future of women in work
Female labour force participation in India has risen in recent years but the story beneath the numbers is complex. Much of the recent increase has been driven by rural women entering distress employment post-COVID, while women remain concentrated in a narrow set of low-productivity sectors.
This makes work fragile. Many women are unable to sustain workforce participation.
the fracture
exited the labour force in 2020
Women do not exit work due to lack of aspiration. They exit when systems do not support continuity.
where women work
Women's livelihoods span both established and emerging sectors.
They are present across the economy, but access to stable, aspirational work remains uneven.
established sectors
women
workforce
- 73% agriculture
- 12% manufacturing
- 15% other sectors
emerging sectors
agri-allied
food value chains
tech micro work
clean energy
care economy
platform services
what sustains work
Improving participation is not enough. sustainability requires systems that support entry, continuity, and progression.
three foundational enablers
skilling
Contextualised, rapid
learning
job discovery
Faster matching through
predictive systems
capital access
Contextualised credit and non-credit support
but participation also depends on
Access to aspirational sectors
Affordable care that improves time use
Safe mobility enabled by smartphones
and transport
where we focus
fractional employment pathways
Sustainable models in micro
and gig work
entrepreneurship avenues
Access to capital and markets across key sectors
breaking labour barriers
Lowering time poverty and connectivity constraints
our research focus
- Mapping where women work and where they can work
- Understanding barriers to entry, continuity, and progression
- Mapping actors and potential problem solvers
- Identifying high-potential sectors and pathways
- Solution landscape and innovation gap analysis
- Defining measurable thresholds and outcome metrics
The objective is to surface high-potential pathways for scalable and sustainable work for women.
explore other research areas
MSME
The objective is not to simply increase enterprise numbers, but to redesign the enabling conditions around them.
climate
Identify where innovation backed by the right incentives can unlock resilient, scalable livelihood pathways.
