There was a recent report that a multinational firm in Chennai had taken a policy decision against recruiting married women. The matter is being investigated by the authorities. It is welcome that such discrimination, which is encountered by lakhs of women in the labour market, is considered news and has been picked up by the mainstream media. With constitutional guarantees of equality in education and employment, women in India have achieved success in educational and professional fields and broken the glass ceiling when provided with opportunities. However, a large proportion of women do encounter subtle biases when professional merit is overlooked during recruitment or promotion, and their domestic responsibilities influence decisions.
A couple of decades after independence, Indian women, including married ones, gradually entered the arena of paid work. Certain professions like teaching, medicine and nursing were considered ‘suitable’ for them. Gradually, with higher educational opportunities, other sectors including the defence services opened up to them.
The female labour force participation rate in India, which refers to women aged 15 and above who are either working or looking for a job, is now 32.8 percent, according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey for 2021-22. While this is below the global average of 47 percent, it has been steadily rising for several years. Structural changes such as a decline in fertility rates and expansion of women’s education account for this increase. However, obstacles to women’s employment still exist due to bias and societal norms. This squanders the potential of a sizeable percentage of citizens being employed, leading to a substantial loss in economic productivity. The survey also highlighted that 44.5 percent of the women not in the labour force stayed out due to ‘childcare or personal commitments in home-making’.
One peculiar situation, underlines the dilemma faced by working women due to their vital roles in households. In rural areas, a decline in women’s employment has been observed, when there is a scarcity of water in summer months. If women go to work, the family goes thirsty. According to the NGO International Development Organisation, Indian women spend 150 million workdays every year fetching water. The government’s measures to provide piped water to rural households have mitigated this problem to an extent.
In a large majority of cases, marriage nips promising careers in the bud. It is not uncommon that in arranged marriages, conditions are laid down that the woman will discontinue employment after marriage. Women are expected to be carers and homemakers in the marital home. Non-working, however, does not mean a life of leisure. About 90 percent of all housework falls on women, even while they remain invisible and voiceless. The Supreme Court has recently observed that women who perform endless household chores need to be given access to financial resources and partake in financial decisions.
Domestic responsibilities continue to be lopsided even when both partners in a household work full-time. While family dynamics determine specific outcomes, society upholds normative gender roles that burden working women. Many women report facing ‘weaponised incompetency’, a sense of helplessness in men, when they step in to share domestic chores. In such circumstances, it is quicker and efficient for women to complete the chores themselves. Women of an earlier generation who pursued career goals with enthusiasm were shamed for neglecting the family. This is probably one of the reasons why younger women are opting out of or delaying marriage, or preferring to be in a DINK (double-income, no kids) situation.
Denying women access to jobs has held back India’s economy. The skewed labour force affects the distribution of wealth between the genders. Working women are more likely to take decisions on allocation of disposable incomes and spend more on the well-being of their children.
An ILO study has pointed out that, globally, women are paid 20 percent less than men on an average. This gap widens even as women climb the corporate ladder. Claudia Goldin, the Nobel-winning economist, has highlighted that ‘greedy jobs’, where longer working hours are disproportionately rewarded, are the ones that women tend to lose out on. Spending extra hours at the workplace is sometimes not feasible, as parenting roles devolve largely on women. While straightforward employer discrimination may be on the wane, the dice are often loaded against professional ambitions of women.
Flexibility in the work place and childcare support are ways forward to a more equitable work environment. The government has taken the lead by providing maternity leave of 180 days and childcare leave of up to two years to female employees. Upskilling and reskilling will benefit women returning to work after a gap due to childcare. There is also a requirement for crèche facilities to be made available in organisations that have more than 50 female employees. Organisations should conduct periodical audits to identify gender disparity in pay and promotional opportunities, and rectify institutional biases, if any.
A State Bank of India report published in 2023 stated that the total contribution of unpaid women’s work to the economy was around `22.7 lakh crore, almost 7.5 percent of India’s GDP. Employers should keep in mind that this, if anything, is an indication of the productive capacity of women, including married women. Being employed and financially independent are empowering experiences. It gives women a sense of identity other than that of being a mother, daughter or wife, and expands their sphere of influence. To tweak an old saying, the hand that rocks the cradle can change the world.
Geetha Ravichandran
Former bureaucrat and author, most recently, of The Spell of the Rain Tree