Why in the News?

India has one of the lowest female labour force participation rates (LFPR) in the world which is disheartening as the International Day of Rural Women is approaching.

The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data:

1. It indicates that LFPR (women in the working age group of 15-59 years) is only 35.6% in India.
2. The LFPR of India is lower than other South Asian countries except Afghanistan and Pakistan.
3.  LFPR stands at 39.3% and 26.5%, respectively, in rural and urban areas in 2021-22.
4. The women’s LFPR has increased relative to men, from 2017 to 2021.
5. The recent increase in rural women’s LFPR is due to:
   1. Increase in self-employment
   2. Larger engagement of rural women in agriculture and allied activities (nearly 3/4^th of rural working women).
   3. More than 50% worked as unpaid family helpers (in household business without getting any payment) during 2021-22.
   4. The role of unpaid family helpers or engaging in domestic chores are played by married women. 
6. Higher gender wage gap in rural areas:
   1. Rural women working as regular and casual wage workers earn less than compared to urban women.
   2. Self-employed women received less than half of men’s earnings compared to other categories of workers in rural areas. 
7. Unpaid labour not considered within the labour force:
   1. The proportion of women involved in unpaid but essential activities not considered within the labour force has declined from 60% in 2017-18 to 46% in 2021-22. This is due to decline in women’s engagement in only domestic chores, in rural areas
   2. However, 1/3^rd of women remained engaged in unpaid domestic chores in 2021-22. 
8. Time Use Survey (2019):

1. On average, women spend over 5 hours every day in unpaid domestic services.
2. Women spend >2 hours in unpaid caregiving services in rural areas which is substantially more than men.
3. Rural women spend over 7 hours every day growing crops for the market and household use in 2019.
4. Gender disparity in ownership of landholdings in agriculture.
   1. The agriculture census (2015-16) reported that only 14.7% of the operational landholdings were owned by women, reflecting the gender disparity in landholdings.
   2. There is also a concentration of operational holdings (57%) by women in the marginal and small holding categories.
   3. Only 15% women farmers received financial support from Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) in 2023.
   4. Only 25% women farmers received financial benefit under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN).

The unpaid, unaccounted and underpaid contribution of rural women in the overall economy have to be accounted and the landless, marginal women farmers have to be included in government agricultural schemes to combat gender inequality in rural India.

SOURCE URL: Counting Rural women’s labor|The Indian Express|