A report suggested that the number of working women in India after COVID-19 pandemic had been dropped to 9 percent in the year 2022. Whereas according the data compiled by the World Bank, between 2010 and 2020, the number of women working in India had already been dropped from 26 percent to 19 percent.
It seems like pandemic was not the only cause, while looking deeper for reasons of such drastic reduction we can find rising domestic duties, lack of autonomy confined to women for their career choices, oblivious to employment opportunities, or most of the time lack of skills required for such opportunities.
Also,Azim Premji University,Bengaluru’s economics professor had commented that “When men are faced with this kind of a huge economic shock, they have a fallback option. They can navigate to different kinds of work. But for women, there is no such fallback option. They can’t negotiate the labour market as effectively as men do,” backed by their own research.
Hence, It is justified to say that women’s skill development is quite essential for their own independent and financial upstanding. Government has been conducting skill development programs but since, India being largely populous country seems to require extra efforts by others too.
For this, A well-known NGO named ‘Hamari Pahchan ‘ had taken initiatives to conduct workshops and training sessions for women from underprivileged backgrounds and helps them find employment as well as provides a platform to sell their products, thereby providing them with financial security.
Their main aim is to empower women and help them to become self-sufficient or ‘Atma Nirbhar’. Therefore, after the women are finished with their training, they provide certificates that aid in their job search and assists them in finding lucrative employment opportunities.
Although, it is a long way to go, it is required to look out for these hindrances to nation’s development and economic growth.
(With Inputs from The Quint.)