Female workforce shrinks in economic shocks

India’s biggest challenge on the employment front is getting its women folk into the labour force. While 67 per cent of all men of working age are employed, only 9 per cent of all women of working age are. This gap between men and women in India’s workforce is the potential labour available to deploy productively in economic activities.

Given that men continue to be considered as the principal earning member of a household, women are unlikely to accept poor quality jobs. Household incomes have risen to a point where employment for women as a second earning member of a typical