Women and Workforce: What are Reasons Behind Appaling Situation?
A recent survey carried out by the National Sample Survey Organization found that almost 2, out of every 3 women in India, is primarily engaged in unpaid domestic work in their prime years. The Survey was conducted among 1 lac households and the results were truly shocking. The number of women engaged in domestic activities is higher in urban areas than the rural places of the country. While in Meghalaya, the percentage of women working was lower than quarter of total female population, it is highest in the state of Haryana where more than 72% of women were working. While in Rural India, the number of female workforce was shot up by 7 %, the growth in Urban India remains constant, at around 48%. In Delhi, the capital city of India, The workforce of women constitutes hardly around 65%.
The results are appalling as women constitute around half of the working population of India, and thus such high number of women not contributing to the Economy of the Country is a major setback to the economy.
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The reasons for such a stumpy number of women engaged in production activities can be attributed to the low rate of education among the girl child, the outlook of society towards women where they are primarily responsible for looking after the household chores, the major dropout rate among working women due to reasons such as marriage and pregnancy.
Another prominent reason for the same is the unsafe working conditions particularly for women, a lot of times parents of the young women don’t want to send their girls outside of their home because of the safety issues, they feel that women are comparatively safer at home than at work places.
It is only recently that the Indian government has issued the Safety at Work place laws in India, but the number of women being sexually harassed and molested every day is nothing short of horrifying. It’s a matter of shame to a country of 1.21 billion people, when it cannot assure safety to its half population. To say the least the country cannot grow without the contribution of it’s one half of population. It’s pertinent that the government takes immediate steps to address the issue.
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