India is the 12th worst country for gender disparity in labour force
New Delhi: India performs poorly when it comes to gender parity in labour force participation, according to data from the United Nations Human Development Report (UNHDR).
Of the 20 countries with the widest difference in male and female labour force participation rates, India — ranked 12th — is the only non-Islamic country.
The UN defines labour force participation rate as the “proportion of the working-age population (ages 15 and older) that engages in the labour market, either by working or actively looking for work, expressed as a percentage of the working-age population”.
In India, the male labour participation rate is 78.8 per cent while the number for females is just 27.2 per cent — a difference of 51.6 per cent.
India is also far below the global female participation average of 48.7 per cent.
The worst performing country in terms of gender disparity is Afghanistan, where the difference is 67.2 per cent, followed by Yemen and the Syrian Arab Republic.
In India’s immediate neighbourhood, all countries except Pakistan perform better.
Pakistan, with a difference of 57.8 per cent, stands fourth in the list, while Bangladesh (46.8) is 18th, Sri Lanka (39) is 25th. Nepal is the best performing South Asian country — it stands 169th with a difference of just 3.2 per cent.
Economic superpowers US and China are not in the top 100 of this list — China is 104th with a difference of 14.6 per cent, while the US is 114th with a difference of 12.6 per cent.
The only two countries in the world where more females are part of the workforce than males are African nations Burundi (difference of -2.7 per cent) and Mozambique (-7.9 per cent).
In Mozambique, 82.5 per cent of working-age females are part of the labour market, as are 74.6 per cent of males. The corresponding figures for Burundi are 80.2 per cent and 77.5 per cent.
Expert opinion
Ashwini Deshpande, professor at the Delhi School of Economics, who specialises in discrimination, gender and affirmative action, said this was a worrying situation for India.
“The female labour force participation rate in India, which is already low, has declined over the last decade. This is not because women don’t want to work. There is a great deal of demand for work, but decent work is not available,” she said.
Deshpande also pointed to the burden of domestic unpaid work the women have to bear.
“On the domestic front, it is the burden of domestic work that keeps women out of the formal labour force. They do a large range of activities that are economic activities, but are unpaid,” she said.
Deshpande refused to buy the train of thought that Islam was a barrier to women’s freedom to work — after all, Muslim-majority countries like Sierra Leone, Azerbaijan and Nigeria are all ranked below 140 in the list.
“It is wrong to focus on Islam as a barrier to women’s labour force participation. Bangladesh is an Islamic country, but has a higher rate of female participation than India,” she said.
Courtesy: theprint.in
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“Full prepared..going to win,” Congress MP KC Venugopal ahead of Kerala polls
EC not functioning as a neutral institution: Venugopal
Congress MP K. C. Venugopal on Monday raised concerns over the election schedule announced by the Election Commission of India for the upcoming Kerala Assembly election, questioning the timing of the poll dates and alleging that the schedule leaves limited time for campaigning.
Speaking to news agency ANI in Delhi after the poll panel announced elections in five states and Union Territories, Venugopal said that the Congress and the United Democratic Front (UDF) are fully prepared for the elections and confident of victory. At the same time, he questioned the pattern of dates announced by the Election Commission.
“We are fully prepared, we are going to win the elections... You can see how the Election Commission has set the dates. The first phase of elections is on the 9th, nominations are due until the 23rd, scrutiny is on the 24th, nominations can be withdrawn until the 26th, and after that, there are 11 days for campaigning,” he said.
“As for Kerala, there is Easter and Good Friday in the first week...The Election Commission could have announced the dates earlier... The counting date is on May 4th, so what was the point of holding elections in Kerala so early? What is their intention behind holding elections on the same day in Kerala, Puducherry, and Assam?... We are confident that we will win, but the people of the country are seeing the biased attitude of the Election Commission...,” he added.
He further stated that his party was ready for elections irrespective of the dates announced by the poll body.
“We are going to win the election. India's strategy has been set up. And we are all ready for winning this election. But one thing as far as declaring election, even though they are giving only for five days, we are going to win the election. We have no problem,” he said.
Detailing the poll schedule while questioning the time available for campaigning, he stated, “but you can see the pattern of date which the election commission announced. Yesterday they declared election, and today they notified us. The first phase of election on April 9th, filing of nomination will be over on the 23rd of this month, 24th scrutiny, 26th withdrawal of nomination. After 26, four plus seven, 11 days campaign.”
“As far as Kerala is concerned, April first week is a holy week. The holiday week means, Good Friday is there. Nobody will do anything on Good Friday. Easter is the big festival. These festivals are natural, you have to see that. Among the 11 days, working days, two, three days will go for holidays. Then hardly seven, eight days for campaigning in this election for candidates,” the Congress MP questioned.
The Congress leader said the Election Commission could have announced the dates earlier if there was a need for an early election schedule.
Questioning the urgency behind placing Kerala in the first phase of polling, he added that the counting date is much later.
“Which is the date of counting? Fourth May. Then what is the urgency of putting Kerala in the first phase without giving sufficient time for candidates? And putting Kerala, Puducherry, Assam together, what is the intention behind that?” Venugopal questioned.
He also alleged that the Election Commission was not functioning as a neutral institution.
“The Election commission is completely losing that capacity as a neutral player. You can see 14 of our prime minister's programs over and on the 15th they announce the election, 16th notification comes,” he said.
Venugopal further stated that such tactics would not affect the Congress’ prospects in the election.
“They think that this type of techniques and tactics, because of these techniques and tactics, UDF is going to lose, and Congress is going to lose. This is their complete dream only. This is not going to happen. We are very much confident at any cost, whether they are not giving any time also, we are going to win the election,” he said.
“But the people of India are watching this. The tricks of the election commission. To restrict the campaign, people of India are watching. This I want to bring into the notice of the nation. That's all,” Venugopal said.
The Election Commission of India on Sunday announced the schedule for the Kerala Assembly election. Polling in the state will be held in a single phase on April 9 while the counting of votes is scheduled to take place on May 4.
