EPFO Data Shows That It’s Harder For Women To Re-Enter The Job Market As Compared To Men. Sigh, This Isn’t Surprising.
We live in a patriarchal world and to make things worse, gender disparity seems to have turned into the way of life, for the Indian job market. The payroll data released by the National Statistical Office is rubbing salt on this wound, once again. It has been noted that only 18.67 per cent of the people who reentered the workforce after leaving them and re-subscribed to employees’ provident fund or EPF are females.
To make matters worse, while the gender disparity in the job market is slowly decreasing, the pace of growth is so slow that, it has become rather insignificant. It’s a shame that the female labour force participation has literally stayed stagnant at around 20 per cent for several decades now. This rate is significantly lower compared to the female labour force participation in developing countries like Bangladesh (35 per cent) and Sri Lanka (31 per cent) as well.
Furthermore, the share of women in net payroll which is calculated by taking into account, new additions, recent exits, and the return of old subscribers to the EPF was at 22.08 per cent in June as against 19.94 per cent in May.
The economic survey said, “In contrast with earlier months, when new women subscribers to the EPFO were typically from the 22-25 years age bracket, in September more than one lakh or 38% of the new women subscribers were over 35 years of age.” These numbers showed up right after the recent remarks made by our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
Also Read: Study Reveals Women’s Earnings Continue To Drop After Childbirth. Is Gender Pay Gap Progress A Myth?
What Did The Narendra Modi Say?
The prime minister reiterated the importance of flexible work options like work from home, hybrid work options and of course, flexible hours too. Prime Minister Narendra Modi explained, “The need of the hour is flexible workplaces, work-from-home ecosystem and flexible work hours. We can utilise systems like a flexible workplace as an opportunity to increase women’s labour force participation. By making the right use of women’s power, India can achieve its goals faster.”
Also Read: According To World Economic Forum, Cost-of-Living Crisis Results In A Continuously Widening Gender-Gap
This announcement has come at a good time as it is very significant. You see, it’s very essential for the female labour numbers to rise in order for the country to achieve equality in the job market. This is a very essential feat that our country has been trying to achieve for a very long time.
Alas, it still seems to be out of reach. We can only hope that we make it there soon, huh?
First Published: August 30, 2022 1:00 PM
