As the Finance Minister began her seventh budget speech, her focus was on the government’s biggest priority — job creation. She emphasised that Budget 2024-25 was dedicated to creating jobs, particularly in the private sector. A day prior, during the release of the Economic Survey, the Chief Economic Advisor echoed a similar sentiment. The Survey raised several structural challenges to job creation, emphasising that the Indian economy needed to create ~78.5 lakh jobs annually.
After many decades of falling, India’s women’s labour force participation rate (WLFPR) is today trending upwards — rising to 37 per cent in 2022-23 from its nadir of 23 per cent in 2017-18. This increase is primarily driven by rural women, as rural WLFPRs increased to 41 per cent, with urban WLFPR remaining at 25 per cent.
Historically, women have faced structural barriers to participating in the workforce and achieving financial independence, despite India’s phenomenal growth. Occupational segregation kept women limited to low-growth, low-productivity sectors. Social norms around unpaid work and mobility restrictions limited the hours and even the locations of jobs they were permitted to take. Gender gaps in education and skilling meant they were not qualified for many new jobs being created in the economy, particularly in the STEM sectors.
The tide is finally turning (albeit slowly) with an increasing number of women joining the labour force. Consultations undertaken by Nikore Associates with over 100 rural and urban women-led organisations between 2020-2023 show that older women aspire that their daughters and even their daughters-in-law participate in the workforce, of course with the caveat that “appropriate” jobs — in safe locations, with regular hours, and in proximity to residences — should be available, signalling a slow shift in attitudes towards women’s work.
In this context, even as the Finance Ministry keeps its focus squarely on job creation, it becomes essential to ensure that women emerge as equal beneficiaries of the new jobs being created.
The Gender Budget of 2024-25 presents the highest financial allocation for schemes designed to promote women-led development since the inception of gender budgeting in 2005, at Rs 3.2 lakh crore. This is about 6.8 per cent of the total expenditure budget and around 1 per cent of GDP. It is an increase of almost 37 per cent over the Gender Budget in 2023-24. Nearly three-fourths of the gender budget is allocated to rural employment under the MGNREGA, affordable housing, education of the girl child, nutrition, and access to water supply, ensuring gender mainstreaming across the government’s flagship public service delivery schemes. Encouragingly, in this FY, the Gender Budget has also introduced a few new programmes, indicating an increasing recognition of the need to ease long-term structural barriers that constrain women’s employment and entrepreneurship.
First, investments in the care economy. The FM recognised the need to expand childcare infrastructure and services as a key lever for enhancing women’s participation in the workforce. A provision of Rs 2,300 crore has been made under the MWCD’s Samarthya umbrella programme, which will include investments under the Palna scheme for building around 17,000 creches at Anganwadi centres across the country by 2025-26.
Second, skill training for women in non-traditional areas. The flagship Skill India Mission received Rs 760 crore under the Gender Budget to enhance women’s skill training programmes. In addition, the Ministry of Electronics and IT more than doubled its allocation for women’s capacity-building programmes to Rs 270 crore, as did the Ministry of Science of Technology, doubling its allocation under the DISHA programme to Rs 135 crore.
Third, women’s entrepreneurship development, particularly in rural areas. The flagship National Rural Livelihood Mission, under which 91 lakh self-help groups (SHGs) are operational across the country, received an allocation of Rs 15,000 crore, comprising 4.5 per cent of the total Gender Budget. Moreover, schemes to support access to credit and markets for women entrepreneurs under the Ministry of MSMEs received Rs 2,700 crore. The NAMO Drone Didi programme, which targets to equip women from 15,000 SHGs to operate drones for agricultural purposes, received Rs 500 crore.
A start has been made, and this Gender Budget clearly signals an intent to take a whole of government approach to enhancing WLFPR. Yet, going forward, there are still areas pressing for greater attention.
Public-private partnerships may be considered to expand childcare infrastructure and services, through innovative solutions such as government subsidies and vouchers. Affordable elder care services, particularly through home care as well as the establishment of multigenerational community care facilities also require a combination of public sector investments and incentives for the private sector. Skill training for creating a cadre of care workers can help realise the potential to create an additional 11 million jobs in the care economy, nearly 70 per cent of which may go to women.
The FM alluded to cities as engines of growth in the budget speech. A renewed focus on the Nirbhaya programme and new schemes to enhance women’s safety in public transport and cities may be considered. Priority may be accorded to institutional mechanisms such as the establishment of “gender labs” in municipal corporations or public transport authorities for dedicatedly placing a gender lens on urban infrastructure development — as has been done by the Chennai Gender and Policy Lab since April 2022. Digital literacy for rural women and girls may be prioritised under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan. Moreover, to counter the gender digital divide, launching tailored courses for women entrepreneurs on digital marketing and digital payments; and integrating digital literacy into school curricula can be instituted.
Moreover, gender-based targets may be considered for employment-linked incentive schemes announced in the budget. Presently, the government targets employment generation for 210 lakh first-timers joining the job market; job creation in manufacturing for 30 lakh youth, and support to employers for 50 lakh persons with salary below Rs 1 lakh, as well as 1 crore internships for youth. Gender disaggregated data should be collected to continuously track, and ensure greater women’s participation in these schemes.
The writer is founder, Nikore Associates
