Women's work participation in labour market in contemporary India

In recent years, women are playing an important role in economic development. They contribute significant proportion in Gross Domestic Product through actively participating in industries, services and in agricultural activities. What is worse with women workers is that they still lag behind in achieving job opportunities in comparison to men. The present paper tries to look at the extent of disparity in women work and labour force participation in urban-rural sectors and across the states of India. The study uses data from different rounds of National Sample Survey. The analysis depicts that women workforce and labour force participation has declined in recent years and the gap between female and male work participation ratio has increased in India. It has been observed in developed southern states of India, because of highly educated society and sincere freedom of women in decision making, the women work participation in regular jobs is high in comparison to the northern states of India. The study also reveals the controversy in the context of urban-rural India, where women work participation is high in rural area and low in urban area. The study also reveals the fact that the gap between men and women is high in urban India, while it has increased in rural and urban India both.