Research

Women in the Workforce – India: Quick Take

Oct 28, 2020

POPULATION

By 2050, India Will Be the Most Populous Country in the World1

In July 2020, approximately 1,326,093,247 people lived in India.2

By 2050, India’s population will increase to an estimated 1.66 billion total people, surpassing China as the world’s most populous nation.3

The gender population gap starts at birth. For every 100 boys born nationally, 91 girls are born.4

  • Women constitute 48.1% of the population.5
  • As of 2020, there are 50,337,879 fewer women than men across India.6
India’s Demographic Skews Young

India has a large youth population with a median age of 28.7 years old7 (compared to 38.5 years old in the United States).8

  • More than one-quarter (26.3%) of India’s population is younger than 15 years old.9
  • Only 6.7% of India’s population is older than 65.10

DIVERSITY

India’s Complex Culture is Illustrated in its Diverse Religions and Languages 11
  • The Caste System (Jati) goes back thousands of years and continues to influence access to some jobs. 12
  • The constitution has outlawed caste discrimination for employment and access to education, but not the caste system itself.13
Religions of India (2011 Census estimates)

EDUCATION

Women Are Closing the Higher Education Gap14

Among graduates in 2018-2019, women represented:

  • Undergraduate degrees: 53.0%15
  • MPhil degrees: 69.6%16
  • PhDs: 41.8%17

LABOR FORCE

The Labor Force Participation Rate for Women Is Declining18

India’s economy is growing, with an increasing GDP and a working-age population expected to climb to over 800 million people by 2050.19

Despite this growth, less than one-quarter (20.3%) of women aged 15 and older participate in the labor force as of 202020 (compared to 76.0% of men).21

  • Women account for only 19.9% of the total labor force in India.22
  • India’s low labor force participation rate for women is due in part to restrictive cultural norms regarding women’s work, the gender wage gap, an increase in time spent for women continuing their education, and a lack of safety policies and flexible work offerings.23
    • Recent job stagnation and high unemployment rates for women, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, also keep women out of the labor force.24
  • Rural women are leaving India’s workforce at a faster rate than urban women.25

Increasing women’s labor force participation by 10 percentage points could add $770 billion to India’s GDP by 2025.26

Many Workers in India Are at Risk of Job Displacement Due to Automation27

The agriculture industry employs approximately 60% of working women in India but is expected to be heavily impacted by job losses due to automation.28

  • 12 million women may be displaced by automation by 2030. This is equivalent to approximately 10% of women’s employment in India.29

Women are underrepresented across sectors, including: core30, which encompasses infrastructure-related sectors like oil and gas (7%); automotive (10%); pharmaceutical and healthcare (11%); and information technology (28%).31

LEADERSHIP

The Share of Women-Led Companies in India Has Stagnated32

Only 3.7% of CEOs and Managing Directors of NSE-listed companies were women in 2019, a number that has increased just slightly from 3.2% in 2014.33

  • 8.9% of firms have women in top management positions.34
    • As of 2019, just 29 companies (5.8%) on the Fortune India 500 list had women in executive roles.35
    • Women make up only 31% of Chief Human Resources Officers (CHROs), a role overrepresented by women in other countries such as the US and South Africa.36

Women account for only 13.8% of board directors from listed companies in India.37

A Record Number of Women Were Elected to India’s Parliament38

In 2019, India elected women to fill 78 of the 542 seats in the lower house of parliament, a record high. However, at only 14.4%, the country remains far from parity.39

PAY GAP

India Has a High Gender Pay Gap

Based on hourly wages, women earn, on average, 65.5% of what their male colleagues earn for performing the same work.40

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Catalyst India.

Full list of Quick Takes.

Vrishti Beniwal, “The Virus Has Made India’s Devastating Gender Gap Even Worse,” Bloomberg, June 25, 2020.

Terri Chapman and Vidisha Mishra, Rewriting the Rules: Women and Work in India (Observer Research Foundation, January 2019).

Julia Hanna, “Taking on the Taboos That Keep Women Out of India’s Workforce,” Harvard Business School, December 16, 2019.

Aarti Shyamsunder, Alixandra Pollack, and Dnika J. Travis, India Inc: From Intention to Impact (Catalyst, 2015).

 

How to cite this product: Catalyst, Quick Take: Women in the Workforce – India (October 28, 2020).

  1. Population Reference Bureau, “International Indicators: Population Mid-2050,” 2020 World Population Data Sheet (2020).
  2. Central Intelligence Agency, “India, People and Society,” The World Factbook (2020).
  3. Population Reference Bureau, “International Indicators: Population Mid-2050,” 2020 World Population Data Sheet (2020).
  4. World Economic Forum, “Data Explorer: India,” The Global Gender Gap Report 2020 (2019).
  5. Central Intelligence Agency, “India, People and Society,” The World Factbook (2020).
  6. Central Intelligence Agency, “India, People and Society,” The World Factbook (2020).
  7. Central Intelligence Agency, “India, People and Society,” The World Factbook (2020).
  8. Central Intelligence Agency, “United States, People and Society,” The World Factbook (2020).
  9. Central Intelligence Agency, “India, People and Society,” The World Factbook (2020).
  10. Central Intelligence Agency, “India, People and Society,” The World Factbook (2020).
  11. Stanley A. Wolpert, Muzaffar Alam, Philip B. Calkins, R. Champakalakshmi, K.R. Dikshit, Joseph E. Schwartzberg, T.G. Percival Spear, Frank Raymond Allchin, A.L. Srivastava, Sanjay Subrahmanyam, and Romila Thapar, “India,” Encyclopedia Britannica (September 2, 2020).
  12. Archana Chaudhary, “Quick Take: India’s Caste System,” Bloomberg, October 29, 2019; “Jati,” Encyclopedia Britannica (March 9, 2016).
  13. Archana Chaudhary, “Quick Take: India’s Caste System,” Bloomberg, October 29, 2019.
  14. Manash Pratim Gohain, “Women in Higher Education Show Steady Rise, Enrolment in Top Institutions Not Growing,” Times of India, September 24, 2019.
  15. Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development, “Table 35: Out-Turn/Pass-Out at Under Graduate Level in Major Disciplines/Subjects (Based on Actual Response),” All India Survey on Higher Education 2018-19 (2019).
  16. Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development, “Table 36: Out-Turn/Pass-Out at Ph.D., M.Phil. & Post Graduate Level in Major Disciplines/Subjects (Based on Actual Response),” All India Survey on Higher Education 2018-19 (2019).
  17. Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development, “Table 36: Out-Turn/Pass-Out at Ph.D., M.Phil. & Post Graduate Level in Major Disciplines/Subjects (Based on Actual Response),” All India Survey on Higher Education 2018-19 (2019).
  18. Bansari Kamdar, “Women Left Behind: India’s Falling Female Labor Participation,” The Diplomat, July 31, 2020.
  19. Bansari Kamdar, “Women Left Behind: India’s Falling Female Labor Participation,” The Diplomat, July 31, 2020; Jeff Desjardins, “This Animation Shows China and India’s Populations Are Ageing at Different Rates,” World Economic Forum, January 30, 2020.
  20. World Bank Group, “Labor Force Participation Rate, Female (% of Female Population Ages 15+) (Modeled ILO Estimate) – India,” The World Bank Databank (2020).
  21. World Bank Group, “Labor Force Participation Rate, Male (% of Male Population Ages 15+) (Modeled ILO Estimate) – India,” The World Bank Databank (2020).
  22. World Bank Group, “Labor Force, Female (% of Total Labor Force) – India,” The World Bank Databank (2020).
  23. Aditi Ratho, “Promoting Female Participation in India’s Urban Labour Force,” Observer Research Foundation, Issue Brief No. 348 (March 2020): p. 2; Wheebox, India Skills Report 2020: Reimagining India’s Talent Landscape for a $5T Economy (2020): p. 23, 60.
  24. Bansari Kamdar, “Women Left Behind: India’s Falling Female Labor Participation,” The Diplomat, July 31, 2020.
  25. Bansari Kamdar, “Women Left Behind: India’s Falling Female Labor Participation,” The Diplomat, July 31, 2020.
  26. Jonathan Woetzel, Anu Madgavkar, Kevin Sneader, Oliver Tonby, Diaan-Yi Lin, John Lydon, Sha Sha, Mekala Krishnan, Kweilin Ellingrud, and Michael Gubieski, The Power of Parity: Advancing Women’s Equality in Asia Pacific (McKinsey Global Institute, April 23, 2018): p. 99.
  27. Anu Madgavkar, James Manyika, Mekala Krishnan, Kweilin Ellingrud, Lareina Yee, Jonathan Woetzel, Michael Chui, Vivian Hunt, and Sruti Balakrishnan, The Future of Women at Work: Transitions in the Age of Automation (McKinsey Global Institute, June 4, 2019): p. 41.
  28. Anu Madgavkar, James Manyika, Mekala Krishnan, Kweilin Ellingrud, Lareina Yee, Jonathan Woetzel, Michael Chui, Vivian Hunt, and Sruti Balakrishnan, The Future of Women at Work: Transitions in the Age of Automation (McKinsey Global Institute, June 4, 2019): p. 21-22.
  29. Anu Madgavkar, James Manyika, Mekala Krishnan, Kweilin Ellingrud, Lareina Yee, Jonathan Woetzel, Michael Chui, Vivian Hunt, and Sruti Balakrishnan, The Future of Women at Work: Transitions in the Age of Automation (McKinsey Global Institute, June 4, 2019): p. 11.
  30. The core sector represents the eight areas of India’s infrastructure: coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizer, steel, cement, and electricity. “July Core Sector Shrinks 9.6% Versus 12.9% Contraction in June,” The Economic Times, September 1, 2020.
  31. Wheebox, India Skills Report 2020: Reimagining India’s Talent Landscape for a $5T Economy (2020): p. 54.
  32. Prachi Verma and Sreeradha D. Basu, “At Only 3%, Corporate India Is Still Struggling to Bring Women to the Top,” The Economic Times, March 17, 2019.
  33. Prachi Verma and Sreeradha D. Basu, “At Only 3%, Corporate India Is Still Struggling to Bring Women to the Top,” The Economic Times, March 17, 2019.
  34. World Economic Forum, “Data Explorer: India,” The Global Gender Gap Report 2020 (2020).
  35. Arnika Thakur, “Fortune India 500: Why Are There So Few Women Leaders?” Fortune, January 5, 2020.
  36. Atul Bhandari and Sachi Chopra, “India CHRO Route to the Top: The Rise of the Multi-Dimensional HR Leader,” Spencer Stuart, August 2020.
  37. World Economic Forum, “Data Explorer: India,” The Global Gender Gap Report 2020 (2020).
  38. Roli Srivastava, “A Record Number of Women Are Set to Enter India’s Parliament,” World Economic Forum, May 24, 2019.
  39. Roli Srivastava, “A Record Number of Women Are Set to Enter India’s Parliament,” World Economic Forum, May 24, 2019.
  40. World Economic Forum, “Data Explorer: India,” The Global Gender Gap Report 2020 (2019).