More women work but in informal and less secure jobs

1. At a Glance

• The paradox: India's female workforce has grown sharply since 2017-18, but most of the new jobs for women are in agriculture, own-account work and unpaid family work. These are not the secure, salaried, non-farm jobs that structural transformation is supposed to create [1].
• Scale: Between 2017-18 and 2025, the number of working women nearly doubled, from 104 million to 201 million. The female Worker Population Ratio (WPR) rose from 22% to 38% [1].
• Counting more work: Part of the rise shows that women's work on farms and in household enterprises is now being recorded. Earlier, much of it went uncounted and so was left out of policy and budgets [1].
• Why it matters for UPSC: The topic connects GS-I (women's issues, the social empowerment debate) with GS-III (employment, inclusive growth, structural transformation). It also tests whether you know PLFS concepts such as LFPR, WPR, the status of employment, and CWS vs usual status.

2. Why in the News

• 11 November 2026: The Hindu's international edition (page 9) carried an analysis titled "More women work but in informal and less secure jobs". It was written by Tanu M. Goyal, Shravani Prakash, Ketaki Gaikwad and Arjun Tandon [1].
• The article is based on the ICRIER report "The Participation Paradox". The report uses Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) and Time Use Survey data [1].
• Context: MoSPI released the PLFS Annual Report for calendar year 2025 in March 2026 [2]. Monthly PLFS figures through 2025-26 show female participation that is broadly flat or slightly volatile [3][4].

3. Background & Evolution

• Starting point: In 2017-18, female LFPR (usual status) was 23.3% [6] and the female WPR was 22% [1]. Both are low by international standards.
• 2023-24: Female LFPR rose to 41.7%. More than two out of every three working women were classified as self-employed [6].
• 2025: 201 million women were working, with a female WPR of 38% [1].
• Monthly and quarterly estimates (CWS): Female LFPR for age 15+ moved from 33.4% (Apr–Jun 2025) to 33.7% (Jul–Sep 2025) [4]. It was 34.4% in March 2026 and 33.9% in April 2026 [3].
• The policy issue throughout: As counting improved, women's unpaid farm and household-enterprise work became visible. The quality of that work, however, did not improve in step [1].

4. Core Static Facts

Item	Fact
Data sources used	PLFS and Time Use Survey (TUS) [1]
Agency behind PLFS	Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI). It issues annual reports, e.g. PLFS 2025 [2]
Report driving the news	"The Participation Paradox" by ICRIER, a think tank, not a government body [1]
Working women	104 mn (2017-18) → 201 mn (2025) [1]
Female WPR	22% → 38% over the same period [1]
Rural women in crop & animal production	54 mn → over 100 mn [1]
Rural men's share in agriculture	54.1% → 47.2%, i.e. men moved out while women moved in [1]
Female LFPR (usual status)	23.3% (2017-18) → 41.7% (2023-24) [6]
Share of self-employed among working women	About 67% (2023-24) [6]
Female LFPR, age 15+, CWS (monthly)	34.4% (Mar 2026) → 33.9% (Apr 2026) [3]
Overall WPR (CWS), October 2025	52.5%, rising steadily since June 2025 [5]

Key terms (standard PLFS concepts):

• LFPR: people who are working or seeking work, as a share of the population.
• WPR: people who are working, as a share of the population.
• Unemployment Rate: people seeking work, as a share of the labour force.
• Status of employment: PLFS sorts workers into three groups:
• self-employed, which covers own-account workers, employers and unpaid helpers in household enterprises;
• regular wage/salaried workers;
• casual labour.

Unpaid helpers count as employed [6].

• Usual Status (UPSS) vs Current Weekly Status (CWS): usual status uses a 365-day reference period, while CWS uses the 7 days before the survey. Figures under the two are not directly comparable.

5. Multi-Dimensional Analysis

Economic

• Reverse structural transformation for women: most of the rise in women's employment went into agriculture, the sector workers are expected to leave as an economy develops [1].
• Rural women in crop and animal production nearly doubled, to over 100 million. In the same period, rural men's share in agriculture fell from 54.1% to 47.2% [1]. Farming is becoming more feminised as men take up non-farm work.
• Self-employment dominates, at about 67% of working women in 2023-24 [6]. This points to low earnings, low productivity and little social-security coverage.

Social / Gender

• Women still carry most of the unpaid domestic and childcare work, even as their paid participation rises. The result is a double burden [1].
• Being counted is not the same as being empowered. The data show how many women work but say little about the quality of that work: pay, security and autonomy [1].
• The gain is mostly rural. Growth has come mainly from rural women in farm and household enterprises [1], not from urban formal-sector jobs.

Statistical / Measurement

• Some of the increase reflects better recording of work that went uncounted before, such as work in fields and cattle sheds [1].
• PLFS counts unpaid helpers as self-employed and therefore as employed [6]. A rising WPR can partly reflect how work is classified, not only real job creation.
• Usual-status figures (e.g. LFPR of 41.7%) and CWS figures (e.g. about 34%) measure different things. Mixing them up overstates or understates the trend [3][6].

Governance / Policy

• When women's farm work goes unrecorded, it stays outside policy and budgets [1]. Better data is therefore a precondition for gender budgeting and targeting schemes.
• Possible responses:
• care infrastructure (crèches, Anganwadi-cum-crèche);
• skilling women for non-farm work;
• extending social security to informal and gig workers;
• recognising women farmers in land records and credit.

6. Recent Developments (last 12–18 months)

• Jul–Sep 2025: Female LFPR (CWS, age 15+) rose to 33.7%, from 33.4% in Apr–Jun 2025 [4].
• October 2025: Overall WPR (CWS) reached 52.5%, rising steadily since June 2025 [5].
• March 2026: MoSPI released the PLFS Annual Report 2025, covering calendar year 2025 [2].
• March to April 2026: Female LFPR (CWS, age 15+) fell from 34.4% to 33.9% [3].
• 11 November 2026: The ICRIER findings ("The Participation Paradox") were published in The Hindu [1].

7. Prelims Hooks

• The number of working women in India rose from 104 million (2017-18) to 201 million (2025) [1].
• Female WPR rose from 22% to 38% between 2017-18 and 2025 [1].
• Most of the increase in women's employment was absorbed by agriculture [1].
• Rural women in crop and animal production rose from 54 million to over 100 million [1].
• Rural men's share in agriculture fell from 54.1% to 47.2% [1].
• "The Participation Paradox" is an ICRIER report based on PLFS + Time Use Survey data [1].
• Female LFPR (usual status) was 41.7% in 2023-24, up from 23.3% in 2017-18 [6].
• More than two out of three working women were self-employed in 2023-24 [6].
• Under PLFS, unpaid helpers in household enterprises are counted as self-employed, and hence employed [6].
• Female LFPR (CWS, age 15+) was 33.9% in April 2026 [3].
• Overall WPR (CWS) was 52.5% in October 2025 [5].
• PLFS is published by MoSPI, not the Ministry of Labour & Employment [2].

8. Why a Higher WPR Does Not Mean More Paid Work

• Most of the new "jobs" are unpaid work in the family
• The ILO's India Employment Report 2024 says that almost two-thirds of the employment added after 2019 was self-employment [7].
• Within this self-employed group, unpaid women family workers make up the largest share [7]. These are women who help in the family farm or shop and get no wage of their own.

• PLFS counts such helpers as "employed" [6]. So the WPR (the share of people who are working) can go up even when no woman earns a single extra rupee.

• The rise came at a bad time, which points to need, not opportunity

• The ILO found that self-employment grew during the pandemic mostly through unpaid household work, especially by rural women. It calls this the worst form of employment [7].

• Women joining work in a crisis usually do it because the household needs extra hands to survive. A growing economy pulling them into better jobs would look different.

• Women are entering the sector men are leaving

• Rural women in crop and animal production rose from 54 million to over 100 million. Over the same period, rural men's share in agriculture fell [1].

• When men move to non-farm work, women often take over the family plot to keep it running. More women on farms then tells us how men's work has changed, not that new opportunities have opened up for women.

• What to say in an answer: the WPR shows how many women are counted as working. The status of employment (self-employed, regular salaried or casual) shows what kind of work it is. Always quote both.

9. Why Housework Keeps Women Tied to Farm and Home

• Women have very little free time
• The Time Use Survey 2024 found that women spend about 289 minutes a day on unpaid domestic work. Men spend 88 minutes [8].
• Women also spend about 137 minutes a day on caring for family members. Men spend 75 minutes [8].

• 83.1% of women do domestic work on a normal day, compared with 26.4% of men [8].

• This decides which work women can take

• A salaried factory or office job needs fixed hours and travel.
• A woman who already spends about five hours a day on housework can mostly take only work she can fit around it: the family field, cattle at home, home-based piece work.

• That is exactly the informal, low-paid work the ICRIER report finds women crowding into [1].

• The gap is not closing on its own

• Women's caregiving time was 137 minutes in 2019 and is still 137 minutes in 2024. Men's rose only from 73 to 75 minutes [8].
• Five years of rising female WPR did not reduce women's housework. Their paid or counted work was added on top of it. This is why the double burden (paid work plus housework) is getting heavier, not lighter.

10. The Case That This Is Real Progress, and Where It Falls Short

• The strongest argument on the other side
• Rural women always worked in fields and cattle sheds. Earlier surveys simply missed it [1].
• Recording that work is a real gain. Work that is not counted gets no place in policy or budgets [1].

• Seen this way, a rise from 22% to 38% WPR is the statistics finally catching up with reality, and that is good news [1].

• What this argument gets right

• Better counting matters. Gender budgeting (planning spending by its effect on women) and scheme targeting both need this data.

• Unpaid farm work is real economic work. Calling it "not work" would be wrong.

• Where it falls short

• Being counted does not give a woman an income. Unpaid helpers have no wage that they control, even though PLFS calls them employed [6].
• Self-employed women have little social protection to fall back on. The ILO–SEWA report found that self-employed women workers bore the brunt of India's weak social protection during COVID-19 [9].
• Conclusion for an answer: accept that better measurement is progress. But the test of empowerment is earnings, security and choice, and on these the data show little change [1][7].

11. What Each Actor Must Do to Turn Counting into Decent Work

• MoSPI should report unpaid helpers separately in the headline number
• Today paid and unpaid workers are added into one WPR, so the headline mixes very different kinds of work [6].

• Showing "women in paid work" as its own figure in every PLFS release would make it clear whether real jobs are growing.

• The Labour Ministry should bring self-employed women under the Code on Social Security, 2020

• About two-thirds of working women are self-employed [6], and this is the group the ILO found was hit hardest when social protection was weak [9].

• Registering them under the Code would let pensions, maternity and accident cover reach them. Without this, the law protects mainly salaried workers, and few women hold salaried jobs.

• The Women and Child Development Ministry should treat crèches as job policy

• Women spend about 137 minutes a day on caregiving [8]. This is time a fixed-hours job cannot accommodate.

• Childcare near home or work frees those hours. Without it, skilling programmes train women for jobs they still cannot take up.

• Rural Development (DAY-NRLM) should organise women into cooperatives, not just loan groups

• The ILO–SEWA report studies how strengthening women's cooperatives helps self-employed women [9].
• A cooperative lets many small women producers bargain together, reach markets and pool risk. One woman on a family plot cannot do this on her own.

12. Anchors for Answers

• Data: Female WPR rose from 22% (2017-18) to 38% (2025), and 104 million to 201 million women were counted as working [1]
• Data: Women spend 289 minutes a day on unpaid domestic work, against 88 for men (Time Use Survey 2024) [8]
• Data: Nearly two-thirds of employment added after 2019 was self-employment, mostly unpaid women family workers (ILO) [7]
• Report/Committee: ICRIER, "The Participation Paradox" (2026) [1]; ILO–IHD India Employment Report 2024 [7]; ILO–SEWA report on strengthening women's cooperatives (2024) [9]
• Law/Case: Code on Social Security, 2020: the legal route to extend social security to unorganised and self-employed workers
• Scheme: DAY-NRLM / Lakhpati Didi: SHG-based non-farm livelihoods, a way for rural women to move from unpaid family work to earning their own income

13. Mains Relevance

• GS-I: Role of women and women's organisations; social empowerment; effects of globalisation on Indian society.
• GS-III: Indian economy and issues relating to growth, development and employment; inclusive growth.
• GS-II (linked): Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections; mechanisms to protect them.
• Sample question stems: 1. "Rising female labour force participation in India conceals a deterioration in the quality of women's work." Critically examine this statement with reference to recent PLFS data. (15 marks) 2. The feminisation of agriculture reflects a gendered structural transformation in India. Discuss its causes and its implications for rural women's empowerment. (10 marks) 3. How does the burden of unpaid care work shape the kinds of jobs Indian women take up? Suggest policy measures to convert participation into decent work. (15 marks)

14. Related Topics to Study Next

• PLFS methodology (usual status vs CWS, monthly bulletins): needed to read and compare the numbers correctly.
• Time Use Survey (MoSPI): measures unpaid domestic and care work, the other side of this paradox.
• Feminisation of agriculture and women's land rights: explains why rural women are concentrated in farming.
• Code on Social Security, 2020 (gig and unorganised workers): the main policy tool for informal-job security.
• The care economy and Anganwadi-cum-crèche initiatives: reducing the care burden is a precondition for better jobs.
• Gender budgeting: turns newly counted women's work into budget priorities.
• The informal sector and e-Shram registrations: the scale of informality and the social-security gap.
• Women-led development and SHGs (DAY-NRLM, Lakhpati Didi): non-farm livelihood routes for rural women.

15. NCERT Concepts to Revise

• Periodic Labour Force Survey (Economy): PLFS is the main data source behind every figure in the note.
• Worker population ratio (Economy): The headline rise in female WPR from 22% to 38% is the core fact.
• Labour force participation rate (Economy): LFPR is often confused with WPR; the note tracks female LFPR over time.
• Usual status (Economy): Figures like 41.7% LFPR use this 365-day basis, so they differ from weekly numbers.
• Current weekly status (Economy): Monthly and quarterly figures use a 7-day basis and cannot be compared with usual status.
• Status of employment (Economy): Splitting workers into self-employed, regular and casual shows how poor the quality of women's jobs is.
• Self-employed (Economy): About two-thirds of working women are self-employed, including unpaid helpers in household enterprises.
• Structural transformation (Economy): Women moving into farming runs against the expected shift from agriculture to industry and services.
• Feminisation of agriculture (Economy): Men leaving farms while women enter explains the rise in rural women's work.
• Unpaid care work (Economy): Unpaid care duties shape which jobs women take and are the other side of the paradox.
• Double burden (Polity): Women do paid work and still carry most household work.
• Time use survey (Polity): The report uses it to measure women's unpaid work alongside PLFS data.
• Decent work (Economy): The note's central point is that more jobs for women are not secure, well-paid decent work.
• Code on Social Security, 2020 (Economy): It is the main policy route to extend social security to informal and gig workers.
• Gender budgeting (Economy): Newly counted women's work can be turned into budget priorities through gender budgeting.

16. Common Errors / Trap Areas

• Confusing LFPR with WPR: LFPR includes people seeking work, while WPR counts only those working. The 22% to 38% figure is the WPR, not the LFPR [1].
• Comparing usual status with CWS: a usual-status LFPR of 41.7% [6] cannot be compared with a CWS LFPR of about 34% [3]. The reference periods differ.
• Equating "employed" with "paid": unpaid helpers are counted as employed (self-employed) under PLFS [6].
• Getting the agency wrong: PLFS is run by MoSPI [2]. "The Participation Paradox" is by ICRIER, an independent think tank, not NITI Aayog or the Labour Ministry [1].
• Getting the direction wrong: the shift out of agriculture is happening for men, not women. Women's numbers in agriculture are rising [1].