A data story on women’s livelihoods and work
Updated: July 2024
Women and Work 2023
The year 2023 witnessed many issues pertaining to women-led development and Nari Shakti being brought to the forefront, reinforcing India’s commitment to gender equality and sustainable development. Despite these strides, female labour force participation remains a critical issue, hindered by socio-economic and cultural factors.This latest edition of the ‘Women and Work’ report contextualises women’s participation within the broader macro-political and economic landscape, highlighting challenges and opportunities while presenting a forward-looking approach to growth, embracing the spirit of Nari Shakti, and recognising women as key drivers of progress and prosperity.
Using thematic prompts from the gender outcomes around women’s leadership and participation listed in the 2023 G20 New Delhi Leaders Declaration, the report presents a data story from the year gone by, highlighting major emerging trends around employment, entrepreneurship, and skilling for the future of work. It also forecasts areas for future action around women’s work in emerging sectors such as the care economy, renewable energy and green jobs, and AI and automation.
You can read the 2023 report here.
Women and Work 2022
2022 presented a landscape of change as the world aimed for greater resilience, recovery and growth as things began to ‘open up’ post the COVID-19 pandemic. Spurred by changes in the overall outlook on ‘work,’ women’s participation in the workforce also reflected a shift, with remote and hybrid work emerging strongly in certain sectors, in continuation of trends set during the height of the pandemic. Similarly, even in work that cannot be performed remotely, there has been a deepening in positive trends. As lockdowns lifted, women person-days in certain employment schemes also climbed.
There is a need to provide a roadmap for enablers of women-led development, whether through participation in leadership, reflection in policy mandates, or even addressing barriers to work. Threaded through with insights from IWWAGE and LEAD’s research on the subject, the report covers trends across available data sources on scheme performances, policy changes, and political announcements, mapping the contours of women’s work in India and looking ahead to 2023.
You can read the 2022 report here.
Women and Work 2021
The year 2021 continued to be a year of response, recovery and resilience. Even as recovery seemed to be on the horizon, a brutal second wave of COVID-19 brought about a new set of challenges. In line with observations from the first year of the pandemic, women and girls were impacted disproportionately — with structural barriers to equality adding an additional layer of disadvantage to the health crisis.
In order to achieve a gender-responsive and equitable recovery, we need social safety nets that are better designed and inclusive; reduce the gendered divide in access to technology and design hybrid working solutions; and reduce and redistribute care work and invest in strengthening the care economy. This report stitches together and maps the efforts that are underway to bring women back to work and prepare women and girls for the future of work.The report also provides a forward-looking perspective on the future of work for a self reliant India, with a focus on new age skills, entrepreneurship, and rise of non-traditional livelihoods.
You can read the 2021 report here.
Women and Work 2020
Across the globe, 2020 unleashed a slew of unprecedented challenges and has been an overwhelming period for everyone, socially and economically. While the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown has impacted people from all walks of life, it has become increasingly evident that this impact has been harsher for women and girls. Policymakers, civil society organisations, economists, donors in the social sector, grassroots leaders are all trying to gauge the extent to which the pandemic has impacted women in a bid to chart out a gender responsive recovery plan.
Against this backdrop, we look at the key trends and policy developments that came to shape and define the life of women across India in 2020. In this report, we look at women’s changing role in the economy, their resilience in the face of the crisis and the opportunities that lie ahead to gain back momentum on the agenda of women’s economic empowerment that faced a setback this year. This report covers economic and social indicators (like female labour force participation, barriers to work and livelihoods, financial inclusion, digital access, skilling, education and violence against women) that played a central role in determining women’s role in the Indian economy
You can read the 2020 report here.
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The Woman and Work series was compiled by the TQH team with valuable inputs from IWWAGE