Indian women have nowhere to go

Author | Wang Yue

If the UN Population Division's forecast is correct, India's population has already reached about 1.425 billion by mid-April, surpassing China to become the world's most populous country.

One of the strange phenomena is that while becoming the most populous country, Indian women are increasingly away from the workplace and stuck at home. At present, the labor force participation rate of Indian women is hitting a record low. According to the Indian Economic Monitoring Centre, only 10% of working-age Indian women were employed or looking for work in 2022.

In 2000, the female participation rate in the country was 31%, and by 2018, it had dropped to 20%, for comparison, according to World Bank data analysis, in 2019, the average female labor force participation rate in countries around the world was 47.29%, including 60% in China. Among the world's major economies at that time, India was already the lowest. What's more, it has been plummeting all the way in the past 4 years.

Some analysts see benefits in India's large young population, but others worry that India's shortage of female labor will become a shackle and limit the advantages of India's population.

01

A country that lacks a female workforce

Rawaya Ulragana, from Tamil Nadu, southern India, is a mother of two and a former human resources professional.

In 2014, at the peak of his career, Ulagana decided to quit his job and spend time with his family.

Although the decision left her bitter and frustrated, she still had hope that she would one day return to work.

Four years later, Ms. Ulagana had two children and thought it was time to get back to work, but finding a job was much more difficult than she had imagined.

Not only has Ms. Ulagana been repeatedly rejected, she has also been asked to take a drastic pay cut, and recruiters believe that there is nothing to pick on those who have left their jobs.

Ms Urragana said: "This is a huge setback for my career. ”

"Four More Cups, Please" stills

There are many more women like Ms. Urragana. According to the World Bank, India's female labor force participation rate peaked at 31% in 2000 and has been declining ever since, even falling to 21% in 2018.

The India Economic Monitoring Centre found that only 10% of working-age Indian women are employed or looking for work by 2022. This means that only 39 million women are employed, compared to 361 million men.

India hopes that its rapidly growing working-age population will drive economic growth in the coming years. But as the population grows, some 670 million women will be unable to work, which is also a growing challenge for India's own economic growth.

There are also experts who worry that if India does not ensure a growing population, women who cannot participate in the workforce will easily become a burden on the population.

"Indian Girl" stills

While it is impossible to ignore the impact of the nationwide employment crisis, India's low female labor force participation rate is largely due to the deep-rooted patriarchal culture in Indian society.

Women are considered the primary caregivers in the home in India, and it is considered a shame for women to work outside the home.

According to a 2019 national time use survey in India, women in India spend 8 times more time than men on unpaid care work, while on a global average, women spend 3 times more time than men.

Experts also say that other factors that prevent women in big cities from joining the workforce include security factors and the inability to find jobs close to home.

02

"Women should stay home"

Even when there are job opportunities, women are deterred by social pressure.

Ms. Lalmani Johan's home is located in rural Uttar Pradesh. In her hometown, she had almost never seen a woman work outside the home. When Ms. Johan came to Mumbai in 2006, she saw women everywhere in public places. They serve food in restaurants, cut their hair or color their nails in salons, sell tickets on local trains, or squeeze their own trains to work. Johan saw new possibilities and was inspired.

Johan, who now works as a social worker, said: "When I started working and left home, my family used to say I must have been working as a prostitute. She was able to keep her job because her husband was bedridden after an accident, and her own job became the lifeblood of the family.

A still from "Burning Desire"

Sheila Singh is also a former social worker, having worked for 16 years in Mumbai, India's financial capital. As much as she loved her job, her family kept telling her she needed to stay home to take care of her two young children.

She resisted pressure from her family for years, but when she found out that her daughter was skipping school while she was at work, she felt she had no choice.

In 2020, Singer had to quit his job, and the day she handed in her resignation, she cried sadly. Ms Singh, 39, said: "Everyone told me that my children were neglected... It made me feel very bad. ”

"Hot" stills

When Singer quit her job 3 years ago, she was making more money than her husband. Her husband, a tuk-tuk driver, had his income going up and down every day, but no one ever advised him to quit. Singh said her husband used to be teased by friends for living on his wife's salary. "I think obviously my work doesn't have any value, so why should I work?" she said. ”

Without Singh's income, her family could no longer afford life in Mumbai. Mumbai, one of the most expensive cities to live in Asia, was preparing to move back to her village to save money, but Singh sighed: "There are no jobs there." ”

In fact, just a few decades ago, India was not as bad as it is now.

In 2004, when Singh became a social worker, India was still at the height of the historic reforms of the '90s.

A still from "Indian Partner"

New industries and new opportunities were born almost overnight, prompting millions of people to leave the countryside in search of better jobs in cities like Mumbai. People feel that life has changed dramatically.

"I don't have a college degree, so I never thought someone like me would get a job in an office," Singh said. ”

Even then, working away from home was an uphill battle for many women.

Sunita Sutar, who was still in school in 2004, said that in her hometown of Shir Savadi village in Maharashtra, women usually marry at the age of 18 and start living in their husbands' homes.

Neighbors ridiculed Soutal's parents for investing in her education, arguing that none of that matter when she got married.

"Mysterious Superstar" stills

Suttar bucked the tide and in 2013 became the first of nearly 2,000 people in the village to earn an engineering degree. "I know that only by reading can you achieve something," she said. Otherwise, I would be like everyone else, marry off and get stuck in the village. ”

Sutar now lives and works in Mumbai and is an auditor for India's Ministry of Defence. This is a government job that many Indians dream of because it implies security, prestige and welfare.

03

Women workers are needed in manufacturing

Official figures in India show that only 32 percent of women will continue to work after marriage, and most of them work in agriculture.

Ashvini Deshpande, a professor of economics at Ashoka University's Centre for Economic Data and Analysis, said India needed to create more non-farm jobs in rural areas so that women could find work outside of agricultural production.

"If you want to benefit from India's gender dividend, women need to work in production," she noted. A 2018 report by McKinsey & Company estimated that India could add $552 billion to GDP simply by increasing women's labor force participation to 10 percent.

"Hot" stills

Although women now make up less than 20 per cent of India's manufacturing sector, some visible changes can still be seen, especially in the Hosur industrial area of Tamil Nadu. Located just 35km from the IT hub of Bangalore, Hosur is home to many industrial companies and has become an attractive place to invest.

Six years ago, Roshni Lugun left her home in Orissa, 2,000 kilometers away, to Hosur to work as an engineer in a factory. She started as a shock absorber for two- and three-wheelers and is now a small supervisor. She explains that she came out to work to "try something new" because if she had stayed home all the time, she wouldn't have improved or achieved what she has done so far.

Hundreds of other women like Ms. Lugon, who work in factories, are changing the face of a once-male-dominated industry, and other companies in Hosur are working to hire more women.

Let's Wrestle! Dad" stills

India's Gabriel company in Hosur, which makes auto parts, has more than 20 percent of its workers in women. The company believes that it makes sense to recruit as many female employees as possible from a business perspective. Artur Jaji, General Staff and Deputy General Manager of Gabriel India, said: "Our internal research shows that female employees have lower turnover rates. ”

To attract more female employees, the company also offers benefits such as on-site accommodation, subsidized food and several training programs. General manager Jaki said: "It doesn't cost more money. These are the basic facilities that any good organization should have. ”

Ms. Lugon echoed the general manager's assertion that a female colleague, who was supervising the finishing touches on the shock absorbers on the assembly line, asked: "Why do only men have to work for the Indian economy to grow?" ”

For Lugon, what excites her most about her job is gaining a sense of independence. "Sometimes I go out with my friends and see a motorcycle with parts from our car," she said. And I said, look, I made that. It makes me happy and proud. ”

"Mysterious Superstar" stills

But for Mr. Singh, who is leaving Mumbai for rural areas, a return to work is still far away. Although Singh can afford only a one-bedroom apartment deep in the narrow alleys of the slums in Mumbai, she is determined to return to the city in the near future.

"I've never asked anyone for a penny before," she said. But now, whenever she is forced to ask her husband for money, she is ashamed. Thinking about how independent she was when she had a job before, Singh thought quitting was like "losing a part of herself." She wanted to regain her sense of independence.

The pictures in the article come from the Internet

Special Editor|Jiang Wen

New Media Editor | Ashu

Typesetting | Eight pounds

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