Visualising the Invisible: Re-examining Women’s Labour Force Participation in India
- Economic & Political Weekly
- 60(21), May 24, 2025: p.33-38
The categorisation used by India’s labour force surveys have failed to capture three evolving dynamics of the labour market. First, the gender difference in the amount of work provided towards economic activities is overstated because the Periodic Labour Force Survey records goods production within households poorly when unpaid workers do non-monetised work. Second, the sharing of decision-making within small firms has been underemphasised. Third, the gig economy and cottage industries have not been kept distinct from casual hourly labour and hence are confused with piecework. Taking these changes into account, we estimate that 6% of women currently considered inactive would become part of the labour force. - Reprodeced