Women’s Day 2018: What prevents women from working in India?

The latest round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) conducted in 2015-16 shows that the proportion of working women has witnessed a sharp decline compared to a decade ago. In 2005-06, when the last NFHS survey was conducted, 43% of married women in the age group of 15-49 years had reported working in the past 12 months. This proportion has declined to 31% in the latest survey. Social mores, rising incomes of men, and gender-based segregation in the job market may be limiting women's economic empowerment in India.