Contribution of women to the national economy
This paper brings to light some important aspects of women's location in the labour market and their contribution to the national economy. It also illustrates, through data, that the majority of women are concentrated in sectors with low productivity.
The objective of the paper is to estimate the contribution of officially recorded women's work to the GDP of India based on the available data sets. It also makes an attempt to measure the contribution of women's unrecorded work. The paper shows that women's average productivity in recorded activities is significantly below that of men. Women are concentrated in sectors marked by low productivity for example, over 78 per cent of the female workforce is engaged in "traditional" industries (agriculture, tobacco products, private households, wood and wood products) which also registered the lowest average gross value added per worker. The percentages of women in industries with high productivity, such as banking and financial intermediation, air transport, computer and related activities, and real estate activities were very low.
The finding of the study provides further impetus for strengthening policies to enhance the productivity of women's work, in their current location and by facilitating their entry into new sectors. The concentration of women in low productive sectors results in significant waste of their productive potential. Innovation of gender sensitive technologies that are production enhancing must be built into policy frameworks. Furthermore, making visible and supporting the unpaid work of women in both recognized domains of economic activities as well as care economy is required through improvement in infrastructure and other support mechanisms.
The finding of the study provides further impetus for strengthening policies to enhance the productivity of women's work, in their current location and by facilitating their entry into new sectors. The concentration of women in low productive sectors results in significant waste of their productive potential. Innovation of gender sensitive technologies that are production enhancing must be built into policy frameworks. Furthermore, making visible and supporting the unpaid work of women in both recognized domains of economic activities as well as care economy is required through improvement in infrastructure and other support mechanisms.