More women at work, yet why they're out of India's growth story
Even though more women are entering the workforce, many remain trapped in low-paying, informal jobs with limited opportunities for upward mobility
The increase is being driven almost entirely by rural women taking up low-productivity, low-paying work, while participation of women in urban areas, where most new jobs, wage growth and economic opportunities have emerged, has remained largely unchanged.
Women’s LFPR rose from 33.9 per cent in 2022 to 40 per cent in 2025, partly due to an increase in employment under government programmes, such as MGNREGA during and after the Covid pandemic.
However, the gains have been uneven. Rural women’s LFPR increased sharply from 37.5 per cent to 45.9 per cent between 2022 and 2025. In contrast, urban women’s participation remained largely stagnant at 25-28 per cent.
“This is stark because most of the economic growth, wage growth and employment opportunities have happened in urban India. Yet women are neither contributing to that growth nor benefiting from it,” says Pooja Sharma Goyal, founding CEO, Udaiti Foundation, a women’s economic empowerment organisation.
The quality of work is equally concerning. A majority of working women are self-employed in low-productivity occupations, particularly agriculture. Of the 113.7 million self-employed women in India, only 1 per cent are employers while 44 per cent work as unpaid family workers with no income or social security of their own.
As a result, even though more women are entering the workforce, many remain trapped in low-paying, informal jobs with limited opportunities for upward mobility. This means these women don’t have any safety net of insurance, pension or provident fund to ringfence their future.
This is stark in rural areas where 70 per cent of the women are self-employed, working in agriculture or roles that are low in productivity. Of these, 33 per cent are not paid, suggesting they are working in the agricultural field of their family as the male members of the household move out looking for better economic opportunities. Another 20 per cent are casual labour and only 9.3 per cent have a salaried job.
The poor quality of jobs is also reflected in women’s earnings. In salaried employment, women earn an average Rs 18,353 a month; 24 per cent less than men. The gap is even wider in self-employment, where women earn just Rs 6,374 compared to Rs 17,914 for men—a difference of 64 per cent.
Another striking trend is that women tend to enter the workforce only after the age of 30, largely once marriage and childcare responsibilities ease. As a result, many lose out on some of their most productive earning years immediately after graduation.
According Goyal, improving the enabling environment for women is critical. Young women need greater support to migrate from rural to peri-urban and urban areas for work. At the same time, states need to create more quality jobs closer to where women live by identifying local economic opportunities and actively mobilising women into the workforce.
In agriculture, improving productivity through farmer producer organisations (FPOs) and cooperative structures can help women move up the value chain and earn better incomes.
During a pilot in Uttar Pradesh, Udaiti Foundation found that nearly 10,000 jobs were available for women in logistics, retail and flexi-staffing. Yet many women were unaware of these opportunities. District-level employment exchanges largely failed to mobilise women, with outreach efforts reaching mostly men. The lack of visible role models further discouraged women from aspiring to these jobs because they simply did not know such opportunities existed.
Bringing more women into the workforce is not enough. The bigger challenge is creating quality jobs, improving access to urban employment, strengthening childcare and mobility infrastructure, and ensuring women are able to move up the productivity ladder. Only then can higher labour force participation translate into higher incomes and inclusive economic growth.
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The increase is being driven almost entirely by rural women taking up low-productivity, low-paying work, while participation of women in urban areas, where most new jobs, wage growth and economic opportunities have emerged, has remained largely unchanged.
Women’s LFPR rose from 33.9 per cent in 2022 to 40 per cent in 2025, partly due to an increase in employment under government programmes, such as MGNREGA during and after the Covid pandemic.
However, the gains have been uneven. Rural women’s LFPR increased sharply from 37.5 per cent to 45.9 per cent between 2022 and 2025. In contrast, urban women’s participation remained largely stagnant at 25-28 per cent.
“This is stark because most of the economic growth, wage growth and employment opportunities have happened in urban India. Yet women are neither contributing to that growth nor benefiting from it,” says Pooja Sharma Goyal, founding CEO, Udaiti Foundation, a women’s economic empowerment organisation.
The quality of work is equally concerning. A majority of working women are self-employed in low-productivity occupations, particularly agriculture. Of the 113.7 million self-employed women in India, only 1 per cent are employers while 44 per cent work as unpaid family workers with no income or social security of their own.
As a result, even though more women are entering the workforce, many remain trapped in low-paying, informal jobs with limited opportunities for upward mobility. This means these women don’t have any safety net of insurance, pension or provident fund to ringfence their future.
This is stark in rural areas where 70 per cent of the women are self-employed, working in agriculture or roles that are low in productivity. Of these, 33 per cent are not paid, suggesting they are working in the agricultural field of their family as the male members of the household move out looking for better economic opportunities. Another 20 per cent are casual labour and only 9.3 per cent have a salaried job.
The poor quality of jobs is also reflected in women’s earnings. In salaried employment, women earn an average Rs 18,353 a month; 24 per cent less than men. The gap is even wider in self-employment, where women earn just Rs 6,374 compared to Rs 17,914 for men—a difference of 64 per cent.
Another striking trend is that women tend to enter the workforce only after the age of 30, largely once marriage and childcare responsibilities ease. As a result, many lose out on some of their most productive earning years immediately after graduation.
According Goyal, improving the enabling environment for women is critical. Young women need greater support to migrate from rural to peri-urban and urban areas for work. At the same time, states need to create more quality jobs closer to where women live by identifying local economic opportunities and actively mobilising women into the workforce.
In agriculture, improving productivity through farmer producer organisations (FPOs) and cooperative structures can help women move up the value chain and earn better incomes.
During a pilot in Uttar Pradesh, Udaiti Foundation found that nearly 10,000 jobs were available for women in logistics, retail and flexi-staffing. Yet many women were unaware of these opportunities. District-level employment exchanges largely failed to mobilise women, with outreach efforts reaching mostly men. The lack of visible role models further discouraged women from aspiring to these jobs because they simply did not know such opportunities existed.
Bringing more women into the workforce is not enough. The bigger challenge is creating quality jobs, improving access to urban employment, strengthening childcare and mobility infrastructure, and ensuring women are able to move up the productivity ladder. Only then can higher labour force participation translate into higher incomes and inclusive economic growth.
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