Women's Employment Increases Slightly: NHFS Survey

By: WE Staff | Saturday, 7 May 2022

32 percent of married women and girls aged 15 to 49 are employed. According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)–5 conducted from 2019 to 21, 83 percent of these make money while 15 percent do not.

The employment rate among women in this age group has increased slightly, to 32 percent, from 31 percent in NFHS-4.

According to the report, the percentage of working women has climbed by 3%.

The percentage of employed males has remained unchanged in the current NHFS poll, while those earning money has climbed from 91% to 95%.

Only 32% of married girls and women in India aged 15-49 are employed, compared to 98% of married men in the same age range.

Working girls and women earn 83 percent of their income in cash, with 8% receiving both cash and in-kind compensation. According to the poll, 15% of employed women are not paid for their work.

In comparison, 95% of employed men are paid in cash, while 4% are not paid at all.

22% of working girls and women between the ages of 15 and 19 do not receive any pay. With women aged 25 and up, the ratio drops to 13-17 percent, according to the report.

Among working girls and women in the age group of 15-19, 22 per cent of them do not receive any compensation. This ratio declines to 13-17 per cent with women aged 25 and above, it said.

"Women's participation in decisions about their own earnings has slightly increased (from 82 per cent to 85 per cent) in the four years since NFHS-4," it said.

However, the share of women earning equivalent to or more than their husbands has declined somewhat from 42% in NFHS-4 to 40%, according to the report.

The current NHFS survey included 6.37 lakh sample homes from 707 districts across 28 states and eight union territories, with 7,24,115 women and 1,01,839 males participating.

The national report also includes information on socioeconomic and other factors that might help policymakers and programme implementers make better decisions.

These figures, according to Poonam Muttreja, executive director of the Population Foundation of India, do not show a dramatic change in women's life. "A one percentage-point increase in employment among currently married women between 15-49 years, a three-percentage point increase in the percentage of women who earn cash and in women's participation in decisions about their own earnings over almost five years (2015-16 to 2019-21) are hardly indicative of greater autonomy for women and progress," she said.

She stated that such averages obscure the reality of women's employment chances in many states.

For example, between 2015-16 and 2019-21, the percentage of married women employed fell by 15.1 percentage points in Mizoram, 6.1 percentage points in Jharkhand, and 4.2 percentage points in Madhya Pradesh. She claims that even in states where employment has not decreased, the quality of employment has deteriorated.

Similarly, over the same period, women's participation in decisions about their own earnings declined by 6.1 percentage points in Manipur, 5.6 percentage points in Arunachal Pradesh and showed no change (less than 1 percentage point) in Nagaland, Kerala and Meghalaya," Muttreja said.

Around 75% of boys and men in the 15-49 age range are currently employed, compared to only 25% of girls and women in the same age group.

Employed women are also more likely to utilise contemporary contraception, according to the study. According to her, these tendencies necessitate even more work and commitment in expanding women's freedoms and opportunities.