Women's Day 2025: How To Shift Societal Perception To Recognise Paid, Unpaid Work

The issue of women's workforce participation is deeply rooted in societal norms and structural barriers, according to Ranjana Kumari, director of the Centre for Social Research.

The social activist emphasised the need for a dual approach — understanding the factors discouraging women from workforce participation and implementing policy changes to support them.

Extensive research on mid-level women managers reveals that their stagnation in career progression is often attributed to structural barriers, such as home and social pressures. Kumari told NDTV Profit on the eve of the International Women's Day 2025. "These social factors really force women to withdraw or not join the workforce."

These barriers are only one side of the picture. The other critical factor lies in corporate policies and gender biases in hiring and promotions, according to Kumari. "The paid leaves that women take during pregnancy and after childbirth discourage corporates from hiring those women."

Gender bias in hiring processes remains prevalent, particularly for newly married women. "If you have just got married, then the interview is not blind from the gender bias. That is another reason that pushes women away from the workforce," she said.

Kumari highlighted that the gig economy, which employs a significant number of women, has a certain level of exploitation and burden of work without any insurance and job security.

Another major issue is the lack of development opportunities for women in leadership roles. "How women are viewed in terms of the development of their leadership, skilling women in the workforce and trying to give them more opportunities is still a problem as they don't get any opportunities," she added.

Beyond societal changes, policy interventions are necessary to create a gender-responsive workforce, Kumari said. "We need to also look at what the government is doing for this and what policies and laws are being framed to make the response better towards women workers."

One key policy change she suggested is joint parental responsibilities as the care work cannot go alone for women. "While a woman is given 26 weeks of maternity leave, why not give the man 12 weeks of paternity leave to take care of the baby and the mother?" she asked.

Laws, frameworks or policies should be made to enforce a shift in social norms where people are not ready to change, Kumari said. "But, unfortunately, not much has been done as women's work is not valued."

"If we start monetising the care economy, which includes unpaid domestic work and caregiving responsibilities, then that will lead to a whole paradigm shift. That will also lead to a change in the GDP and the growth of our economy will change as well," she said.

However, the lack of research and national surveys on this subject reflects a broader disinterest in acknowledging women's economic contributions.

At the core of these issues lies a deep-rooted mindset problem that begins at home. Kumari emphasised that fostering gender equality must start with early education and societal conditioning. "Respect for equality is the major mindset shift that we need to teach in our houses."