More women in political leadership

The share of women in Parliament and the assemblies has been gradually increasing since 2000. Their participation in the electoral process has also seen a spike. Not surprisingly, India has earned a respectable 48th position in the Global Gender Gap Index in this category the state of women in the country’s labour force participation, estimated earnings, share of professional and technical workers, wage equality and share of legislators, senior officials and managers.

Labour force participation by Indian women has registered a sharp decline. In 2010-20, labour force participation dropped from 26 per cent to 19 per cent, compared to the global average of nearly 50 per cent, says a World Bank report. There was an uptick in labour force participation by rural women in ’20-21, mapped by the official Periodic Labour Force Survey, but it’s seen as a mark of post-pandemic hunger for even low-paying jobs. ABloomberg report pegs female employment in India at a shocking 9 per cent in 2022.

The only area where India performs relatively better is political empowerment, evaluated on the basis of share in ministerial positions, in Parliament, and number of years with female/ male head of state. The WEF report says the share of women legislators, senior officials and managers rose to 17.6 per cent last year. The share of women MPs has jumped too, from 9 per cent to 14 per cent in the past 20 years. ■