Rohini Pande in Business Standard: Get the policies right first: How to get India's women into the workforce
Rohini Pande writes about her research on women and work in India, arguing that more women enter the workforce when policy fosters their economic independence.
Between 1990 and 2015, India’s real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita grew from US$375 to US$1,572, but its female labour force participation rate (LFPR) fell from 37 per cent to 28 per cent. This gives us a puzzle to solve: Why isn’t India following the same trajectory as most other countries at a similar level of growth, where female LFPR rises with GDP? Raising that rate is a high priority, not only because of the diverse benefits that increased economic autonomy brings women, but also because growth will likely be stronger when more working-age citizens of either gender are employed.