By Blassy Boben and Rupam Jain
NEW DELHI: The Indian government has proposed a bill that aims to reserve one-third of seats in the lower house of parliament and state assemblies for women. This move has raised hopes in a country where only about 25% of the workforce is female, the lowest among emerging economies.
According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), if the percentage of women in the workforce were to double, India’s growth rate could increase from 7.5% to 9% and its GDP could reach $700 billion by 2025.
Let’s take a look at women’s participation in various sectors of the Indian workforce:
GOVERNANCE
India has had one woman prime minister and two female presidents since gaining independence in 1947. So far, fifteen women have served as chief ministers.
The percentage of women lawmakers in parliament is 14.94% for the lower house, 14.05% for the upper house, and about 10% for state legislatures.
About 1.4 million of the 3.1 million village representatives in India are women.
JUDICIARY
The Supreme Court of India has not had a female chief justice yet. As of August 2023, out of a sanctioned strength of 34 judges in the apex court, only three are women. In the 25 high courts, there are 106 women judges out of a total of 788, and in the lower courts, there are 7,199 women judges out of the total number of judges.
DEFENCE AND POLICE
As of March 2023, there are 6,993 women officers in the Indian army and 748 in the navy. The Indian Air Force has 1,636 women officers, excluding medical staff. Women make up 11.7% of the 2.1 million-strong police force in India.
AVIATION
India has the highest proportion of female pilots compared to males in the world. In the South Asian country, women pilots make up 15% of the total of about 10,000 pilots, while globally it is only 5%.
AGRICULTURE
Agriculture has the highest percentage of women workers with a participation rate of 62.9%, followed by manufacturing at 11.2% in 2022.
Millions of Indian women are employed in unorganized sectors such as domestic work and daily wage labor.
CORPORATE
In 2023, women held 18.2% of board seats in NIFTY 500 companies, with the life sciences sector having the highest female representation at 24%.
The tech industry has a relatively high representation of women in the workforce at 34%, but it lags behind other industries in terms of women in executive positions. Only 8.9% of firms have women in top managerial roles.
Due to the impact of COVID-19, women’s labor force participation in India decreased to 22.3%, according to a 2022 report on Diversity in the Boardroom by Ernst & Young.
(Sources: Indian Press Information Bureau, Bureau of Police Research & Development, and ILO)
(Reporting by Blassy Boben, Rupam Jain; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
