India has a larger number of employable women than men: Smriti Zubin Irani

“Government has dedicated itself to programmes of nutrition and maternal health, making sure that the educational policy now has a specific gender-inclusion fund where money to build up capital infrastructure is available. In terms of social infrastructure and social justice for women, women have become the fulcrum of all administrative initiatives,” said Ms Smriti Zubin Irani, Hon’ble Minister of Women and Child Development and Minority Affairs, Government of India. She was speaking at a session on ‘Strategizing India’s Prosperity: Role of Women Led Development’ during the Global Economic Policy Forum 2023 on 8 December in New Delhi. The two-day event was organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in partnership with the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India.

Ms Irani emphasized that the narrative on women participation in the economy needs to change from how many women participate in the mainstream workforce to how many women are encouraged to become entrepreneurs in the new-age economy, as there are many cases where women who have come up with the startup idea, have had to digress from ownership because funding is more likely if they have a male face.

Ms Irani also underscored that while the fact that in the rural parts of the country, 9 crore women who are associated with nearly 90 lakhs self-help groups (SHGs) managing an economy size of USD 37-38 billion worth of work is a great tenet to leverage on. It is important to create new opportunities for women to participate in, especially in the non-traditional sectors such as aerospace, astrophysics, electric vehicles, renewable energy such as hydropower, and so on. The Prime Minister’s Drone Didi Scheme that has enabled 15000 SHGs i.e. 1.5 lakh women operationalizing drone services for farm and fertilizer needs is a case in point. Ms Irani underlined the importance of identifying pathways and careers of future for women and reskilling them in accordance, for them to negotiate better for themselves in terms of career progression. She also reiterated that multiple reports suggest that the loyalty of females in the corporate structure outstrips men by far.

Mr Aditya Ghosh, Co-founder, Akasa Airlines, stated that if we do not look at women as being an integral part of the product and services workforce that we need, we as a country are going to leave behind a significant opportunity close to 700 billion dollars. He stated that at 52.8% of the workforce, India has more employable women than men and stated the importance of a structured approach for reintegration of women in workforce after a break and their development in leadership roles at mid-career level.

Ms S Anukriti, Senior Economist, Development Research Group, The World Bank (USA) emphasized how unpaid domestic work done by women isn’t measured and how in order to improve productivity of economy, the traditional definition of gender division of work and its impact on autonomy of women needs to be reoriented. In the absence of flexibility in work and limited access to social networks leading to limited access to information, women participation will be restricted.

The session was moderated by Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII.

8 December 2023

New Delhi