Over recent decades, India has made impressive gains in reducing poverty and improving lives and livelihoods, lifting more than 270 million people out of poverty between 2006 and 2016.
Yet, despite these gains, women’s economic empowerment continues to lag. Before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, less than one in four women in India was estimated to participate in the labour force compared to more than three in four men. This stark gap was already amongst the highest in the world – and the impact of COVID-19 has only widened it further.
Data from numerous countries shows that women lost jobs at higher rates than men as a result of the pandemic. And even as economies regained momentum, women recovered jobs more slowly. In India, one study estimated that women were twice as likely as men to lose jobs and were far less likely to regain employment.