The rise in female workforce participation in India hides concerns about job quality. Critically analyse.

According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), India's female labour force participation rate (LFPR) almost doubled, from 23.3% in 2017-18 to 41.7% in 2023-24 [1]. The ILO defines decent work as work with fair income, rights at work, social security and dignity, and it is the goal of SDG-8 [2]. Measured against that test, more women are working, but many of them are not yet working well.

Real gains behind the rise

• Scale: the female worker population ratio rose from 22.0% to 40.3% over the same period [1].
• Rural inclusion: rural female LFPR jumped from 24.6% to 47.6% [1]. Women whose work was earlier invisible now count in the economy.
• Lower joblessness: female unemployment fell from 5.6% to 3.2% after 2017-18 [1].

Concerns the headline hides

• Thin work counted as jobs: under usual status, a woman counts as employed if she does just 30 days of subsidiary work in a year [1]. On the stricter weekly (CWS) measure, female LFPR is only 35.6% [1], which points to irregular work.
• Rural, not urban, growth: urban female LFPR is only 28.0%, against 47.6% in rural areas [1]. Most of the rise is in farm and family-based work, not in salaried factory or office jobs.
• Informality: about 90% of India's workers are informal [3]. They have no contract, no paid leave and no provident fund, and home-based women are among the worst covered.
• Absorption gap: in 2023-24 female unemployment rose from 2.9% to 3.2%, while male unemployment fell [1]. More women want work than the market can absorb.
• Social security gap: the Code on Social Security, 2020 covers gig and platform workers. It funds them through an aggregator levy of 1–2% of turnover [4]. Self-employed women have no aggregator, so this money does not reach them.

Way forward

• Measure quality: PLFS releases should report contract and social-security coverage alongside LFPR.
• Cover the self-employed: create contributory schemes with state support for workers who have no employer.
• Create urban jobs: support labour-intensive manufacturing, safe transport and crèches, in the spirit of Art. 42 (maternity relief).

In short, the rise in female participation is real progress in participation. But because much of it is rural, irregular and informal, it is not yet progress in empowerment. Measuring job quality, extending social security and creating salaried work can turn participation into decent work, and so fulfil the living-wage promise of Art. 43 and the aims of SDG-8.