Tapping potential of india’s other half

Tapping potential of india’s other half

While bemoaning the fall in India’s female work participation ratio, discussion on what can be done to get more women working and narrow the gender gap in pay remains stillborn. Flexible working hours and decent conditions of work, including security at the workplace and during the commute to and from the workplace, are vital considerations. Among professionals, where equal pay for equal work is the norm, women fall behind, thanks to significant transitions of their lives such as child bearing and rearing.

Society at large gains from its quality reproduction, but the bulk of the cost is borne by women. An American study put the so-called motherhood penalty — the average by which women’s future wages fall — at 4 per cent per child, and 10 per cent for the highest-earning and most skilled women.

The need is for liberal policies — such as letting both men and women have equal access to flexible working hours and leave for care giving missions —to let women continue with their work, and enhance the participatory effort by both parents to raise families. Most countries have adopted contributory pension plans. This means women who take time out from work to look after the young and earn less than men at a similar stage in their working lives will not be able to build a decent retirement nest. That is a challenge especially in the West, given high divorce rates among the elderly; but could be a problem in this country as well.

Globally, women outnumber men in positions with lower salary, and are also employed in industries that pay less. And, wherever there are fewer jobs, men corner the available jobs, as they are seen as the primary wage earners. Forgoing women in the workforce is to forgo a large part of the nation’s economic potential.