The economic survey for FY 2023-24 highlights the increasing participation of women in India’s labor force, reflecting significant progress in gender equality and empowerment. The female labor force participation rate (LFPR) rose dramatically to 37% in 2022-23, up from just 23.3% in 2017-18. This surge is largely driven by rural women, who predominantly work in agriculture.
This trend underscores the need to elevate women from traditional agricultural roles into higher value-added sectors, particularly agro-processing, which holds immense potential for enhancing the skills and livelihoods of rural female workers.
The survey also pointed out the rise in female entrepreneurship, with 68% of loans under the PM Mudra Yojana sanctioned to female entrepreneurs, and 77.7% of beneficiaries of the Stand-Up India scheme being women. Additionally, as digital literacy expands, women constitute over half of the beneficiaries of the Prime Minister’s Rural Digital Literacy Campaign.
Financial inclusion has been a critical driver of this empowerment. The Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan Yojana has facilitated the opening of 52.3 crore bank accounts, with 55.6% of these accounts belonging to women as of May 2024. This initiative has enabled women to take control of household finances, with average bank deposits increasing nearly fourfold since 2015.
The survey also emphasizes the transformative power of rural microfinance, particularly through the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-NRLM, which integrates over 89 million women into Self-Help Groups (SHGs). More than 3.5 crore women community resource persons (CRPs) have emerged as vital agents of change, helping lift their communities out of poverty through various initiatives.
Central to this empowerment is the health and education of the girl child. Initiatives like “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” have stimulated cultural shifts towards valuing and investing in girls, resulting in an improved sex ratio at birth and reduced maternal mortality rates.
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