Women participation in economy rising, but presence at top dismal, Pg15

Key Highlights:

• India's female Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) has increased from 33.9% in 2022 to 40% in 2025, but remains below the global average of 49%.
• The proportion of female faculty in Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) is around 14%, with IIT-Jodhpur having the highest proportion at 22% in academic year 2024-25.
• The share of female-owned proprietary establishments stood at 27% in 2025, according to the statistics ministry’s Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises.
• Only 13 females were in high positions for every 100 males working as legislators, senior officials, and managers in 2025, as per the Periodic Labour Force Survey.

Detailed Insights:

• A World Bank study in 2023 stated that India needs to grow at nearly 8% every year to become a developed economy by 2047, which is not possible with low female participation in the workforce.
• A 2018 paper found that Indian constituencies with women legislators saw higher economic performance of about 1.8 percentage points per year compared to those with male lawmakers.
• Promoting labor-intensive industries is key to raising the female LFPR in India, as per a paper by Centre for Social and Economic Progress.
• The percentage of females in professor and equivalent positions rose to 29.5% in 2021-22 from 25.9% in 2011-12 at an all-India level.
• While most leading Indian firms have a woman director on their boards, 77% have only 1-2 women directors.
• Only 7% of BSE 200 and 5% of NSE 500 board chairpersons were women, indicating a need for achieving a critical mass of 30% for substantive impact in corporate governance.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR): Percentage of the population that is either employed or actively seeking employment.
• Delimitation: The process of redrawing boundaries of parliamentary or assembly constituencies to represent changes in population.
• Proprietary Establishment: A business owned and run by a single person, where there is no distinction between the owner and the business.