What changes can be made to increase female participation in the workforce?

India has a poor record of women’s participation in the workforce. Less than a quarter of women were employed before the pandemic, ranking India among the bottom 10 countries in the world in terms of women’s employment. But the pandemic is making matters worse, with more women than men dropping out of jobs. In fact, recent studies estimate that four out of five women are currently not working in India. The situation is said to be particularly stressful in the informal sector, which employs nearly 80% of all working women. So, what is the ground reality? What do employment trends in urban and rural areas tell us? And what are the other challenges women face as extra chores are added during the pandemic? In this edition of WorklifeIndia, we discuss if Covid is worsening the women’s employment crisis, and what can be done to make more Indian women join the paid workforce. Presenter: Devina Gupta Contributors: Neha Bagaria, founder & CEO, JobsForHer; Sabina Dewan, president & executive director, JustJobs; Soumya Kapoor Mehta, head, IWWAGE