Equal opportunities for female workers: why India is making slow progress

Recently, a senior manager at an Indian conglomerate that operates ports, coal mines, airports and more, was tasked with hiring a new employee for one of the businesses. After interviewing many applicants, he found an impressive candidate who was a natural fit.

However, because she had two very young children at home, he expressed concerns she might require additional time off and therefore might not be entirely reliable. Would she show up for, say, an important presentation or regularly take time off for family reasons, such as caring for sick children?

In fact, in spite of the recruiter’s apprehensions, in the end the young mother was fortunate enough to be offered the job. But there are potentially hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of women in India who are not so fortunate.

In June, a Reuters investigation alleged that Apple supplier Foxconn has systematically excluded married women from jobs at its main iPhone assembly plant in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu on the grounds they have more family responsibilities than their unmarried counterparts.

S. Paul, a former human resources executive at Foxconn India, told Reuters the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer typically doesn’t hire married women to work on the assembly line at the plant because the company believed there were “many issues post-marriage.”

S. Paul told Reuters the issues include the fact that women “have babies after marriage.” A number of employees at recruitment agencies tasked by Foxconn with identifying and screening potential staff for the assembly plant and current and former Foxconn human resources executives told Reuters that “family duties, pregnancy and higher absenteeism” were some of the reasons why Foxconn does not hire married women at the plant.

Fears over jewellery
These sources also told Reuters that Foxconn also allegedly feared that jewellery worn by married Hindu women could interfere with the smartphone manufacturing process. Married Hindu women wear metal toe rings and necklaces to signify the bond of marriage, and typically won’t remove them, reported Reuters.

Although Indian law does not bar companies from discriminating in hiring based on marital status, Reuters reported that Apple’s and Foxconn’s policies prohibit such practices in their supply chains.

In a statement issued in response to Reuters’ report in June 2024, Foxconn said it “vigorously refutes allegations of employment discrimination based on marital status, gender, religion or any other form”. It added: “We enhanced our management process for hiring agencies in India in 2022 and identified four agencies that were posting ads that did not meet our standards. We took corrective action with those agencies and more than 20 job ads were removed.”

Further, Foxconn told Reuters that in its latest round of hiring, almost 25 per cent of the women it hired were married

Apple told Reuters it upholds the “highest supply chain standards in the industry”, and added: “When concerns about hiring practices were first raised in 2022 we immediately took action and worked with our supplier to conduct monthly audits to identify issues and ensure that our high standards are upheld.

“All of our suppliers in India hire married women, including Foxconn.”

Government instructed to produce ‘urgent report’
However, following Reuters’ investigation into alleged gender discrimination in recruitment practices by Foxconn and its recruitment agencies, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India issued notices to the Secretary of the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment and the Chief Secretary of the Tamil Nadu government asking urgently for a “detailed report” on the matter.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government also instructed the Tamil Nadu government to provide a detailed report on the allegations, and officials from the state’s labour department visited the Foxconn factory in July and spoke to company directors and human resources officials, according to Reuters.

However, if true, the allegations against Foxconn and its recruitment agencies support the argument of many commentators that while Indian women are being urged by the central government to pursue both higher education and career opportunities, they continue to face barriers to full participation in the workforce.

Gender parity ‘a long way off’
Although female participation in the labour force for the organised sector increased from 33 per cent in 2023 to 36 per cent in 2024, commentators say that in the real-world scenario like the examples described above, achieving gender parity seems a long way off.

The above cases reinforce the growing amount of research that reveals how women continue to face discrimination as job seekers because of their gender. 

According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2024 by the World Economic Forum, India has one of the widest gender gaps in women’s economic participation and opportunities. India ranks 142th out of 146 countries in the economic participation and opportunities for women index. The report also ranked India 134th for its female labour force participation rate, 120th for female/male wage equality for similar work and 122nd for the proportion of professional and technical workers who are female.

India also ranked a poor 136th for the proportion of ‘legislators, senior official and managers’ who are female. In the educational sphere, India ranked just 112th for the ‘educational attainment’ of females, and the gap between men and women’s literacy rate is 17.2 percentage points wide, leaving India ranked 124th on this indicator.

In the ‘political empowerment’ sphere, India scored a respectable 65th overall, but ranked only 117th for women’s representation in parliament and 132nd for women’s representation in ministerial positions.

Other research also found that only around 25 per cent of women in India, compared with 82 per cent of men, work.

In addition, another report from McKinsey Global Institute found that women’s contribution to GDP in India is the lowest among all regions in the world. 

Women reported bias at work
Meanwhile, another survey by the professional services company Aon found that although 90 per cent of women in corporate jobs in India are prepared to put in extra hours, volunteer for challenging projects and upskill to grow in their careers, 42 per cent reported facing bias or potential bias at work. A further 37 per cent reported experiencing insensitive behaviour in the workplace.

In addition, six per cent (more than 1,400 women) reported experiencing sexual harassment at work on at least one occasion, yet less than half officially reported the incident to their employer.
Working mothers also faced specific challenges, with 75 per cent believing they faced a career set-back of one-to-two years after maternity leave and almost 40 per cent stating that taking maternity leave has had a negative impact on their pay levels and resulted in their employer changing their job role in ways they were unhappy with.

Laws restricting women’s participation in work
Although underlying cultural and social barriers – combined with poor access, lack of resources and poor policies – are some of the main reasons why women in India do not enter the workforce, another report found that there are over 150 labour laws that restrict women’s participation in the workforce.

The study analysed more than 200 regulations and 26 judicial rulings to understand the types of work women are excluded from and how this discrimination is handled by courts of law. For instance, it found there are prohibitions on women undertaking work such as the generation of petroleum, the manufacturing of oils and rechargeable batteries, and working in establishments that sell or serve alcohol.

The study also revealed there are laws that prohibit women from working the same hours, particularly during the night, as men, limiting the job opportunities they can seek. 

In addition, 24 states have laws that prohibit women from participating in various kinds of factory operations, with 11 states barring women from being employed at night in factories, revealed the study.

There are two main legislative acts that specify these restrictions: the Factories Act, 1948, at the union (i.e. India-wide) level and the Shops and Commercial Establishments laws at the state or union territory (UT) level.

Over the years, numerous union and state government administrations have argued that these restrictions are necessary to prevent sexual violence and safeguard women from the physical dangers of working long hours. A number of state governments have maintained prohibitions on women being employed in processes they deem ‘dangerous or hazardous’, arguing there are heightened risk factors when women work with certain machinery, and claiming women have a greater susceptibility to suffering accidents while working with certain machinery.

In fact, since 2022, no state has eased restrictions on women’s employment in what are deemed ‘dangerous’ jobs. In turn, this means that women’s participation in new and growing industries and better-compensated work is being restricted.

Even in traditional industries, the law in certain states prohibits women from taking certain jobs that offer good rates of pay, such as glass manufacturing and the processing of oils and fats.

Boosting the female labour force participation rate
However, the Union Government, led by Narendra Modi, is keen to boost the female labour force participation rate, and as part of its efforts in this area, earlier in 2024, the central Labour Ministry released an ‘advisory’, or guidance, aimed at encouraging employers to promote and enhance women’s participation in the workforce.

The Advisory for Employers to Promote Women Workforce Participation (Gender Equality & Promoting Women’s Economic Empowerment) aims to create a safe, supportive and inclusive workplace for women employees. The Union government says that widespread adoption of the advisory by employers will also contribute to the vision of Viksit Bharat (‘Developed India’), the Modi government’s vision of transforming India into a developed and progressive state by 2047.

The advisory stresses the importance of several initiatives being taken by the Union government to increase women’s participation in the workforce and address gender gaps to promote a diverse workforce. It also provides a brief overview of various welfare, health and safety measures that employers should take (or will soon be legally required to take), to protect female employees (including female construction workers and migrant workers), as set out in various existing labour laws and the soon-to-be-introduced four new labour codes covering areas like social security and occupational health and safety.

In addition, the advisory outlines various provisions relating to wages, social security, working hours, the right of workers to form trade unions and the settlement of industrial disputes in a specific manner. The Union government says the objective of highlighting these provisions and requirements is to make clear that the central parliament wants to create a safe and conducive working environment for female employees.

However, the government says the actions set out in the advisory are guidance and not compulsory for employers unless the measures specified are required under labour laws.

Extending caregiving responsibilities a ‘progressive move’
Commenting on the advisory, Manishi Pathak, an attorney with Anhad Law, said that requiring employers to extend caregiving responsibilities – such as introducing and granting parental leave, paternity leave and other family-friendly measures – appear to be a progressive move.

“Such measures can be viewed as a mutual benefit to both employer and employee,” he said. “From the employee’s perspective, it will attract good talent and reduce attrition, and employees would consider it as an additional benefit.”

However, women’s rights activists say that to enable a greater number of women to pursue careers and contribute to India’s economic and social development, government support for working women must go beyond rhetoric and merely symbolic reform and must be accompanied by support from their husbands and partners around caring and other responsibilities in the home and women’s personal lives.

This argument is reinforced by a study that found employed women do six times more unpaid care work than their male counterparts. The research, conducted by a professor from the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, found that women in India spend an average of 7.2 hours on unpaid domestic work compared to 2.8 hours spent by men.

Pressure of caregiving
Commentators say that many women leave the workforce due to the pressure of care giving at home. And with females often being the lower wage earner in a household, it makes financial sense for the women rather than men to give up work to fulfil caring responsibilities for children and relatives.

Gitu Sinha, who was employed as a data scientist in a start-up business, said: “When my husband and I took the decision as to who will look after the kids and our elderly parents, it only made economic sense in our dual income household for the higher-wage earner to keep working. So, we decided that my husband will keep his job.”

Sinha says she knows it will be difficult for her to re-enter the workforce in the future, and it will be even tougher to find a job that is comparable to the level of her previous role and to return to the same career position.

“Juggling a full-time role at work as well as managing the house was stressful and tiring,” she says. “It was simply impossible to live a rich and meaningful life - at work and at home - without sacrificing aspects of either. So, there was no other option but to quit as work-life balance is critical.”

Although Sinha had access to flexible working arrangements, she was reluctant to use them as she feared her former supervisor at the start-up would expect her to be available for work queries and tasks 24/7.

Work-life balance ‘a major concern for women’
In fact, a report from The Udaiti Foundation, in partnership with Godrej DEi Labs, the Centre for Economic Data and Analysis, Ashoka University and Dasra, based on a survey of 200 senior human resource managers, found that work-life balance is a bigger concern for employed women in India compared to their male counterparts.

The report, Women in India Inc HR Managers Survey, revealed that 34 per cent of women leave their jobs due to concerns about work-life balance, compared to just four per cent of men.

The report said the top three reasons for women leaving their organisations were salary concerns, career opportunities and work-life balance. For men, the top three reasons are salary concerns, career opportunities and the future direction of their employment.