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Barriers and Enablers to Women’s Participation in the Workforce: A Case Study from India

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  • Soma Wadhwa
  • Devutty Retnakaran

Abstract

Less than one-fourth of women in the working-age group are in India’s workforce. This article draws from multiple studies of a 5-year-long programme that intervened to connect a million underprivileged women to employment opportunities across five Indian states. The article’s objective is twofold. One, identification of the barriers that keep women from joining and continuing in the workforce. Two, documentation of the enablers that the programme devised for women to overcome these barriers. The studies employ qualitative research methodologies to service these objectives, deriving their sampling typologies from the programme’s quantitative monitoring data. We find that severe impediments keep women from the workforce, especially so in the case of underprivileged women. These include curtailed mobility; mismatch in aspirations, education, training and work; first-generation-employee disadvantage; and traditionally gendered work division reinforced by male preference in the new urban economy’s emerging jobs. We schematise the programme’s services as a continual provision of information, counselling and mentorship to enable women to surmount these barriers—from girlhood to their adult lives. The programme design could provide insights for policymaking towards improving women’s participation in India’s workforce.

Suggested Citation

  • Soma Wadhwa & Devutty Retnakaran, 2020. "Barriers and Enablers to Women’s Participation in the Workforce: A Case Study from India," Review of Market Integration, India Development Foundation, vol. 12(3), pages 114-138, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:revmar:v:12:y:2020:i:3:p:114-138
    DOI: 10.1177/09749292211013680
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    2. Mehrotra, Santosh K., 2019. "Informal employment trends in the Indian economy persistent informality, but growing positive development," ILO Working Papers 995066393502676, International Labour Organization.
    3. Reza Movahedi & Ahmad Yaghoubi-Farani, 2012. "Analysis of the barriers and limitations for the development of rural women's entrepreneurship," International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 15(4), pages 469-487.
    4. Atsede Woldie & Adebimpe Adersua, 2004. "Female entrepreneurs in a transitional economy: Businesswomen in Nigeria," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 31(1/2), pages 78-93, January.
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