Motherhood, Caregiving Duties Keep 53% of Indian Women Out of Workforce: ILO Report

Care responsibility vastly refers to childcare, but isn’t limited to that. It includes domestic chores like cooking, cleaning, laundry and maintaining the house. It also encompasses caring for children and the elderly in the house.

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The report and ILO research point to how making affordable care services, which include childcare, can help boost female participation in the labour force. A study of 82 countries finds that every dollar invested in improving childcare leave and early childhood care could increase global GDP by an average of $3.76 by 2035.

Women’s Care Responsibilities Keep Them Out of Work Force

“Iran, Egypt, Jordan, Mali and India have more than 50 per cent of women outside the labour force due to care responsibilities and may need further investment in the care economy, particularly in ECCE. On the other hand, countries such as Belarus, Bulgaria, Latvia and Sweden have less than 10 per cent of women outside the labour force due to caregiving while investing around 1 per cent of GDP in ECCE,” the ILO report said.

Many women in India remain outside the workforce, primarily due to unpaid household work, raising concerns about the country’s low female labour force participation rate.

The National Statistical Office's 2019 Time Use Survey revealed that a large number of Indian women spend significant time on unpaid domestic and care work. Around 81% of females aged 6 and above dedicate over five hours daily to these tasks, with the share rising to 85.1% for women aged 15-29 and 92% for those aged 15-59. Even among women aged 60 and above, 78% are involved in unpaid domestic services.

In contrast, men spend just over an hour a day on these tasks, with participation rates of 24.5% (age 6+), 22.5% (15-29), and 27% (15-59).

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Very Few Men Remain Out of the Labour Force

The report also pointed out that in India, only 1.1 per cent of men stay outside of the labour force due to care responsibilities.

Another report by the ILO also observed that educated women are also disproportionately left out of employment. The ‘India Employment Report 2024: Youth employment, education and skills’ highlighted that India has a large proportion of youths, particularly young women, not in education, employment or training.

“One in three young people has had such status in India, which has been almost equal in rural and urban areas and increased over the years after 2000. Young women are much more likely to not be in employment, education or training than young men, and this was especially more pronounced among older youths than younger ones,” the report stated.

Statistics for women in this category were five times larger than among their male counterparts (48.4 per cent versus 9.8 per cent) and accounted for around 95 per cent of the total youth population not in employment, education or training in 2022. The report added that even educated female youths experienced higher levels of unemployment compared
with educated male youths.