India's Female Workforce

There is no question that India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. It has a massive population that is eager to learn new skills and grow companies.  Still, there is one factor that may be holding India back from reaching its full potential: lack of women in the workforce. While India has made great strides in the past several years in this area, there is still a large discrepancy between men and women in the business world. According to a recent report India has one of the lowest percentages of women on Executive Boards and in leadership positions worldwide.

India has seen a growth in women’s salaries, the number of women working, and the number of women making decisions about money in the last ten years. But is it enough? That is what some economists are wondering. India still appears to be well behind several other countries. India’s culture still has a bias towards working women, and often expects them to stay home rather than enter the workforce. This is true even for Indian women who have attended a University and it could be holding the Indian economy back as a whole.

While more and more Indian women are receiving higher education, many of them do not actually end up in the workforce. This discrepancy could be for many reasons. The first is certainly based on the strong culture in India that prefers women to be in the home full time with the family. Another reason is that many companies do not structure jobs with enough flexibility for Indian women to have a career and a family. Lastly, even if Indian women do enter the working world, there is a slim chance that they will end up in leadership positions.

Overall India has truly made great strides towards gender equality. There has been a significant amount of progress made in the past few decades to provide women with more power. Still, in order to compete with more developed nations, India will have to continue to provide women with more opportunities and leadership positions in the workforce.