender gaps in labor force participation on
productivity and living standards. They simulate an occupational choice model with
heterogeneous agents that imposes several frictions on female economic participation and their
wages, and shows that gender gaps in entrepreneurship and in labor force participation
significantly reduce per capita income. For India, they find that gender gaps lower overall per
worker incomes by about 26 percent. In recent work, Agenor (2015) uses an overlapping
generations model in which time use is modeled over three phases (childhood, working and
retirement) and simulates the effect of public policies (including public investment in
infrastructure and efficiency of spending on health and education) on participation choices and

economic growth (via impact on human capital, productivity and labor input directly). This paper
finds these policies raise female labor force participation rates, and depending on the relevant
policies, economic growth could increase by between 1.52.4 percentage points per annum.
Turning to theoretical underpinnings, female labor supply is often modeled using the framework
of the time allocation model (Becker, 1965), which posits that women make their labor supply
decisions not only considering leisure and labor tradeoffs, but also home-based production of
goods and services (including caring for children). Most studies also include wages as a key
driver of female labor supply (Heckman and MaCurdy, 1980). However, as Jaumotte (2003)
points out, working for a wage is chosen by women only if earnings at least make up for the lost
home production (and the associated costs), implying a higher elasticity of female labor supply
to wages. Many studies have emphasized the importance of education in models of female labor
supply. Eckstein and Lifshitz (2011) estimate a dynamic stochastic female labor supply model
with discrete choice (contained in Eckstein and Wolpin, 1989), and find that changes in 8
education (accounting for a third of the increase in female employment) and wages (explaining
about 20 percent) play a large role in explaining female employment.

Growth Trends in Women Employment in Recent Years

The ministry of labor and employment has published few facts regarding growth trends in
women employment. Women form an integral part of the Indian workforce. According to the
information provided by the office of Registrar General & Census Commissioner of India, As per
Census 2011, the total number of female workers in India is 149.8 million and female workers in
rural and urban areas are 121.8 and 28.0 million respectively. Out of total 149.8 million female
workers, 35.9 million females are working as cultivators and another 61.5 million are agricultural
laborers. Of the remaining females workers, 8.5 million are in household Industry and 43.7
million are classified as other workers.

Government Schemes to Empower Women through skill Formation, Financial

Assistance, Education etc.
Development of women has been a policy objective of the government since independence.
Until the 70s the concept of womens development was mainly welfare oriented. In 1970s, there
was a shift from welfare approach to development approach that recognized the mutually
reinforcing nature of the process of development. v In the 80s a multi-disciplinary approach was
adopted with an emphasis on three core areas of health, education and employment. Women were
given priorities in all the sectors including SSI sector. Government and non government bodies
have paid increasing attention to womens economic contribution through self employment and
industrial ventures. Further the government has come up with many schemes from time to time
to educate females. To name a few:Mahila Samakhya Programme, Kasturba Gandhi Balika
Vidyalaya Scheme (KGBV), and National Programme for Education of Girls at Elementary
Level (NPEGEL). Also a Nirbhaya scheme was started in the union budget in 2013 to support
initiatives by the government and NGOs working towards protecting the dignity and ensuring
safety of women in India. Though the government has come up with many schemes for social
welfare of the weaker sex, the end result has been depressing because the implementation
process is either very slow or graft and nepotism is very prevalent in the economy. Government
should take special care to implement the policies with honesty and on time so that the growth
process of the nation speeds up. Along with it the private sector should also take the initiative in
assisting women skill formation. And finally well educated, financially sound and resource full
women should take necessary steps to help uneducated and poor women in attaining education as
well as vocational trainings for required skill formation which open up employment
opportunities for the needful. There are such NGOs, training centers and government schemes
which aid urban as well as rural females. Few recent initiatives need mention eg, Federation of
Indian Women Entrepreneurs (FIWE), a National-level organization, founded in 1993 and
registered under Society Act of India in May 1999, is today, one of Indias Premier Institution for
Women thoroughly devoted towards Entrepreneurship Development in the country. It has
branches in different states of India with membership base of 15,000 individual members
/professionals and more than 28 Member Associations spread throughout the country. Another
such example is Shri Mahila SEWA Sahakari Bank; a separate bank of poor, self-employed,

women workers was established at the initiative of 4,000 self-employed women workers with a
capital of Rs 60,000 in 1974. So government and the private organizations have been aware
about women welfare but the process needs to pick up the momentum.

According to one study few facts are worth mentioning:

The workforce participation rate of females in rural sector was 26.1 in 2009-10 (NSS
64th Round) while that for males was 54.7. In Urban sector, it was 13.8 for females and
54.3 for males. Among the States/Union Territories, workforce participation rate of

females in the rural sector was the highest in Himachal Pradesh at 46.8% and in the urban
sector it was the highest in Mizoram at 28.8%. In the rural sector, 55.7% females were selfemployed, 4.4% females had
regular wage/salaried employment and 39.9% females were casual laborers compared with
53.5%, 8.5% and 38.0% males in the same categories respectively. A total of 20.4% women
were employed in the organized sector in 2010
with 17.9% working in the public sector and 24.5% in the private. The labor force
participation rate of women across all age-groups was 20.8
in rural sector and 12.8 in urban sector compared with 54.8 and 55.6 for men in the rural and
urban sectors respectively in 2009-10 (NSS 64th Round).

Impact of Women Employment on Economic Parameters for Indian economy

India is an emerging economy with eye catching demographic dividend within its reach. As the
economy has to compete with developed south Asian countries as well as western economies,
full utilization of the available limited raw material as well as manpower resources is the only
way to grow faster and capture international markets. Indian women have proved their mettle in
large as well as small industries. Few big names are KiranMazumdar Shaw, IlaBhatt
,IndraNooyiandChandaKochar. An eye opener is the fact that under SEWA some 60000 poor

women could create assets worth Rs. 200 million (6.6 million U.S.$).Therefore women literacy
and women employment will add to the gross domestic product of the nation and raise the per
capita income of the country also. With rising incomes and education there is a profound impact
on consumption. The rates of growth of several discretionary categories are nothing short of
dramatic as a result. Female consumers have impacted the market structure. The rural as well as
urban women have shown interest in having financial status in the family. So with the increase in
population and female awareness, the growth prospects of a nation will also change leading to
development in the long term. Indian women are moving towards achieving high growth
targets along with their male counterparts and adequate assistance will embrace a
bright future in rural and urban areas.

HOW TO EMPOWER WOMEN IN THE WORKFORCE

Key drivers to facilitate women in their careers
71% Mentor or sponsor at senior management level
48% Personalised training programmes
46% Formal leadership training sponsored by employer
44% Networking opportunities within the business - the chance to meet and talk to
senior management.

Conclusion
Despite significant problems in a male dominated society, Indian women have found their way
out for growth and empowerment either through self-help groups, NGOs, banks, government
assistance,and micro finance institutions or through private sectors. In the coming years the role
of women will be of immense importance for competing with the developed world as they are
man power source as well as diverse consumer group. The civilization of the country will
undergo a noteworthy positive change with educated and financially sound women folk.Given
that one-third of the estimated 480 million jobs in the country are being performed by women,
more than half of the advertising is targeted towards the homemaker.

Womens labour force participation and access to decent work are important and
necessary elements of an inclusive and sustainable development process.
Considerable research has shown that investing in womens full economic potential
is critical to increasing productivity and economic growth. Moreover, reducing
gender barriers to decent work is fundamental to promoting womens economic
empowerment.
Gender inequalities are not only rooted in the sociocultural norms of countries, they
are also entrenched in the policy and institutional frameworks that shape the
employment opportunities of Indian female labour force. Yet it remains a persistent
phenomenon, albeit to varying degrees depending on regional, national and local
contexts. Women continue to face many barriers to entering the labour market and
accessing decent work, including care responsibilities, lack of skills, limited mobility
and safety issues, among others. Women experience a range of multiple challenges
relating to access to employment, choice of work, working conditions, employment
security, wage parity, discrimination, and balancing the competing burdens of work
and family responsibilities. Labour market gender gaps are more pronounced in
India, and are often exacerbated by gendered patterns in occupational segregation,
with the majority of womens work typically concentrated in a narrow range of
sectors, many of which are vulnerable and insecure. In addition, women are heavily
represented in the informal economy where their exposure to risk of exploitation is
usually greatest and they have the least formal protection. The informal economy
provides a vital source of livelihoods for masses of women in the country.
There has been a declining trend in the female labour participation rate in India
despite strong economic growth (until the most recent data from 201112, which
shows a surge in participation rates in urban areas but a continuing fall in rural
areas). The econometric analysis of factors associated with employment outcomes
reveals that higher education is critical if women are to access regular wage and
salaried jobs.
Moving beyond standard labour force participation rates, policy-makers should be
more concerned about whether women are able to access better jobs or start a
business, and take advantage of new labour market opportunities as a country
grows (and hence contribute to the development process itself). For this reason,
policy interventions should tackle a range of issues, including improving access to
and relevance of education and training programmes, promoting childcare and
other institutional/legal measures to ease the burden of domestic duties, enhancing
safety for women and encouraging private sector development in industries and
regions that would increase job opportunities for women in India.