Zubaan #3

This is the third edition of Zubaan. ‘Zubaan’ has its roots in Hindi and Urdu, and has often symbolised voice and agency. In this bi-weekly newsletter, I hope to explore gender gaps and progress in South Asia. Over time, I hope Zubaan acts a forum that gives voice to researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and journalists to discuss gender dynamics in the region.

In this edition, for the Indian economy, I primarily examine the takeaways for women’s LFP in the Union Budget and the Economic Survey 2024 – 2025. The Economic Survey 2024-25 notes the surge in FLFPR from 23.3% in 2017-18 to 41.7% in 2023-24, driven primarily by rural women entering the workforce. I unpack the criticisms surrounding the reported surge in India’s female labor force participation rate (FLFPR) to 41.7%. Experts suggest this increase is primarily driven by counting unpaid and low-paid self-employed women, rather than creating quality employment opportunities. The discrepancy between this rise and the stagnant or declining participation of rural men raises questions about whether more jobs are genuinely available or if statistical methodologies have shifted. I also analyze the Union Budget 2025’s ambitious target of achieving 70% female economic participation. While the budget introduces measures like a ?2 crore term loan for women and marginalized groups aimed at first-time entrepreneurs, critics argue that it frames self-employment as empowerment while ignoring the precarious nature of informal, low-paying work.

Finally, I delve into Sri Lanka’s stark gender digital divide, Pakistan’s gender-responsive economic initiatives, and global insights on addressing women’s career challenges, with a focus on actionable strategies for breaking the “broken rung” in leadership.

India’s Demographics and Female Labor Force Participation (FLFP) Rates:

?As per the recently released Economic Survey 2024 – 2025, India’s female labour force participation rate (FLFPR) has jumped from 23.3% in 2017-18 to 41.7% in 2023-24. The surge, driven primarily by rural women entering the workforce, signals a major shift in India’s labour market.

Key Stats: More Women, More States in the Workforce

• In 2017-18, 20 states and Union Territories had FLFPR below 20%. By 2023-24, only three remain in this category.
• Today, 21 states report FLFPR between 30-40%, while seven exceed 40%.
• Sikkim leads the nation with 56.9% FLFPR.

Rural women have played a key role in this rise. Their participation soared from 24.6% in 2017-18 to 47.6% in 2023-24, due to grassroots economic empowerment programs.

Government Initiatives Fuel Women Entrepreneurs

The Economic Survey highlights how policy support has spurred women-led businesses:

• Startup India Initiative: 73,151 startups, nearly half of all registered, have at least one woman director.
• Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs): ?3,107.11 crore invested in 149 women-led startups.
• Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS): ?227.12 crore approved for 1,278 women-led startups since April 2021.
• Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups (CGSS): ?24.6 crore in loans secured for women-led ventures.

Rural and Urban Employment Trends

• Rural women’s employment in agriculture rose from 73.2% in 2017-18 to 76.9% in 2023-24, while male participation declined as men shifted to non-agricultural sectors.
• Urban women remain concentrated in services such as publishing, consultancy, finance, real estate, and legal services. Their workforce share dropped slightly from 44.4% to 40.1% over the same period.

Barriers to Women’s Economic Participation

Despite progress, challenges remain:

• Only 22% of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are owned by women. This falls to 12% for small enterprises and just 7% for medium enterprises.
• Increased digital access has boosted women’s participation in gig work, social commerce, and rural e-commerce.
• 55% of women cite household and childcare duties as major obstacles to paid employment.

This DowntoEarth piece by Richard Mahapatra also importantly highlights that while self-employment has surged to 58.4% of the workforce, salaried jobs—considered stable and better-paying—have declined. Women’s participation in regular wage jobs has fallen, particularly in rural areas, where it dropped from 10.5% in 2017-18 to 7.8% in 2023-24. A large number of scholars argue that this is because more women are being pushed into unpaid or low-paid work within household enterprises. As economists CP Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh highlight, urban self-employed workers in 2022 earned 11% less than in 2019, while rural self-employment paid 40% less than urban counterparts.

Women in the Union Budget

The Union Budget 2025 opens with a bold goal—70% of women engaged in economic activity. But beyond this headline, there are few details.? Richard Mahapatra from Down To Earth breaks this down in his piece, “Budget 2025-26: India has a non-paid employment crisis,”: India claims female labor force participation has jumped from 23.3% in 2017-18 to 41.7% in 2023-24. But this rise comes largely from counting unpaid and low-paid self-employed women in rural areas, not from an expansion of secure, salaried jobs. Economist Ashwini Deshpande points out that no corresponding increase exists for rural men, raising doubts about whether more work is available or if women are simply being counted differently.

The budget introduces a ?2 crore term loan for women, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes, aimed at first-time entrepreneurs. But framing self-employment as empowerment ignores the grim reality: self-employment in India often means informal, low-income, and precarious work. Jayati Ghosh notes that much of women’s urban employment remains concentrated in domestic work and informal jobs with no legal or social protections.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Indonesia and India Partner for AI Growth

A landmark agreement between Indonesia and India aims to drive economic opportunities and boost female labour participation in South Asia, when over 400 million working-age women in South Asia remain outside the labour force.

AI’s Economic Impact

• AI could contribute up to $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030 (PwC study).
• Indonesia and India are laying the groundwork for AI adoption across key industries.

On January 25, 2025, the two nations formalized an AI collaboration by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), witnessed by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The agreement aims to enhance AI integration in agriculture, finance, and public services, promising social and economic progress.

Industry Collaboration and Job Creation

• Indonesia’s Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison and India’s AIonOS are partnering on AI-driven solutions.
• The initiative aims to boost local economies and create job opportunities, particularly for underserved communities.

South Asian Women in Society

Laveesh Bhandari and Franziska Ohnsorge at the Brookings Institution) write in “Raising female employment in South Asia, one step at a time,” that South Asia has one of the world’s lowest female labor force participation rates. Over 400 million working-age women remain outside the labor market, resulting in massive economic losses. Despite recent gains, most new jobs for women are unpaid or self-employed roles in rural areas, exposing the region’s persistent failure to create high-quality employment opportunities.

At a recent conference hosted by the Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) and the World Bank, experts identified five major barriers to women’s workforce participation:

• Safety: Women hesitate to work outside the home due to safety concerns. In Bangladesh’s garment sector, a reporting experiment uncovered widespread workplace harassment, highlighting the need for better reporting mechanisms.
• Networks: Women struggle to find jobs due to weak professional networks, especially after marriage. Digital access has helped in Jordan, while self-help groups in India and peer-based training in Nepal show promise.
• Wages: In India, women’s wages have grown at less than half the rate of men’s, discouraging participation. For many couples, the widening earnings gap explains women staying out of the workforce.
• Training: Skill-building programs have succeeded in Nepal, where training boosted female entrepreneurship, and in Bangladesh, where garment workers moved into better-paid senior roles.
• Hiring Discrimination: Many jobs remain off-limits to women. In Pakistan, employers exclude women from roles with lower education requirements, longer hours, or night shifts. Removing such formal restrictions is a first step toward equal hiring.

Social norms also play a decisive role. Women from conservative families are far less likely to work. In India, home-based jobs raise female employment, but mixed-gender teams worsen men’s gender attitudes, pointing to the need for workplace gender sensitization. Yet norms can change. Saudi Arabia’s recent labor market shift and India’s Adivasi-majority regions, where Hindu households adopt more liberal gender attitudes, prove that exposure to progressive norms makes a difference.

Pakistan

Women in the Economy

World Bank Pledges $20 Billion for Pakistan’s Reforms

The World Bank has committed $20 billion under the Country Partnership Framework (CPF) 2026-2035 to support Pakistan’s economic reforms, climate resilience, and clean energy transition.

Gender at the Center of Reforms

The CPF prioritizes gender equity, recognizing that economic growth and sustainability depend on women’s participation. Key gender-focused initiatives include:

• Expanding women’s access to education, healthcare, and financial services.
• Increasing female labor force participation through skills training and employment programs.
• Boosting women-led businesses with targeted financial support and microcredit schemes.
• Strengthening legal protections against gender-based violence and workplace discrimination.

Leveraging Private Investment for Women’s Economic Empowerment

World Bank South Asia VP Martin Raiser emphasized:

• Mobilizing private capital to support women-owned enterprises.
• Aligning resources with Pakistan’s National Economic Transformation Plan, Uraan Pakistan, ensuring gender-responsive policies.
• Collaboration between the World Bank, IFC, and MIGA to drive investment in female-led startups, digital infrastructure, and inclusive employment.

Female Labor Force Participation (FLFP) Rates

Pakistan fertility rate declines

Pakistan’s fertility rate has dropped from six live births per woman in 1994 to 3.6 in 2024, according to the UN’s World Fertility Report 2024. By 2054, the number is expected to fall further to 2.5 births per woman.

The Global Context

• Pakistan, Ethiopia, Congo, Egypt, and Nigeria account for 43% of the world’s births in 2024.
• These nations remain in the early-to-intermediate stage of fertility transition, meaning birth rates are declining but still above replacement levels.

Women in Politics

Pakistan Takes Steps to Close the Gender Gap in Voter Registration

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has launched efforts to reduce the gender gap between male and female voters, with government agencies, National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and other departments supporting the initiative, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Azam Nazeer Tarar told the National Assembly.

Key Measures to Boost Women’s Voter Participation

• Expanding CNIC registration for women, especially in rural and underserved areas.
• Launching awareness campaigns to encourage women’s voter registration.
• Setting up women-friendly voter registration centers to ensure accessibility and security.
• Mobilizing local governments and civil society organizations to bridge the voter gender gap.

Sri Lanka

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Women in the Economy

Women in Northern Sri Lanka Struggle with Digital Skills Amid Deep Gender Divide

A recent study by the University of Vavuniya and The Gate Institute reveals a stark digital skills gap in northern Sri Lanka, particularly among women, the elderly, and economically disadvantaged groups. Although basic phone use is nearly universal, women lag in advanced digital tasks, highlighting persistent gender inequality in post-war regions.

Researchers assessed digital literacy across Vavuniya, Mullaitivu, and Mannar, using UNESCO’s Digital Literacy Global Framework. The findings show that while younger people excel in advanced skills, women struggle with tasks like online job searches, email usage, and mobile banking. Men outperform women in nearly all digital competencies beyond basic phone functions.

Despite high smartphone penetration—98.85% of Mannar households own at least one—women’s limited access to devices and digital training deepens their exclusion. Internet connectivity is strong, with Mannar leading at 90.48%, but broadband access remains rare, restricting opportunities for online education and employment.

The report urges policymakers to expand digital infrastructure and provide targeted training for women. It also recommends leveraging young people’s tech fluency to mentor older and disadvantaged groups. The report argues that without intentional efforts, digital inequality will continue reinforcing existing gender and economic divides across the country.

Book Recommendation for the week

In The Broken Rung: When the Career Ladder Breaks for Women—and How They Can Succeed in Spite of It, 麦肯锡 senior partners Kweilin Ellingrud , Lareina Yee and Maria del Mar Martinez introduce the concept of experience capital—the skills, knowledge, and professional growth gained on the job that account for nearly half of a person's lifetime earnings. This idea challenges the traditional notion that education alone determines career success.

For women, experience capital is especially critical. While they enter the workforce at similar rates as men and often outperform them academically, their careers stall at the first step up to management—the broken rung. This missing promotion, often due to implicit bias, lack of sponsorship, and unequal access to skill-building opportunities, limits their ability to accumulate experience capital at the same rate as men.

The book underscores the importance of actively building and leveraging experience capital. The authors introduce practical strategies such as:

• Choosing the right company, not just the right job—Companies that invest in employee development, offer mobility, and create inclusive pathways to leadership are key to long-term success.
• Measuring career growth through salary "doubling points"—Tracking how quickly earnings increase over time provides a tangible metric for whether women are gaining the experience capital they deserve.
• Expanding skill sets through bold career moves—Taking on roles that stretch skills, even if they feel uncomfortable at first, accelerates growth and increases long-term earning potential.

Through a combination of research, data, and real-world stories, The Broken Rung provides a roadmap for women to claim their share of experience capital and navigate the barriers that have long held them back. It’s not just a call to action for women—it also provides actionable steps for organizations to invest in a more equitable future.

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