Category Gender Impact Studies Center

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Female Education and Workforce Participation (PLFS 2017–18 to 2023–24): Evidence from the U-Shaped Worker Population Ratio in India

Since the introduction of Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), India's female labour force participation rate (LFPR) has risen sharply from 23.3 per cent in 2017-18 to 41.7 per cent by 2023-24. LFPR counts women who are either working or actively looking for work. This article looks at a related but different number: the Worker Population Ratio (WPR), which counts only women who are actually employed. WPR is the number PLFS publishes broken down by education level, and it answers the question that matters most for policy, not whether a woman is looking for work, but whether she has found it.

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PALNA SCHEME: CHILDCARE FOR WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT (2022)

The Palna scheme was started by the Ministry of Women and Child Development on 1 April 2022. This is part of the Samarthya component of Mission Shakti. It replaced the National Creche Scheme. The Ministry of Women and Child Development gave guidelines for the Palna scheme on 14 July 2022. The Palna scheme is based on two schemes. The Rajiv Gandhi National Creche Scheme and the National Creche Scheme. The Palna scheme provides childcare for children aged 6 months to 6 years. The main reason for the Palna scheme is to help women work by taking care of their children.

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Lakhpati Didi: Reimagining Rural Development Through Women-Led Entrepreneurship

India’s rural development policy has gone through three main phases. The first, called “women's welfare,” saw women mostly as recipients of nutrition, health, and poverty relief. The second, “women empowerment,” developed alongside the Self-Help Group (SHG) movement in the 1990s and 2000s, focusing on savings, access to credit, and community involvement. The third and current phase, known as “women-led development,” now sees rural women as economic actors who can drive local development (Ministry of Rural Development [MoRD], 2023).

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SHE-Marts & the Next Frontier Of Women-Led Development In India Building Market Ecosystems for Rural Women Entrepreneurs

In the last thirty years, rural women’s development in India has gone through several stages. It began with welfare programs focused on nutrition, maternal health, and poverty relief. The 1990s saw the rise of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) that promoted empowerment. Later, the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana–National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) institutionalised women-led development. Most recently, the Lakhpati Didi initiative aims to help SHG members earn a steady annual household income of over one lakh rupees.

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Rural Women’s Property Revolution : NHFS-6 on Women Property Ownership

Mansi Tirthani Background In India property ownership is one of the most significant pillars of socio-economic empowerment but for an individual Indian woman it is a source of her dignity, financial security and to gain gender equality in the society.…

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The Gendered Cost of Depreciating Rupee

Mansi Tirthani Background Indian rupee is under global pressure hitting historic lows to ₹95 per dollar. This macro volatility ceases to be a mere statistic but in reality it transforms into a structural crisis that impacts women differently. Macroeconomic shocks…

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