Creches, hostels to support women’s participation in workforce

Mumbai: The Union budget set aside ₹3 trillion towards schemes aimed to benefit women and girls, in an attempt to increase the participation of women in the workforce, and raise their contribution to economic development.

"We will facilitate higher participation of women in the workforce through setting up of working women's hostels in collaboration with industry, and establishing creches," finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her budget speech. 

Lack of childcare facilities prevents many new mothers from returning to the workforce, while the absence of safe residential facilities deter many others from signing up for jobs in distant places.

Also read | Return of office work spells misery for women workers

"In addition, the partnership will seek to organize women-specific skilling programmes and promotion of market access for women self-help group (SHG) enterprises," the finance minister added. 

The Economic Survey 2023-24 released a day earlier had said SHGs could become the foot soldiers in devising and implementing block- or panchayat-level plans, given their credibility, good repayment record, and rising relevance to women in farming.

Also read | Government aims 25% women workforce in Indian aviation by 2025

"The government's focus on increasing women's workforce participation is encouraging," said Vinayak Pai, managing director and chief executive officer of Tata Projects Ltd. He said the company is committed to supporting this through its diversity, equity and inclusion programmes such as ‘On Her Shoulders’ and ‘Building Safe Spaces.'

Increased Access and Skill Development

The survey also highlighted that increased access to education and skill development, as well as other initiatives for women's empowerment, has elevated the participation of women in the nation's growth and progress. "The female Labour Force Participation Rate rose to 37% in 2022-23 from 23.3% in 2017-18," the survey said.

Also read | PepsiCo India aims to make 1 million women economically independent in 3 years

The measures aim to reintegrate women into the workforce after the decline in women's employment during the covid-19 pandemic.

"Since the covid-19 outbreak, female employment in India fell steeply and has now plummeted to 9% in 2022, which is in the same league as war-torn Yemen,” Mint reported in 2022.