14/03/2022
In India the female workforce participation has fallen from 26% in 2005 to 20% in 2019, as per World Bank estimates, also pointing to the stark reality that India's female workforce participation is one of the lowest in the world. India's maternity benefit amendment act, 2017 was a step in this direction to make the workforce more inclusive and to amplify women's participation in the labour force. India's female labour force participation remains much lower than Nepal's (at 80%), China's (at 60%), Bhutan's (at 58.86%), Bangladesh's (at 36%) and even Pakistan's (at 21.91%). And the Covid 19 pandemic has only made things worse for women because of unpaid care work that they do at home, which is six times more than that of men's and is still unaccounted for.
