Women's role in labour force on the rise: Report

Women's participation in the labour force, the financial sector, and the overall economy has been rising, pointing to a narrowing gap with men, according to a flagship government report.

- Zia Haq

NEW DELHI:

However, fluctuating and sometimes even downward trends in areas such as education, politics and gender violence suggest that equality is still a long way off, says the report.

The ministry of statistics and programme implementation (Mospi)'s "Women and Men in 2024" report, whose full publication was uploaded on Saturday, shows some startling trends in economic activity, such as a fourfold jump since 2021 in the number of women investing in stocks markets.

Between March 2021 and November 2024, the number of Demat accounts owned by women surged from 33.26 million to 143.02 million, showing a growing appetite for investment in equities and systemic investment plans.

Demat is a digital trading account.

These financial trends have also been reflected in private surveys.

The latest report by the Association of Mutual Funds in India, as of March 2024, showed women accounted for 33% of the total individual assets under management in mutual funds.

The number of officially recognised startups with at least one woman director rose from 1,943 in 2017 to 17,405 in 2024, the report said.