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A shlock in Yajurved summarizes that the woman is the life, Vishwakarma (creator) and mother of whole world. She is the one who controls all desires like Indra, gives life like Som and nurtures this world like Vishnu. The essence is that woman is the solution of all problems in life. Thus, The Vedic and subsequent ages in India were characterized by immense respect and social status for women; hence, India was also known as the Golden Sparrow.

At present, India is lagging behind growth and is distanced from becoming an economic superpower. A close analysis of global data reveals a positive correlation between a reduced gender gap and higher per capita GDP. The Global Gender Gap Index 2025 ranks India 131st out of 148 countries, three places lower than its 2024 ranking of 129th with a differential of 41.3 percentage points. The economist Nobel laureate, Amartya Sen also coined the term “missing women” to describe global gender disparities. Thus, the data clearly demonstrate why India’s economic growth is slow and how imperative women’s participation is. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also stressed the need for women-led development to become a $5 trillion economy and advance economic growth and gender equality at the G20 Ministerial Conference on Women’s Empowerment in 2023.

Women’s empowerment can be defined as the “3Ls,” namely labour, learning, and leadership. These 3Ls can be explained by connecting the theory of women’s empowerment with Maslow’s theory which holds that a person cannot aim for greater requirements without first meeting their basic needs. This would provide a clear definition of the purpose and direction of women’s empowerment. To achieve women’s empowerment, educational empowerment, economic empowerment, social empowerment, political empowerment, and psychological empowerment are the five rungs of the ladder. It reminds us of the significance of Mahatma Gandhi’s adage “If you educate a man, you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman, you educate an entire family.” In fact, without economic independence, a woman has no freedom of choices and decision making.

The Indian government recognized women’s contribution to economic development by declaring 2001 “Women’s Empowerment Year.” Since then, the Government of India has launched numerous programs to enhance women’s welfare and development. The number of LFPR women has increased in rural areas over the past few years, primarily as self-employed in household enterprises and unpaid household workers. But, it is a low-quality job, especially for women. Although Indian women contribute around 20% to GDP, they make up 41.7% fewer workers than the global average of 49%, expressing worries about what might go wrong (PLFS 2023-24).

Despite immense government effort, India’s prospects for becoming the world’s third largest economy by 2029 remain bleak. Research suggests that for India to surpass Japan, its growth rate must exceed 8%, a target that appears unattainable without the inclusion of women in the mainstream economy. Though the gender gap in educational achievement has declined significantly in India, economist Nobel laureate, Claudia Goldin, has highlighted concerns about the application of her findings to India. Her analysis reveals that despite India’s continued economic growth, low female participation in the labour force, gender-based occupational segregation, and a large wage gap persist. To transition to an upper-middle-income country and achieve the vision of ‘Viksit Bharat,’ reducing the gender wage gap and increasing women’s participation in the formal sector are crucial.

Sectors such as manufacturing, services, and tertiary industries offer significant employment opportunities for women. Indian’s occupational structure provides abundant opportunities for employment growth in the manufacturing sector, which is the most promising sector for increasing women’s participation in the formal economy. In Tamil Nadu’s Krishnagiri district, known for poor social and economic conditions for women until 2021, many manufacturing companies have set an example by providing jobs to women through skill development and mentoring, leading to financial independence and changing society’s attitude toward women. They have created financial independence for women through the belief that women are more dexterous, flexible, and agile when it comes to learning.

However, the above initiative is not sufficient. In the field of women’s empowerment, one of the greatest challenges is the gap between the goodies provided to them and the enablers who encourage them to take advantage of them. Additionally, women work five times more in household tasks than men, and then they commute longer to their workplace, where they might want to save time. Changing locations after marriage, child rearing responsibilities, distance to workplace, lack of daycare facilities negatively discourage women from participating in economic activities despite job availability. 

Conversely, the problem lies in the fact that approximately women’s WPR is 40.3% of women compared to approximately men’s WPR 76.3% in India. The World Bank Group’s former chief economist Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg found that while most countries have improved their talent allocation, India remains an exception, where women are largely excluded from high-productivity jobs, resulting in slower economic growth. Therefore, reducing gender participation rates through initiatives like Nari Shakti in the Workforce and recent budget initiatives is not sufficient; rather, encourage a positive eco-system by addressing the enablers.

For women to achieve a healthy work-life balance, they need to understand what benefits they should receive. A more effective plan requires accurate labour market time series data to comprehend the underlying dynamics. The need to redefine unpaid domestic work for women and quantify the outcomes based on their economic participation is vital. For skill mapping and the development of women’s workforce, private players and NGOs play a very important role not only to make them employable and identify job opportunities for them but also to start their own businesses. Academia has a crucial role to play in uncovering the hidden challenges to women’s empowerment and unlocking India’s true economic potential to become a global economic power.

Written by:

Dr. Sheetal Mundra,

Professor (Economics and Entrepreneurship)

Institute of Management, JKLU.