Dec 18, 2024 15:05 IST
First published: December 18, 2024 at 14:59 IST
In recent years, India has seen a significant increase in female labor force participation, from 25 percent in 2017-18 to 40 percent in 2022-23, according to the Periodic Labor Force Survey. This increase reflects rising economic aspirations among women, fueled by improved education levels and gradual improvements in working conditions conducive to female employment.
However, despite this increase, gender equality in the labor force has not been achieved. The overall proportion of women in the labor force is still well below the global average. This disparity is due to dominant socio-cultural norms that burden women with unpaid care and domestic work, restricting their mobility and independence and thus limiting their ability to join the workforce. Additionally, in the absence of quality employment, many who are willing to work are without opportunity.
The recent increase in female labor force participation rate has been mainly driven by the rural sector, with the female LFPR in the 15-59 age group increasing from 24.6 percent in 2018-19 to over 41 percent in 2022-23.
Women are increasingly entering the workforce out of economic necessity and evolving social norms. Agriculture and related activities and informal and self-employment opportunities have absorbed a significant portion of women workers in rural areas. On the other hand, urban centers have yet to show a significant boost, showing less than a 5-percentage-point improvement over the previous five-year period. Tamil Nadu, however, performed better than the national average with higher female LFPR in the urban manufacturing sector and rural economy. It accounts for 42 percent of all women workers in India’s manufacturing sector.
The success story behind a holistic work environment conducive to women in Tamil Nadu is led by the launch of Thozhi Hostels developed under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model by the Government of Tamil Nadu, supported by the World Bank. The initiative combines public infrastructure with private expertise to provide high-quality housing solutions for working women, overcoming the challenges of urban migration.
As women increasingly seek opportunities in cities like Chennai, providing safe, affordable, and well-managed housing has become important to encourage their participation in the workforce. Security concerns, poor living conditions, and inadequate services often made it difficult for women to transition smoothly to urban life. These challenges have historically discouraged many women from fully participating in the workforce.
The Thozhi Hostel model requires the government to provide land and partial construction grants, while the Tamil Nadu Shelter Fund co-finances and oversees the project with real estate market insights. Locations near the industrial belts of the state are carefully selected to achieve the desired results. Professional private operators, selected through open bidding, manage daily operations and services, ensuring sustainability without additional government subsidies. Along with security standards through camera surveillance and other state-of-the-art facilities, affordability constraints are handled through diverse options such as economical and air-conditioned rooms, single or shared accommodations, and flexible stay periods. With high occupancy rates (over 2,000 women in 10 such hostels in Tamil Nadu), the Competition Economics Act has set the benchmark for private hostels to enhance their services, ultimately increasing the quality of accommodation options for women across the state, considering affordability constraints. For women.
Thozhi Hostel’s success highlights the potential of leveraging public-private partnerships to address systemic challenges. The efficient operation and sustainability of the project has prompted plans to scale it up across the state.
As India aims to achieve greater gender equality in the workforce, the Thozhi model provides a model for other states to emulate, emphasizing the critical link between infrastructure and empowerment. It is also important for other poor states that need help designing policies to overcome demand-supply barriers to female labor force participation.
By creating safe and supportive spaces, states can empower women to take up urban employment with confidence and independence, exemplifying how innovative solutions can transform challenges into opportunities. Providing women with safe housing options is the first of many interventions needed to ring the cat. This should be complemented by appropriate legislation to reduce the burden of mobility, washing facilities, workplace flexibility, and the burden of the care economy that falls disproportionately on women.
The author is an Associate Fellow of the National Council of Applied Economic Research. Views are personal
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