Survey indicates only 38 per cent indian women represent the organised workforce

Updated on: Monday, April 22, 2013

Indian women still have a long way to go when it comes to attaining socioeconomic equality with men compared to their South Asian counterparts, with only 38 per cent representing the organised workforce, according to a recent survey.

"Women are struggling to attain socioeconomic equality with men in South Asia, with some of the poorest scoring nations coming from the Indian subcontinent," according to the latest MasterCard Index of Women's Advancement released.

Overall, the Nepal leads South Asian markets, with an overall score of 55 per cent, with a high proportion of 92 per cent of Nepali women participating in the workforce, followed by Bangladesh scoring 45.5 per cent, Sri Lanka scoring 43.8 per cent, India scoring 38 per cent and Pakistan scoring 23 per cent.

The survey measured the ratio of women to every 100 men in each of the 18 Asia Pacific markets.

"It is well established that a country's social and economic development is closely tied to factors including access to education, employment and political leadership opportunities.

MasterCard Worldwide Division, President South Asia, Ari Sarker said, "While South Asia has recently witnessed an increase in the attention and focus by both public and private sectors towards affirmative action for women, much remains to be done in the march towards gender equality."

As emerging economies in the region step up their presence in the global economy, it is important that barriers preventing women in these markets from seizing economic opportunities be eliminated, he added.

In the 'employment component' of this year's index had Bangladesh topping the list with over 75 women for every 100 men in the workforce followed by Sri Lanka (66.7), Nepal (59.2), India (43.6) and Pakistan (39.7).

Pakistan had the lowest scores across the Asia Pacific region in terms of 'leadership' (3.5) with just over 3 women as business owners for every 100 men.

Sri Lanka, famous for democratically electing the world's first female head of state, ranked low in terms of 'leadership component' (12.6) and specifically the political leaders sub-indicator (6.1).

On the other hand, women in Nepal came out tops in terms of the 'political leaders' sub-indicator (49.6), in not only South Asia, but also all across Asia Pacific, for their strong representation in parliament.

India was second in the 'leadership' component, with 15.9, but ranked low in the 'political leadership' component at 12.2, even below Pakistan, which was at 26.7.

All the five neighbouring markets (India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh) ranked well in the third component, which is education, with a strong showing of scores across both secondary and tertiary sub-indicators.

Survey indicates only 38 per cent indian women represent the organised workforce

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