"Discrimination Continues To Be The Main Factor For India Women Earning Less, Getting Fewer Jobs", 25 March 2023

The latest National and Family Health Survey (NFHS 5) reports that the female labour force participation rate (LFPR) in India is 25 percent whereas for male LFPR it is 57.5 percent.

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India has historically reported a low female LFPR. Nepal (79 percent) and Bhutan (52 percent) are the countries with the highest female LFPRs and the rates are significantly more than India. Bangladesh (35 percent), Maldives (34 percent), and Sri Lanka (31 percent) also fare better than India.

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Oxfam India’s 2022 India Discrimination Report, which studied the differential access to the labor market...found that the Indian labour market is typically characterized by an extreme gender gap in employment and wages and discriminatory attitudes toward women.

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98 percent of the employment gap between men and women in urban areas is because of gender-based discrimination whereas differences in endowments explain only 2 percent of that gap. Additionally, 67 percent of the gender gap in wages can be attributed to gender-based discrimination.