{"id":17918,"date":"2026-09-19T03:58:05","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T03:58:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/?p=17918"},"modified":"2026-09-28T03:58:41","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T03:58:41","slug":"womens-employment-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/womens-employment-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Women&#8217;s Employment and Staying in Work After It?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key takeaways<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Getting women into jobs is only half the challenge:<\/strong> Retention and continuity matter just as much as workforce entry for women&#8217;s employment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Marriage can be a major turning point:<\/strong> Women&#8217;s labour force participation can decline after marriage, even before children enter the picture.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Unpaid care work affects employment:<\/strong> Women continue to carry a disproportionate share of domestic and caregiving responsibilities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Skills alone cannot guarantee economic independence:<\/strong> Women also need safe workplaces, flexibility, mentorship, financial literacy, childcare and opportunities to access or return to work.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>A career break should not become a permanent exit:<\/strong> Employers and systems need stronger pathways for women to re-enter employment after periods of caregiving or other life transitions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Swabhiman-1-1024x683-2.jpeg\" alt=\"The dynamics of Women's Employment \u00a0\" class=\"wp-image-1635\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Swabhiman-1-1024x683-2.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Swabhiman-1-1024x683-2-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Swabhiman-1-1024x683-2-768x512.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Getting women into the workforce is only one part of the challenge within the workforce and labour participation. The harder question is what pushes them and enables them to stay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>India has seen a substantial rise in women&#8217;s participation in economic activity in recent years. According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mospi.gov.in\/sites\/default\/files\/press_release\/Press_note_AR_PLFS_2023_24_22092024.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2023\u201324<\/a>, the female labour force participation rate for women aged 15 and above rose from 23.3% in 2017\u201318 to 41.7% in 2023\u201324. While the increase is encouraging, participation alone does not tell us whether women are entering stable, decent and sustainable employment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For many women, the problem is not finding the work alone but remaining in it when life keeps changing for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marriage, childbirth, care responsibilities, unsafe transport, inflexible workplaces, poor working conditions and social expectations can all push women out of employment. A woman may enter the workforce after years of education or skills training, only to discover that the structures around her have not changed enough to allow her to remain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The employment gap does not end with a job&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>South Asia has one of the world&#8217;s lowest rates of female labour force participation. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldbank.org\/en\/news\/press-release\/2024\/10\/10\/south-asia-s-growth-outpaces-expectations-more-jobs-for-women-needed-to-unlock-full-potential\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">World Bank&#8217;s South Asia Development Update<\/a> found that only 32% of working-age women in South Asia were in the labour force in 2023, compared with 77% of men. Importantly, the report found that women&#8217;s participation falls by around 12 percentage points after marriage, even before they have children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This distinction matters. Women&#8217;s absence from the workforce is often discussed as though it begins with motherhood. But marriage itself can be a turning point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Similarly, research discussed by the <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.worldbank.org\/en\/impactevaluations\/from-marriage-penalties-to-child-penalties--how-development-resh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">World Bank in 2026<\/a> finds that in Bangladesh, India, Maldives and Nepal, marriage alone reduces women&#8217;s labour force participation by around 12 percentage points. In India, the analysis suggests that much of the family-formation penalty comes from marriage rather than motherhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This tells us that women&#8217;s employment is dictated not only by whether they have children, but by what happens to their social roles and expectations when they marry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The second shift that women carry home<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Even when women remain employed, they often add paid work to responsibilities they continue to carry at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mospi.gov.in\/sites\/default\/files\/press_release\/PR_TUS_25022025.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Time Use Survey 2024<\/a> found that women aged 15\u201359 who participated in unpaid domestic services spent about 305 minutes a day on these activities. Women also continued to shoulder a disproportionate share of unpaid caregiving: 41% of women in this age group participated in caregiving for household members, compared with 21.4% of men. Among those who participated, women spent about 140 minutes a day on caregiving, compared with 74 minutes for men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These figures help explain why staying in employment can become difficult even when women want to work. A job does not replace unpaid work at home, and in many households, it is just added to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This creates what can be described as a second shift \u2014 the paid working day followed by domestic and caregiving responsibilities that remain largely invisible in economic statistics. When working hours are rigid, commuting is long, or childcare is unavailable, the cumulative burden can make employment difficult to sustain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Childcare matters, but the problem is bigger than childcare<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Affordable and accessible childcare is an important part of keeping women in work. The <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.worldbank.org\/en\/jobs\/care-economy-powerful-entry-point-increasing-female-employment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">World Bank has highlighted<\/a> how disproportionately women carry childcare and eldercare responsibilities, making the care economy an important factor in women&#8217;s labour force participation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But childcare alone cannot explain women&#8217;s employment patterns in India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If marriage itself changes women&#8217;s mobility, household responsibilities and freedom to make employment decisions, then a creche at the workplace addresses only one part of the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Women also need workplaces that recognise that workers have lives outside work. Flexible working arrangements, predictable schedules, safe transportation, maternity protections and opportunities to return after a career interruption can all influence whether employment remains viable over the long term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The question therefore needs to move from &#8220;How do we get women into jobs?&#8221; to &#8220;What would make it possible for women to remain in them?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The workplace can become another barrier<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For women who do enter employment, the quality and location of the job matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A job that requires a long commute may become impractical if a woman is also responsible for children or elderly relatives. Unsafe public transport can make certain shifts inaccessible. Lack of toilets, inadequate maternity support and inflexible working hours can create barriers that have little to do with a woman&#8217;s skills or willingness to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldbank.org\/en\/news\/press-release\/2024\/10\/10\/south-asia-s-growth-outpaces-expectations-more-jobs-for-women-needed-to-unlock-full-potential\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">World Bank&#8217;s research on women&#8217;s employment in South Asia<\/a> identifies childcare, mobility, safety, legal restrictions and conservative gender norms among the factors limiting women&#8217;s employment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The result is that women can become concentrated in the kinds of jobs that are considered compatible with domestic responsibilities rather than the jobs that necessarily offer better wages, career progression or security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Flexibility, in this context, can be valuable but flexibility should not become another word for precariousness. If women are pushed into informal, poorly paid or unstable work because formal employment cannot accommodate their lives, then higher participation figures may not necessarily translate into greater economic security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Skills alone cannot keep women working<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Skill development is often presented as the obvious answer to women&#8217;s economic exclusion. While skills training matters, improves employability, opens new occupational possibilities and helps women establish their own enterprises, training does not change the conditions under which women have to use those skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Smile Foundation&#8217;s work through our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/women-empowerment\/\">Swabhiman programme<\/a> illustrates a more integrated approach. The programme, which began in 2005, combines women&#8217;s health, nutrition, livelihoods and entrepreneurship rather than treating economic empowerment as a standalone issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our recent programme reporting records <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/imfact\/2025\/women-empowerment.html\">1.90 lakh+ women and girls reached<\/a>, with 5,048 women trained in entrepreneurship and financial literacy and 116 micro-enterprises established in 2024\u201325. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What is particularly relevant to women&#8217;s ability to sustain livelihoods is the programme&#8217;s emphasis on more than vocational skills. Swabhiman includes entrepreneurship development, financial and digital literacy, business development, market access and mentorship. Our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/donation\/women-empowerment\">programme <\/a>explicitly recognises that women need support not just to start an income-generating activity, but to manage and sustain it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That broader approach is important because economic participation does not happen in isolation from health, family responsibilities or access to resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A career break should not become an exit<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For many women, leaving work may not be intended as a permanent decision. A woman may step away during pregnancy, to care for a young child, because of a family illness or because relocation makes her existing job impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A career break can mean lost income, lost experience, reduced professional networks and fewer opportunities for advancement. The longer the interruption, the harder it can become to re-enter at the same level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is particularly significant because workplaces often reward continuous employment. A career path designed around uninterrupted availability may work well for someone without substantial care responsibilities, but it can penalise people whose lives involve periods of care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Creating meaningful pathways back into employment therefore matters as much as preventing women from leaving in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Making workplaces sustainable for women&#8217;s employment<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-09-28-at-08.33.35-1024x768.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17913\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-09-28-at-08.33.35-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-09-28-at-08.33.35-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-09-28-at-08.33.35-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-09-28-at-08.33.35-1200x900.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-09-28-at-08.33.35.jpeg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The conversation about women&#8217;s employment often begins with access to education, skills, jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities. Hence, the next stage is all about continuity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Women need the opportunity to enter work, but they also need the conditions to remain economically active through marriage, motherhood, caregiving and other transitions in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is why women&#8217;s economic empowerment cannot be reduced to employment numbers. It is also about whether women have control over their income, whether their work is valued, whether they can make choices about their time and whether a temporary interruption has to become a permanent withdrawal from economic life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The challenge is therefore not simply to create more jobs for women but to build an economy in which women do not have to choose between earning and caring, between professional continuity and family responsibilities, or between flexibility and decent work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While women are already entering the workforce in greater numbers, the next big question remains as to whether our workplaces, households and public systems are prepared to let them stay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>FAQs<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1. Why is retaining women in the workforce important?<\/strong><br>Increasing women&#8217;s employment is important, but sustained employment is equally critical. Staying in work allows women to build experience, income, professional networks and greater economic independence over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2. Why do many women leave the workforce after marriage?<\/strong><br>Marriage can bring changes in household responsibilities, mobility, decision-making and expectations around women&#8217;s roles. Research cited in the blog suggests that women&#8217;s labour force participation can decline after marriage, even before motherhood becomes a factor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>3. How does unpaid care work affect women&#8217;s employment?<\/strong><br>Women continue to undertake a disproportionate share of unpaid domestic and caregiving work. When paid employment is added to these responsibilities, the combined time burden can make regular employment difficult to sustain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>4. Is childcare enough to keep women in the workforce?<\/strong><br>Childcare is an important part of the solution, but it is not the only factor. Women also need safe transport, flexible and predictable working arrangements, maternity protections, supportive workplaces and opportunities to return after career interruptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>5. Can skill development alone improve women&#8217;s economic empowerment?<\/strong><br>Skills can improve employability and open new economic opportunities, but training alone cannot remove barriers such as unpaid care work, mobility constraints, lack of market access or inflexible workplaces. A broader ecosystem of support is needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>6. How can employers support women returning after a career break?<\/strong><br>Employers can create structured return-to-work pathways, flexible arrangements, opportunities to refresh skills, mentorship and fair consideration of candidates whose careers include periods of caregiving or other legitimate interruptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>7. How does Smile Foundation support women&#8217;s economic empowerment?<\/strong><br>Through its <strong>Swabhiman programme<\/strong>, Smile Foundation takes an integrated approach combining women&#8217;s health, nutrition, livelihoods and entrepreneurship. The programme includes entrepreneurship development, financial and digital literacy, business development, market access and mentorship, recognising that sustainable economic empowerment requires more than vocational training alone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>India is seeing more women enter the workforce, but participation numbers tell only part of the story. For many women, the greater challenge is staying in employment through marriage, motherhood, caregiving and other life transitions. From unpaid care work and unsafe transport to inflexible workplaces and career breaks, this blog explores what it will take to make women&#8217;s economic participation sustainable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":10396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[1234],"class_list":["post-17918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-women-empowerment","tag-womenemployment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17918"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17919,"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17918\/revisions\/17919"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}