Economy and Women: Past and Present Scenario of India
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31305/rrijm.2026.v11.n06.027Keywords:
Women and Economy, Economic Empowerment, Employment Status, Government Policies, Gender Inequality, Work–Life Balance, IndiaAbstract
Women have always been playing an important role in the Indian economy but their efforts have always been underestimated because of social, cultural and structural factors. This paper will discuss the historical and current economic position of women in India with specific reference to employment trends, knowledge of the policy and issues surrounding economic empowerment. The study is founded on the basis of a descriptive and analytical research design; thus, relying on both secondary sources and primary data gathered by a structured questionnaire among 200 women respondents. The results indicate that the involvement of women in full-time employment is not high, with a high percentage comprising of self-employed, part-time employees or those who do not work and are involved in unpaid domestic chores. Government policies regarding the economic empowerment of women are moderately known, which implies a lack of outreach and implementation. The work-life imbalance, unemployment, wage disparities, and socio-cultural obstacles remain among the major challenges that are restraining the economic development of women. The paper finds that although policy measures and education weighing have enabled women to gain a better economic position over the years, there is a must to put long term policy measures, awareness campaigns and social change to enable inclusive and sustainable economic growth in India.
References
[1] Afridi, F., Dinkelman, T., & Mahajan, K. (2018). Why are fewer married women joining the work force in rural India? A decomposition analysis over two decades. Journal of Population Economics, 31(3), 783-818. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-017-0671-y
[2] Agarwal, A., Lubet, A., Mitgang, E., Mohanty, S., & Bloom, D. E. (2020). Population aging in India: Facts, issues, and options. In Population change and impacts in Asia and the Pacific (pp. 289-311). Singapore: Springer Singapore. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0230-4_13
[3] Bhat, R. M. (2022). Women Exploitation in the Contemporary India: Importance of Media to Impede it. Journal of Women Empowerment and Studies (JWES) ISSN, 2799, 1253. DOI: https://doi.org/10.55529/jwes.22.27.30
[4] Bora, D., & Basistha, D. (2021). The outbreak of COVID‐19 pandemic and its impact on stock market volatility: Evidence from a worst‐affected economy. Journal of public affairs, 21(4), e2623. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2623
[5] Calvi, R. (2020). Why are older women missing in India? The age profile of bargaining power and poverty. Journal of Political Economy, 128(7), 2453-2501. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/706983
[6] Jeffery, P. (2018). Don't marry me to a plowman!: women's everyday lives in rural North India. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429500916
[7] Klasen, S. (2019). What explains uneven female labor force participation levels and trends in developing countries? The World Bank Research Observer, 34(2), 161-197. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/wbro/lkz005
[8] Mehrotra, R., & Yadav, K. (2022). Breast cancer in India: Present scenario and the challenges ahead. World Journal of Clinical Oncology, 13(3), 209. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5306/wjco.v13.i3.209
[9] Nedungadi, P. P., Menon, R., Gutjahr, G., Erickson, L., & Raman, R. (2018). Towards an inclusive digital literacy framework for digital India. Education+ Training, 60(6), 516-528. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-03-2018-0061
[10] Pande, R. P., Namy, S., & Malhotra, A. (2020). The demographic transition and women's economic participation in Tamil Nadu, India: A historical case study. Feminist Economics, 26(1), 179-207. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13545701.2019.1609693
[11] Pattnaik, I., Lahiri-Dutt, K., Lockie, S., & Pritchard, B. (2018). The feminization of agriculture or the feminization of agrarian distress? Tracking the trajectory of women in agriculture in India. Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, 23(1), 138-155. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13547860.2017.1394569
[12] Prusty, R. K., Begum, S., Patil, A., Naik, D. D., Pimple, S., & Mishra, G. (2020). Knowledge of symptoms and risk factors of breast cancer among women: a community based study in a low socio-economic area of Mumbai, India. BMC women's health, 20(1), 106. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-020-00967-x
[13] Singh, S., Srivastava, S., & Upadhyay, A. K. (2019). Socio-economic inequality in malnutrition among children in India: an analysis of 640 districts from National Family Health Survey (2015–16). International journal for equity in health, 18(1), 203. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-019-1093-0
[14] Standing, H. (2022). Dependence and autonomy: Women's employment and the family in Calcutta. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003297635
