essay on gender inequality in india

Gender Inequality Essay

500+ words essay on gender inequality.

For many years, the dominant gender has been men while women were the minority. It was mostly because men earned the money and women looked after the house and children. Similarly, they didn’t have any rights as well. However, as time passed by, things started changing slowly. Nonetheless, they are far from perfect. Gender inequality remains a serious issue in today’s time. Thus, this gender inequality essay will highlight its impact and how we can fight against it.

  About Gender Inequality Essay

Gender inequality refers to the unequal and biased treatment of individuals on the basis of their gender. This inequality happens because of socially constructed gender roles. It happens when an individual of a specific gender is given different or disadvantageous treatment in comparison to a person of the other gender in the same circumstance.

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Impact of Gender Inequality

The biggest problem we’re facing is that a lot of people still see gender inequality as a women’s issue. However, by gender, we refer to all genders including male, female, transgender and others.

When we empower all genders especially the marginalized ones, they can lead their lives freely. Moreover, gender inequality results in not letting people speak their minds. Ultimately, it hampers their future and compromises it.

History is proof that fighting gender inequality has resulted in stable and safe societies. Due to gender inequality, we have a gender pay gap. Similarly, it also exposes certain genders to violence and discrimination.

In addition, they also get objectified and receive socioeconomic inequality. All of this ultimately results in severe anxiety, depression and even low self-esteem. Therefore, we must all recognize that gender inequality harms genders of all kinds. We must work collectively to stop these long-lasting consequences and this gender inequality essay will tell you how.

How to Fight Gender Inequality

Gender inequality is an old-age issue that won’t resolve within a few days. Similarly, achieving the goal of equality is also not going to be an easy one. We must start by breaking it down and allow it time to go away.

Firstly, we must focus on eradicating this problem through education. In other words, we must teach our young ones to counter gender stereotypes from their childhood.

Similarly, it is essential to ensure that they hold on to the very same beliefs till they turn old. We must show them how sports are not gender-biased.

Further, we must promote equality in the fields of labour. For instance, some people believe that women cannot do certain jobs like men. However, that is not the case. We can also get celebrities on board to promote and implant the idea of equality in people’s brains.

All in all, humanity needs men and women to continue. Thus, inequality will get us nowhere. To conclude the gender inequality essay, we need to get rid of the old-age traditions and mentality. We must teach everyone, especially the boys all about equality and respect. It requires quite a lot of work but it is possible. We can work together and achieve equal respect and opportunities for all genders alike.

FAQ of Gender Inequality Essay

Question 1: What is gender inequality?

Answer 1: Gender inequality refers to the unequal and biased treatment of individuals on the basis of their gender. This inequality happens because of socially constructed gender roles. It happens when an individual of a specific gender is given different or disadvantageous treatment in comparison to a person of the other gender in the same circumstance.

Question 2: How does gender inequality impact us?

Answer 2:  The gender inequality essay tells us that gender inequality impacts us badly. It takes away opportunities from deserving people. Moreover, it results in discriminatory behaviour towards people of a certain gender. Finally, it also puts people of a certain gender in dangerous situations.

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What are the causes of gender inequality in India?

Lower expenditure by the government on health and education may amplify gender inequality in India Image:  REUTERS/Ajay Verma

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Stay up to date:.

The burden of poverty weighs down heavier on girls and women in India than it does on the opposite sex.

An Oxfam report on inequality published in January revealed that in the workplace, women still receive 34% less wages than their male counterparts for the same work.

And as you go further down the social ladder, things get worse.

“When governments reduce their expenditures on essential public services such as education and healthcare, women and girls are the first ones to lose out on these services,” according to the report.

Gender inequality in India: statistics and causes

Girl children from the lower strata of society are lucky to see a classroom at all. In India, girls belonging to families in the top 20% get nine years of education on average, while girls from families in the bottom 20% get none at all. Even those who make it to school are often pulled out when money is tight, the report said. In addition, more than 23 million girls drop out of school annually because of a lack of toilets in school and proper menstrual hygiene management facilities.

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Then, because social norms subject women to domesticity, they often have to stay home and look after the young and the elderly.

Women in India spend around five hours a day on unpaid care work while men devote a mere half an hour on average. “This disproportionate burden of unpaid care work by women means they lose out on opportunities to participate in paid labour or are forced to undertake paid labour leading to their time poverty and loss in well-being,” the report said.

These causes of gender inequality in India create an imbalanced system that leaves women vulnerable. A survey of 1,000 households across the central-Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Uttar Pradesh last year revealed that people thought it was acceptable to criticise and beat women if they slipped up while carrying out unpaid care work. In turn, violence continuously sets women back economically. It’s a vicious cycle of gender inequality in India.

Further up the social ladder, gender inequality in India still persists. Even in India’s elite club of three-comma fortunes, women make a blink-and-miss appearance. “There are only nine women billionaires in the list, constituting just 7.5% of the Indian billionaires,” the report said.

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World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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Press release

Transforming MENtalities and Promoting Gender Equality in India

New Delhi, 18 December: Against the background of the global and pervasive epidemic of violence against women, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) organized a Partners’ Dialogue on Engaging Men and Boys for Gender Equality on 18 December 2019, at the UNESCO House, New Delhi.

The Dialogue witnessed the convergence of media, civil society organizations, donor agencies, bi-lateral and multi-lateral organizations, research institutions, and the private sector to discuss the challenges of addressing gender based violence in India and share lessons on engaging men and boys to work for Sustainable Development Goal 5 on Gender Equality.

A UNESCO preliminary stakeholders’ analysis presented during the Dialogue, identifies organizations and interventions working with men and boys across India to transform masculinities. The non-exhaustive analysis highlights the positive impact of campaigns like HeForShe (UnWomen), Mardon Waali Baat (The YP Foundation) and Bell Bajao (Breakthrough India), among many others. This analysis underscores the need for engagement with boys and men to eradicate gender based violence in India. The report further states that the social development ecosystem needs to prioritize the transformation of mentalities among boys and men.

The Dialogue began with academics and thought leaders deliberating on the historical roots and conceptualization of masculinities (i.e. what it is to be a man in a given society), in India. A major barrier highlighted during the dialogue was lack of awareness on these issues together with the lack of alternative models for what it is to be a man, to counter balance the hegemonic or prevailing conception of masculinities, which contribute to gender inequality or violence against women.

Subsequently, civil society and research organizations like the YP Foundation and The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) presented findings of interventions that worked with men to address gender based violence and masculinities. The role of the private sector, multi-lateral bodies and national policy frameworks, was discussed in the final session of the day. 

The Dialogue concluded with the stakeholders identifying priority areas such as educational reforms, shifts in societal values and the role of community leaders. These thus delineates the path to move towards a society where men at the same time do not see their self-realization hindered by stereotypes or social constraints, and are empowered to make positive contributions to a peaceful and prosperous world where men and women can equally thrive.

For further information contact:

Rekha Beri, Public Information ( r.beri@unesco.org ) Nitya Agarwal, Public Information( n.agarwal@unesco.org )

Related items

• Country page: India
• UNESCO Office in New Delhi
• SDG: SDG 5 - Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

This article is related to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals .

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Regions & Countries

In india and many other countries, there is little gap between men and women in attitudes on gender issues.

Most Indians support gender equality, but a new Pew Research Center survey finds that traditional gender norms still hold sway for many people in the country. And even though traditional norms tend to give men, rather than women, more prominent roles in several aspects of family and public life, women do not differ substantially from men in their opinions on these issues.

One example is how Indians view interactions between husbands and wives. Asked if they agree with the statement that “a wife must always obey her husband,” women in India (86%) are only slightly less likely than Indian men (89%) to say they either completely or mostly agree.

Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to find out how men and women in India differ – or don’t – in their views toward gender roles. It is based primarily on the March 2022 report “ How Indians View Gender Roles in Families and Society ,” part of the Center’s most comprehensive, in-depth exploration of Indian public opinion to date. For this report, we  surveyed 29,999 Indian adults  ages 18 and older living in 26 Indian states and three union territories. Many findings from the survey in India were previously published in “ Religion in India: Tolerance and Segregation ,” which looked in detail at religious and national identity, religious beliefs and practices, and attitudes among religious communities. Interviews for this nationally representative survey were conducted face-to-face in 17 languages from Nov. 17, 2019, to March 23, 2020.

Respondents were selected using a probability-based sample design, and data was weighted to account for the different probabilities of selection among respondents, and to align with demographic benchmarks for the Indian adult population from the 2011 census.

We also relied on a 2019 survey of 34 countries to provide a global context for the India findings.

For more information on the India survey, read its methodology . Here are the questions used in this analysis.

Here are the questions used for the 34-nation survey, along with its methodology .

This phenomenon, where women are either as likely as or only modestly less likely than men to express traditional attitudes about gender, is not unique to India. In a different survey of 34 countries conducted by Pew Research Center in the spring and summer of 2019, only 11 countries had statistically significant differences between men and women in the shares who say that if jobs are scarce, men should have more rights to employment than women. This included India, where Indian women (76%) were only somewhat less likely than Indian men (81%) to hold this view. In other words, in most of the countries surveyed, women were about as likely as men to favor job preferences for men in times of high unemployment.

Another question on the same 34-country survey asked respondents how important it is for women to have the same rights as men in their country. In most countries surveyed, women are more likely than men to voice support for gender equality, but this pattern is far from universal. In 14 countries, including Brazil and Poland, roughly the same shares of men and women say equal rights for women are very important, and in an additional seven countries, gender gaps on this question are 10 percentage points or less. In India, women (75%) are only modestly more likely than men (70%) to support equal rights for both genders.

Gender differences also are muted when it comes to Indians’ views about relationships between children and their parents. In Indian society, sons historically have been the primary caregivers for aging parents and the main beneficiaries of inheritance. In line with these and other traditions, families have tended to place higher value on – and provide more support to – their sons than their daughters, a set of attitudes and practices known as “ son preference .”

Today, while most Indian adults believe that sons and daughters should have equal responsibility to care for parents as they age, women (37%) are almost as likely as men (40%) to say it is sons who should have the primary responsibility for this. And when asked whether sons or daughters should be primarily responsible for a parent’s last rites or burial rituals, women (62%) are nearly as likely as men (64%) to say it should be sons. In addition, most Indians say sons and daughters should have equal rights to inheritance from their parents, but about a third of both women (33%) and men (34%) say that sons should have greater inheritance rights than daughters.

Against the backdrop of violence against women in India that has attracted both national and international attention, three-quarters of Indian men and women say violence against women is a “very big problem” in their country. The survey also asked respondents whether, to improve the safety of women in their community, it is more important to teach boys to respect all women or to teach girls to behave appropriately.

Around half of the Indian population – including 53% of women and 48% of men – says teaching boys to respect women is more important. But women (24%) are almost as likely as men (27%) to put the onus on women’s own behavior, saying that teaching girls to behave appropriately is the better way to improve women’s safety. Roughly a quarter of both men and women don’t take a clear position on the issue, with some saying both approaches are important, that women are already safe, or that the issue is one of law and order rather than gender norms.

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On gender differences, no consensus on nature vs. nurture, in their own words: why do americans say men or women have it easier in the u.s., americans see men as the financial providers, even as women’s contributions grow, sharing chores a key to good marriage, say majority of married adults, most popular.

About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .

Leadership & Organisations

Gender discrimination in India: a reality check

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Over the past century there has been much to rejoice about the positive development of women in India: increased visibility of women in the public sphere, closing of gender gaps in primary and secondary school enrolment, the presence of women in the labour force across international borders, and lower fertility rates. In addition, women’s organisations have been able to raise issues such as sexual and reproductive health and rights, violence against women, and inequality of power in gender relations, and make these the pivotal issues of debate in national and global arenas.

Yet these achievements have not eliminated, nor decreased, gender discrimination or patriarchy. Rather, in some cases, secular trends have reinforced patriarchal positions, says Kalpana Sankar , chief executive of Hand-in-Hand, a Tamil Nadu-based non-governmental organisation, which aims to eliminate poverty by creating jobs. “Being poor and a woman is doubly crippling. Given the constraints faced by poor women, any developmental approach for providing assistance needs to consider their reality.”

Taking charge

The focus in previous Indian government development programmes and projects has been on economic activities. That helped poor rural women in their daily struggle to feed, clothe and shelter their families. But now a more holistic approach may be needed.

Advances made in social legislation and the relative ease with which some Indian women have secured legal and political equality, entered professions and occupied positions of power has led to the perception that, unlike in some Asian societies, the status accorded to women in India is very high. In reality, says Sankar, six decades after independence and after five decades of planned development, the position of women has worsened considerably in every sphere with a declining gender ratio, a declining economic participation rate and growing gaps in life expectancy and mortality rates between men and women.

Sankar, who consults on gender and microfinance issues for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), Christian Aid, Wetlands International and the government of South Africa, told INSEAD Knowledge that dominant cultural norms and values in India stress the responsibility of the male for protecting and providing for their households, with women as life-long dependents. While women can be expected to be provided for, they are assigned a subordinate status within the household and society at large. Their dependent status leaves them vulnerable to ‘patriarchal risk’, that is, there would likely be an abrupt decline in their economic welfare and social status if they no longer had male guardianship. The greater the dependence, the greater the risk.

The numbers tell the story

The gender ratio, that is the proportion of females per thousand males, has fallen from 962 in 1901 to 933 in 2001 in India. “This is inconsistent with the relatively larger increase in the life expectancy of females as compared with males,” argues Sankar. “The deepening of sex ratio imbalances can be largely attributed to a marked preference for a son in tandem with a rapid decline in fertility, as infant daughters may be subjected to maltreatment, neglect and abandonment, and new technologies allow sex selective biases against females. According to the most recent estimates, China and India account for nearly 80 per cent of all ‘missing women’ in the world.”

The work participation rate for Indian men at 51.9 per cent is nearly double that of the female participation rate of 25.7 per cent. Given India’s social milieu, this is not surprising, says Sankar, as by and large women undertake productive work only when they have to, due to their economic circumstances. Hence, female participation rates are higher for economically underprivileged communities. Women continue to be concentrated in jobs with low pay and authority levels, placing limits on their overall access to income, status and power. Though literacy rates for women at 53.67 per cent continue to lag behind those for men at 75.26 per cent; more women are now seeking economically productive work outside the home with increasing literacy and decreasing birth rates.

Even as the latest UNDP Report ranks India 119 in the Human Development Index, in the Gender Inequality Index, India ranks 122 at 0.748. “Women and children are the most disadvantaged sections of the population in terms of resources, access to healthcare, education, information and communication technology,” says Sankar. “Female-male ratio of representation in parliament is a mere 0.1, female-male ratio of population with at least secondary education is 0.5.”

Glass ceilings that need to be broken

Sankar sees a need to empower women to avoid perpetuating women as second-class citizens in the house, community, society, religion, politics and culture.

“Women are supposed to be humble, modest and accommodating, and are instantly seen as being weak or emotional if they find it difficult to take a tough decision or stand,” says Sankar. “Even loans are denied to single women and they are marginalised to a large extent even among the literate community. Women are not perceived as successful even if they make progress in their careers if they are not able to manage their home front. Women are scrutinised much more than men: mistakes committed by women and women leaders are blown out of proportion in comparison to their male counterparts.”

Sankar adds that women are generally viewed in their reproductive roles, taking care of their families, without political rights being taken into consideration. “Citizenship has for long been a largely male domain with women firmly embedded in cultural institutions in the realm of family and community. The impact of political institutions of law and citizenship on women has been largely overlooked, as has been the manner in which these institutions are regulated and controlled by the state’s mechanisms.” Consequently women are treated as being “different from men, leading to formulation of policies specific to them.”

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Grace segran.

is a writer and editor at INSEAD

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Anonymous User

28/06/2015, 03.10 am

Great, but understanding of the glass ceiling is very important. I have so many reading about the glass ceiling, and what I got about my reading is gender discrimination against women is not only common in North America, Europe and Australia but is a repetitive pattern globally For example, three out of five of the research articles questioned whether or not the "Glass ceiling" really exists for women, which prevents them from getting highly paid roles amid their work force. Not only did the researchers identify the promotion gap differences but were also keen on analyzing whether or not men and women were being rewarded equally in one is promoted.

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04/01/2013, 11.11 am

Great article with good statistics. I agree with the Sankar that although there seems to be some headway women have made in India it is still confined to a fraction of the total female population. Glass ceiling and other methods to marginalize the women still exists in every facet of the Indian society.

01/01/2013, 12.58 pm

While there are specks of truth in this article, overall this is a totally biased and lopsided view. I am an Indian citizen and I can see a perceptible change in the status of women in households over the past 2 decades of my life. The pecking order has definitely changed with most of the women being equal partners and contributors in household decisions. All that said, there definitely is a lot of scope for improvement, more so with respect to change of cultural mindset in the Indian households.

28/12/2012, 08.08 pm

Dear Madam,

I wish you for your above expressed articles is very useful to our gender discrimination & Equality-Inequality training in future .

'' HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013 ''.Greetings...to you & your family and circle.

Thanking you Madam.

- Sadaiyandi

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The multiple faces of inequality in India

Post-doctoral research fellow in economics, Centre de Sciences Humaines de New Delhi

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Known for its caste system, India is often thought of as one of the world’s most unequal countries. The 2022 World Inequality Report (WIR), headed by leading economist Thomas Piketty and his protégé, Lucas Chancel, did nothing to improve this reputation. Their research showed that the gap between the rich and the poor in India is at a historical high, with the top 10% holding 57% of national income – more than the average of 50% under British colonial rule (1858-1947). In contrast, the bottom half accrued only 13% of national revenue. A February report by Oxfam noted 2021 alone saw 84% of households suffer a loss of income while the number of Indian billionaires grew from 102 to 142.

Both reports highlight not only the problem of revenue inequality but also of opportunity. While there may be disagreement between left and right on the ethics of equality, there is a consensus that everyone should be given the chance to succeed and the principle of fairness – and not factors such as birth, region, race, gender, ethnicity or family backgrounds – ought to lay the foundations of a level playing field for all.

Drawing from the latest pre-pandemic database from the Periodic Labour Force Survey of 2018-19, our research confirms this is far from the case in India. On the one hand, the country has had a consistently high GDP growth rate of more than 7% for nearly two decades, the exception being the period around the 2008 financial crisis. On the other hand, this income has failed to trickle down to India’s marginalised communities, with preliminary results pointing to a higher level of inequality of opportunity in the country than in Brazil or Guatemala.

Precarity as well as a large shadow economy also plague the country’s labour market. Even before the pandemic, only 30% to 40% of regular salaried adult Indian earners had job contracts or social securities such as national pension schemes, provident fund or health insurance. For self-employed workers, the situation is even more critical, even though these constituted nearly 60% of the Indian labour force in 2019.

Castes, gender and background still determine life chances

Our research indicated that at least 30% of earning inequality is still determined by caste, gender and family backgrounds. The seriousness of this figure becomes clear when it’s compared with rates of the world’s most egalitarian countries, such as Finland and Norway, where the respective estimates are below 10% for a similar set of social and family attributes.

The caste system is a distinctive feature of Indian inequality. Emerging around 1500 BC, the hereditary social classification draws its origins from occupational hierarchy. Ancient Indian society was thought to be divided in four Varnas or castes: Brahmins (the priests), Khatriyas (the soldiers), Vaishyas (the traders) and Shudras (the servants), in order of hierarchy. Apart from the above four, there were the “untouchables” or Dalits (the oppressed), as they are called now, who were prohibited to come into contact with any of the upper castes. These groups were further subdivided in thousands of sub-castes or Jatis , with complicated internal hierarchy, eventually merged into fewer manageable categories under the British colonisation period.

The Indian constitution secures the rights of the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Class (OBC) through a caste-based reservation quota, by virtue of which a certain portion of higher-education admissions, public sector jobs, political or legislative representations, are reserved for them. Despite this, there is a notable earning inequality between these social categories and the rest of the population, who consists of no more than 30% to 35% of Indian population. Adopting a data-driven approach we find that, on average, SC, ST and OBC still earn less than the rest.

While unique, the caste system is not the only source of unfairness. Indeed, it accounts for less than 7% of inequality of opportunity, something that’s in itself laudable. We will need to add criteria such as gender and family background differences to explain 30% of inequality.

In a country where femicides and rapes regularly make headlines, it comes as no surprise that women from marginalised social groups are often subject to a “double disadvantage”. For some states such as Rajasthan (in the country’s northwest), Andhra Pradesh (south), Maharashtra (centre), we find even upper-caste women enjoy fewer educational opportunities than men from the marginalised SC/ST communities. Even among the graduates, while the national average employment rate for males is 70%, it is below 30% for the females.

A temporary byproduct of rising growth?

Rising inequality could be dismissed as a temporary byproduct of rapid growth on the grounds of Simon Kuznets’ famous hypothesis , according to which inequality rises with rapid growth before eventually subsiding. However, there is no guarantee of this, least of all because widening gap between rich and poor is not only limited to fast-growing countries such as India. Indeed, a 2019 study found that the growth-inequality relationship often reflects inequality of opportunity and prospects of growth are relatively dim for economies with a bumpy distribution of opportunities.

Despite sporadic evidence of converging caste or gender gaps, our research shows an intricate web of social hierarchy has been cast over every aspect of life in India. It is true that some deprived castes may withdraw from school early to explore traditional jobs available to their caste-based networks – thereby limiting their opportunities. However, are they responsible for such choices or it is the precariousness of the Indian economy that pushes them down such routes? There is no straightforward answer to these questions, even if some of the “bad choices” that individuals make can result more from pressure than choice.

Given the complicated intertwining of various forms of hierarchy in India, broad policies targeting inequality may have less success than anticipated. Dozens of factors other than caste, gender or family background feed into inequality, including home sanitation, school facilities, domestic violence, access to basic infrastructure such as electricity, water or healthcare, crime rates, political stability of the locality, environmental risks and many more.

Better data would allow researchers studying India to capture the contours of its society and also help gauge the effectiveness of policies intended to expand opportunities for the neediest.

Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the AXA Research Fund has supported nearly 700 projects around the world conducted by researchers in 38 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the AXA Research Fund or follow on Twitter @AXAResearchFund.

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Gender Equality Essay

500+ words gender equality essay.

Every citizen has the right to live their life according to their wish without any discrimination. It can be achieved when all individuals are considered equal irrespective of caste, religion, language, colour, profession, status and sex. The most prominent discrimination that we observe is gender inequality. Even in many developed countries, we see several examples of gender bias, which need to be urgently addressed. Gender equality can only be achieved when both males and females are treated equally. With the help of this essay on Gender Equality, students will know what gender equality is and how it can be achieved in society. This essay will also provide an overview of the different types of problems women face due to gender discrimination.

Gender Equality

Gender equality refers to equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities for both women and men. It implies that the interests, needs and priorities of both women and men are taken into consideration, recognizing the diversity of different groups of women and men. Worldwide, women’s fundamental rights continue to be violated, and they face discrimination in access to education, work, social protection, inheritance, economic assets, productive resources, and participation in decision-making and society. Women spend two to ten times more time on unpaid work than men, which is one of the main obstacles to economic and political empowerment.

Persistent differences and disparities between men and women have negative implications for society as a whole. Women represent half the resources and half the potential in any society. This potential remains unrealized when women are constrained by inequality and discrimination. Many gender disparities emerge in early childhood and intensify in adolescence. Girls are deprived of access to health care or proper nutrition, leading to a higher mortality rate. As they move into the age of adolescence, gender disparities widen. Child marriage affects girls far more than boys. Globally, nearly 15 million girls under age 18 are married every year. It’s difficult for them to access education. Girls still face barriers to entry into primary and secondary school. The lack of education provided limits access to skills and jobs in good organisations and at reputed posts.

How to Achieve Gender Equality in India?

Women’s and girls’ education is a vital component that helps in gender equality. By obtaining proper education, the door to many new opportunities will open up for women. They get skilled and can easily find employment. Employment will empower them and give them financial independence, alternative sources of social identity, and exposure to power structures independent of kin networks. It will give them the independence to make decisions of their own choice. The path of gender equality can be further reduced at work by reducing the gender pay, earnings and pension gaps.

Another crucial step towards gender equality is eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls in public and private spheres. Apart from it, it is essential to eliminate all harmful practices by society, such as early and forced marriage, the dowry system, etc. We should try to make our environment and surroundings more safe and healthy for women and girls.

Women should try to come into power through leadership roles in all sectors. This will increase the presence of women in different fields and motivate other women and girls. Power in the hands of women will ensure their full and effective participation at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life. Women’s equal rights to economic resources also promote gender rquality. They get access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance, and natural resources through this right.

India ranks 112 in the Global Gender Gap index among 153 countries. Due to this, the Government has also taken various steps to promote Gender Equality. They launch various women empowerment schemes such as Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Scheme, One Stop Centre Scheme, Women Helpline Scheme, UJJAWALA, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, National Mission for Empowerment of Women etc.

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Frequently Asked Questions on Gender Equality Essay

What are the main indexes to measure gender inequality.

According to the World Health Organization, the Gender Inequality Index indicates disparities in three main aspects as given below: 1. Reproductive health: The health dimension is measured by the maternal mortality ratio and the adolescent fertility rate.

2. Empowerment: The empowerment dimension is measured by the share of parliamentary seats held by each gender, and by secondary and higher education attainment levels.

3. Labour market: The labour dimension is measured by women’s participation in the workforce.

How can we improve gender equality?

1. Educate girls: The government should take steps to ensure that girls get equal opportunities in the education system. This can be done by giving scholarships, sensitising parents, ensuring amenities like toilets, etc.

2. Allow women to have equal economic rights: Women should be given equal pay for equal work in the employment sector.

3. Avoid violence and sexual harassment against women: Laws should be enacted and strictly enforced to prevent violence and sexual harassment against women

4. Spread awareness about child marriage: Social evils like child marriage can be eradicated from society by raising awareness about their ill effects on the social, physical and emotional well-being of girls.

How to help children understand this issue?

Awareness programmes and campaigns can be organised to sensitise society about the negative effects of gender inequality. After all, no society can progress by ignoring the rights of half of its population, which is made up of women. Governments should ensure that boys and girls are treated equally in schools. Students must be taught how to mutually respect each other.

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Gender Equality Essay

Everyone should live as they want in society, and there should be no discrimination. Equality in society is achieved when all people, regardless of their caste, gender, colour, profession, and status rank, are considered equal. Another way to describe equality is that everyone gets the same rights and opportunities to develop and progress forward. Here are a few sample essays on ‘Gender Equality’.

100 Words Essay On Gender Equality

Gender equality is the belief that men and women should be treated and perceived as equals in society, including all areas such as education, employment, and in decision-making positions. It is a fundamental human right and a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable world.

Despite significant progress in advancing gender equality, women and girls continue to face barriers and discrimination in many areas of society. This includes the gender pay gap, difficult access to education and employment opportunities, and limited representation in leadership positions. Creating a more equal society benefits everyone, as it leads to greater prosperity and happiness for all. It is important for individuals, communities, and governments to work towards achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls to reach their full potential.

200 Words Essay On Gender Equality

Gender equality is the equal treatment and perception of individuals of all genders in society.

Importance Of Gender Equality

Gender equality is important because it is a fundamental human right and is necessary for a peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable society. When everyone, regardless of their gender, is treated fairly and has equal opportunities, it can lead to greater prosperity and happiness for all.

Additionally, gender equality can have a positive impact on economic growth and development. When women and girls are able to fully participate and get proper education and employment opportunities, it can lead to increased productivity and innovation. It can also contribute to more balanced and representative decision-making, which can lead to more effective and fair policies and practices.

Furthermore, gender equality is essential for promoting social justice and fairness. When women and girls are marginalized and discriminated against, it can lead to a range of negative outcomes, including poverty, poor health, and reduced opportunities for personal and professional development. Overall, the promotion of gender equality is important for creating a more equal, fair, and just society for all.

Encouraging Gender Equality

Efforts to promote gender equality must involve the active participation and engagement of both men and women. This includes challenging and changing harmful gender norms and stereotypes, and promoting policies and laws that protect and advance the rights of women and girls.

500 Words Essay On Gender Equality

Everyone in the country has the same fundamental freedom to pursue happiness whichever way they see fit. It's possible if people of various backgrounds (race, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic class, gender) are treated with respect and dignity. Gender disparity is the most noticeable kind of prejudice. Gender discrimination persists even in many modern nations and calls for immediate action. When men and women are given the same opportunities, we will achieve gender equality. Furthermore, this essay will outline the many issues women encounter due to gender discrimination.

Prevalence Of Gender Inequality

Gender inequality is prevalent in many sectors and areas of society. Some examples include:

Education: Women and girls may face barriers to accessing education, such as lack of resources, cultural or societal barriers, and discrimination.

Employment: Women and girls may face discrimination in the workplace, including lower pay for the same work as men, lack of promotion opportunities, and limited representation in leadership positions.

Health care: Women and girls may face discrimination and inadequate access to quality health care, particularly in areas related to reproductive and sexual health.

Political representation: Women are often underrepresented in political leadership positions and decision-making processes.

Domestic violence: Women and girls may face higher rates of domestic violence and abuse, and may lack adequate protection and support from the justice system.

Media and advertising: Women and girls are often portrayed in stereotypical and objectifying ways in the media and advertising, which can reinforce harmful gender norms and stereotypes.

Gender inequality is a widespread issue that affects many areas of society, and it is important to work towards promoting gender equality in all sectors.

How India Can Achieve Gender Equality

Achieving gender equality in India will require a multi-faceted approach that involves addressing social norms and stereotypes, strengthening laws and policies, increasing women's representation in leadership positions, promoting women's economic empowerment, and improving access to health care.

Address social norms and stereotypes: It is important to challenge and change harmful gender norms and stereotypes that contribute to gender inequality. This can be done through education campaigns and programs that promote gender equality and challenge traditional gender roles.

Strengthen laws and policies: India can work to strengthen laws and policies that protect and advance the rights of women and girls, such as laws against domestic violence and discrimination, and policies that promote equal pay for equal work and access to education and employment.

Increase women's representation in leadership positions: India can work to increase the representation of women in leadership positions, including in politics, business, and other sectors, to ensure that women have a stronger voice in decision-making processes.

Promote women's economic empowerment: Providing women with access to education, employment, and financial resources can help to empower them and enable them to fully participate in society.

Improve access to health care: Ensuring that women and girls have access to quality health care, including reproductive and sexual health care, is essential for promoting gender equality.

My Experience

I remember one time when I was working as an intern at a small consulting firm. At the end of my internship, I was offered a full-time position. However, when I received the offer letter, I noticed that my male colleagues who were also being offered full-time positions had been offered a higher salary than me, even though we had all performed the same job duties during our internships.

I was frustrated and felt that I was being treated unfairly because of my gender. I decided to bring this issue to the attention of my supervisor, and after some negotiation, I was able to secure a salary that was equal to that of my male colleagues.

This experience taught me the importance of advocating for myself and not accepting inequality, and it also made me more aware of the ways in which gender bias can manifest in the workplace. I believe that it is important for individuals to speak up and take action when they see instances of gender inequality, and for organizations to make a conscious effort to promote gender equality and fairness in all aspects of their operations.

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Audiologist

The audiologist career involves audiology professionals who are responsible to treat hearing loss and proactively preventing the relevant damage. Individuals who opt for a career as an audiologist use various testing strategies with the aim to determine if someone has a normal sensitivity to sounds or not. After the identification of hearing loss, a hearing doctor is required to determine which sections of the hearing are affected, to what extent they are affected, and where the wound causing the hearing loss is found. As soon as the hearing loss is identified, the patients are provided with recommendations for interventions and rehabilitation such as hearing aids, cochlear implants, and appropriate medical referrals. While audiology is a branch of science that studies and researches hearing, balance, and related disorders.

An oncologist is a specialised doctor responsible for providing medical care to patients diagnosed with cancer. He or she uses several therapies to control the cancer and its effect on the human body such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy and biopsy. An oncologist designs a treatment plan based on a pathology report after diagnosing the type of cancer and where it is spreading inside the body.

Are you searching for an ‘Anatomist job description’? An Anatomist is a research professional who applies the laws of biological science to determine the ability of bodies of various living organisms including animals and humans to regenerate the damaged or destroyed organs. If you want to know what does an anatomist do, then read the entire article, where we will answer all your questions.

For an individual who opts for a career as an actor, the primary responsibility is to completely speak to the character he or she is playing and to persuade the crowd that the character is genuine by connecting with them and bringing them into the story. This applies to significant roles and littler parts, as all roles join to make an effective creation. Here in this article, we will discuss how to become an actor in India, actor exams, actor salary in India, and actor jobs. 

Individuals who opt for a career as acrobats create and direct original routines for themselves, in addition to developing interpretations of existing routines. The work of circus acrobats can be seen in a variety of performance settings, including circus, reality shows, sports events like the Olympics, movies and commercials. Individuals who opt for a career as acrobats must be prepared to face rejections and intermittent periods of work. The creativity of acrobats may extend to other aspects of the performance. For example, acrobats in the circus may work with gym trainers, celebrities or collaborate with other professionals to enhance such performance elements as costume and or maybe at the teaching end of the career.

Video Game Designer

Career as a video game designer is filled with excitement as well as responsibilities. A video game designer is someone who is involved in the process of creating a game from day one. He or she is responsible for fulfilling duties like designing the character of the game, the several levels involved, plot, art and similar other elements. Individuals who opt for a career as a video game designer may also write the codes for the game using different programming languages.

Depending on the video game designer job description and experience they may also have to lead a team and do the early testing of the game in order to suggest changes and find loopholes.

Radio Jockey

Radio Jockey is an exciting, promising career and a great challenge for music lovers. If you are really interested in a career as radio jockey, then it is very important for an RJ to have an automatic, fun, and friendly personality. If you want to get a job done in this field, a strong command of the language and a good voice are always good things. Apart from this, in order to be a good radio jockey, you will also listen to good radio jockeys so that you can understand their style and later make your own by practicing.

A career as radio jockey has a lot to offer to deserving candidates. If you want to know more about a career as radio jockey, and how to become a radio jockey then continue reading the article.

Choreographer

The word “choreography" actually comes from Greek words that mean “dance writing." Individuals who opt for a career as a choreographer create and direct original dances, in addition to developing interpretations of existing dances. A Choreographer dances and utilises his or her creativity in other aspects of dance performance. For example, he or she may work with the music director to select music or collaborate with other famous choreographers to enhance such performance elements as lighting, costume and set design.

Social Media Manager

A career as social media manager involves implementing the company’s or brand’s marketing plan across all social media channels. Social media managers help in building or improving a brand’s or a company’s website traffic, build brand awareness, create and implement marketing and brand strategy. Social media managers are key to important social communication as well.

Photographer

Photography is considered both a science and an art, an artistic means of expression in which the camera replaces the pen. In a career as a photographer, an individual is hired to capture the moments of public and private events, such as press conferences or weddings, or may also work inside a studio, where people go to get their picture clicked. Photography is divided into many streams each generating numerous career opportunities in photography. With the boom in advertising, media, and the fashion industry, photography has emerged as a lucrative and thrilling career option for many Indian youths.

An individual who is pursuing a career as a producer is responsible for managing the business aspects of production. They are involved in each aspect of production from its inception to deception. Famous movie producers review the script, recommend changes and visualise the story. 

They are responsible for overseeing the finance involved in the project and distributing the film for broadcasting on various platforms. A career as a producer is quite fulfilling as well as exhaustive in terms of playing different roles in order for a production to be successful. Famous movie producers are responsible for hiring creative and technical personnel on contract basis.

Copy Writer

In a career as a copywriter, one has to consult with the client and understand the brief well. A career as a copywriter has a lot to offer to deserving candidates. Several new mediums of advertising are opening therefore making it a lucrative career choice. Students can pursue various copywriter courses such as Journalism , Advertising , Marketing Management . Here, we have discussed how to become a freelance copywriter, copywriter career path, how to become a copywriter in India, and copywriting career outlook. 

In a career as a vlogger, one generally works for himself or herself. However, once an individual has gained viewership there are several brands and companies that approach them for paid collaboration. It is one of those fields where an individual can earn well while following his or her passion. 

Ever since internet costs got reduced the viewership for these types of content has increased on a large scale. Therefore, a career as a vlogger has a lot to offer. If you want to know more about the Vlogger eligibility, roles and responsibilities then continue reading the article. 

For publishing books, newspapers, magazines and digital material, editorial and commercial strategies are set by publishers. Individuals in publishing career paths make choices about the markets their businesses will reach and the type of content that their audience will be served. Individuals in book publisher careers collaborate with editorial staff, designers, authors, and freelance contributors who develop and manage the creation of content.

Careers in journalism are filled with excitement as well as responsibilities. One cannot afford to miss out on the details. As it is the small details that provide insights into a story. Depending on those insights a journalist goes about writing a news article. A journalism career can be stressful at times but if you are someone who is passionate about it then it is the right choice for you. If you want to know more about the media field and journalist career then continue reading this article.

Individuals in the editor career path is an unsung hero of the news industry who polishes the language of the news stories provided by stringers, reporters, copywriters and content writers and also news agencies. Individuals who opt for a career as an editor make it more persuasive, concise and clear for readers. In this article, we will discuss the details of the editor's career path such as how to become an editor in India, editor salary in India and editor skills and qualities.

Individuals who opt for a career as a reporter may often be at work on national holidays and festivities. He or she pitches various story ideas and covers news stories in risky situations. Students can pursue a BMC (Bachelor of Mass Communication) , B.M.M. (Bachelor of Mass Media) , or  MAJMC (MA in Journalism and Mass Communication) to become a reporter. While we sit at home reporters travel to locations to collect information that carries a news value.  

Corporate Executive

Are you searching for a Corporate Executive job description? A Corporate Executive role comes with administrative duties. He or she provides support to the leadership of the organisation. A Corporate Executive fulfils the business purpose and ensures its financial stability. In this article, we are going to discuss how to become corporate executive.

Multimedia Specialist

A multimedia specialist is a media professional who creates, audio, videos, graphic image files, computer animations for multimedia applications. He or she is responsible for planning, producing, and maintaining websites and applications. 

Quality Controller

A quality controller plays a crucial role in an organisation. He or she is responsible for performing quality checks on manufactured products. He or she identifies the defects in a product and rejects the product. 

A quality controller records detailed information about products with defects and sends it to the supervisor or plant manager to take necessary actions to improve the production process.

Production Manager

A QA Lead is in charge of the QA Team. The role of QA Lead comes with the responsibility of assessing services and products in order to determine that he or she meets the quality standards. He or she develops, implements and manages test plans. 

Process Development Engineer

The Process Development Engineers design, implement, manufacture, mine, and other production systems using technical knowledge and expertise in the industry. They use computer modeling software to test technologies and machinery. An individual who is opting career as Process Development Engineer is responsible for developing cost-effective and efficient processes. They also monitor the production process and ensure it functions smoothly and efficiently.

AWS Solution Architect

An AWS Solution Architect is someone who specializes in developing and implementing cloud computing systems. He or she has a good understanding of the various aspects of cloud computing and can confidently deploy and manage their systems. He or she troubleshoots the issues and evaluates the risk from the third party. 

Azure Administrator

An Azure Administrator is a professional responsible for implementing, monitoring, and maintaining Azure Solutions. He or she manages cloud infrastructure service instances and various cloud servers as well as sets up public and private cloud systems. 

Computer Programmer

Careers in computer programming primarily refer to the systematic act of writing code and moreover include wider computer science areas. The word 'programmer' or 'coder' has entered into practice with the growing number of newly self-taught tech enthusiasts. Computer programming careers involve the use of designs created by software developers and engineers and transforming them into commands that can be implemented by computers. These commands result in regular usage of social media sites, word-processing applications and browsers.

Information Security Manager

Individuals in the information security manager career path involves in overseeing and controlling all aspects of computer security. The IT security manager job description includes planning and carrying out security measures to protect the business data and information from corruption, theft, unauthorised access, and deliberate attack 

ITSM Manager

Automation test engineer.

An Automation Test Engineer job involves executing automated test scripts. He or she identifies the project’s problems and troubleshoots them. The role involves documenting the defect using management tools. He or she works with the application team in order to resolve any issues arising during the testing process. 

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Gendered Impact on Unemployment: A Case Study of India during the COVID-19 Pandemic

India witnessed one of the worst coronavirus crises in the world. The pandemic induced sharp contraction in economic activity that caused unemployment to rise, upheaving the existing gender divides in the country. Using monthly data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy on subnational economies of India from January 2019 to May 2021, we find that a) unemployment gender gap narrowed during the COVID-19 pandemic in comparison to the pre-pandemic era, largely driven by male unemployment dynamics, b) the recovery in the post-lockdown periods had spillover effects on the unemployment gender gap in rural regions, and c) the unemployment gender gap during the national lockdown period was narrower than the second wave.

Introduction

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has adversely impacted labour markets all around the world. According to the International Labour Organization, the working hours lost in 2020 were equal to 255 million full-time jobs, which translated into labour income losses worth US$3.7 trillion (International Labour Organization 2021). Due to the existing gender inequalities, women were more vulnerable to the economic impact of COVID-19 (Madgavkar et al. 2020). The sudden closure of schools and daycare centres due to the Great Lockdown exacerbated the burden of unpaid care on women (Collins et al. 2020; Power 2020; Czymara et al. 2020; Seck et al. 2021). Women also disproportionately represented the accommodation, food services, and retail and wholesale trade sectors, which were worst-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic (Alon et al. 2020; Adams-Prassl et al. 2020; Bonacini et al. 2021). In most countries, women often work in these sectors without any work protection or job guarantee (United Nations Women 2020), leading them to loose their livelihoods faster than men while also dealing with their deteriorating mental health. India is an interesting case study with one of the lowest female labour force participation rates (LFPRs) globally to analyse how the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the pre-existing gender disparities in unemployment. According to the World Bank data, India’s female LFPRs was approximately 21% in 2019, the lowest among the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) and 26 percentage points lower than the global average. An even more troubling fact is that women’s LFPRs has been falling since the mid-2000s (Ghai 2018; Andres et al. 2017; Sarkar et al. 2019). Since the onset of the pandemic, women in India have been increasingly dropping out of the labour force. As seen in Figure 1, the greater female labour force, which comprises unemployed females who are active and inactive job seekers, has been lower than the pre-pandemic average since April 2020. The number of unemployed women actively looking for jobs has also been lower than the pre-pandemic average barring the months of April, May, and December in 2020. On the contrary, the number of women who are unemployed but inactive in their job search has risen drastically, albeit with minor fluctuations, during this period (Figure 2). A recent survey by Deloitte (2021) identified that the burden of household chores and responsibility for childcare and family dependents increased exponentially for women worldwide and more so in India due to the pandemic. The surveyed women mentioned increase in work and caregiving responsibilities as the main reasons for considering leaving the workforce.

Figure 1 : Percent Change in Female Greater Labour Force and Unemployed Active Job Seekers Compared to the Pre-pandemic Average

Source: Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy April 2020 - May 2021

Figure 2: Percent Change in Female Unemployed and Inactive Job Seekers Compared to the Pre-pandemic Average

Figure 3: Unemployment Rate in India (Percent)

Source: Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Jan 2020 - May 2021  

This study analyses the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the gender unemployment gap from its onset until the second wave using the subnational-level monthly data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). The gender unemployment gap is defined as the difference between male and female unemployment rates  ( Albanesi and Şahin 2018 ). We assess the gender unemployment gap during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic era using a difference-in-differences (DID) model. A preliminary investigation of the gender unemployment gap based on the raw data reveals that the gap declined in the lockdown period compared to the pre-lockdown period (Figure 3). We find the gender gap to widen during the second wave, albeit smaller than the pre-pandemic level.

Although a large number of national-level studies were conducted on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on unemployment (Estupinan and Sharma 2020; Estupinan et al. 2020; Bhalotia et al. 2020; Chiplunkar et al. 2020; Afridi et al. 2021; Deshpande 2020; Desai et al. 2021), this study is among the very first to assess the impact of the second wave of COVID-19 on the unemployment gender gap in India. A previous study found the rise in male unemployment during the lockdown period contributing to a smaller gender gap (Zhang et al. 2021). In this study, we take one step further to assess the effect of the second COVID-19 wave on the unemployment gender gap in India.

The remainder of the article is organised as follows. In Sections 2 and 3, we present the data sources and some facts on the unemployment trend in India. The effects of first and second COVID-19 waves on unemployment disaggregated by gender are discussed in Section 4. Section 5 delves into the gendered impact on unemployment dynamics across urban and rural regions. The concluding remarks are presented in Section 6.

Data and Methodology

In this study, we use the subnational-level monthly employment data from the CMIE from the period of

January 2019 to May 2021 . Starting from January 2016, the CMIE has been conducting household surveys in India on a triennial basis, covering the periods of January to April, May to August, and September to December. This is the only nationally representative employment data in the absence of official government data (Abraham and Shrivastava 2019) and has been used by several employment studies on India (Beyer et al. 2020; Deshpande 2020; Deshpande and Ramachandran 2020).

The employment data are classified into three categories—the number of persons employed, the number of persons unemployed and actively seeking jobs, and the number of persons unemployed and not actively seeking jobs. The sum of these three categories constitutes the greater labour force. The data are also disaggregated by gender (male and female) and residence (rural and urban).[1]   For the analysis, we focus on five time periods as indicated in Table 1.

Table 1: Time Periods

For state[2] i at time t, we construct the unemployment rate as given below:

Unemployment rate = Number of persons unemployed and seeking jobs/Greater labour force                                                                                                    (1)

Stylised Facts on Unemployment

This section describes some stylised facts based on the subnational unemployment data from February 2019 to May 2021. To this end, we estimate the regression model below:

where Unemp it is the unemployment rate of state i in time t . To see the unemployment dynamics over the period of study, we use a binary variable Month s that takes the value one for month s and 0, otherwise. The model takes into consideration the impact of past unemployment rates, represented by  Unemp it −1. Additionally, the state fixed effects  δ i  are included to account for unobserved, time-invariant state-level characteristics that may potentially confound our estimates.

Figure 4: Trends in Unemployment Rate

Our coefficient of interest is β 1 s which depicts the time trend in unemployment. The results from the model estimation are shown in Figure 4, in which we can see the dynamics of aggregate unemployment in India from February 2019 to May 2021. The vertical axis pertains to coefficient β 1 s , and the horizontal axis corresponds to the respective months. In Figure 4, the aggregate unemployment rate is found to be relatively stable during the pre-pandemic era. This trend faces an overhaul during the national lockdown (April–May 2020) with a structural upward shift in the unemployment rate. The shock to the unemployment rate does not persist as economic recovery during the post-lockdown period enables unemployment to fall steadily from June 2020 onwards. The unemployment rate becomes stable from January to March 2020 as the country returned to a sense of normalcy with the continued resumption of economic activity.[3]   However, the economic impact from the onset of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic caused the unemployment rate to rise again in April and May 2021.

Next, we estimate Equation (3) separately for the female and male unemployment rates to assess the gender differential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on unemployment in India.[4]

where binary variable Quarter s  takes the value one for quarter s in the time period of our sample. The model also accounts for lagged unemployment effects through Unemp it −1.

Figure 5: Trends in Unemployment Rate by Gender

Figure 5 shows that a stark gender gap in the unemployment rate (distance between the red and blue lines) exists in the pre-pandemic era as the male unemployment rate is consistently lower than that of the female. Figure 5 also shows that the gender gap dynamics are primarily driven by male unemployment. The sharp rise in male unemployment during the national lockdown causes the gender gap to close in Q2 2020. The post-lockdown recovery (Q3–Q4 2020) is found to have a favourable impact on male unemployment, causing gender gap to revert to the pre-pandemic levels. Although both males and females lost jobs during the onset of the second wave (Q2 2021), the gender gap narrowed as males are found to lose more jobs in absolute terms.

Figure 6: Trends in Urban and Rural Unemployment Rate by Gender

Figure 6 shows the estimates of β 1 s  (see Equation [3]) for urban and rural unemployment in Panels (a) and (b), respectively. During the national lockdown, the sharp rise in male unemployment is more evident in urban areas than rural. In fact, the national lockdown period dynamics in aggregate male and female unemployment in Figure 5 largely resemble the effects seen in the urban region (see Figure 6, Panel [a]). The post-lockdown recovery suits male unemployment, both in rural and urban areas. Female unemployment remains stable in rural areas during the pandemic.

Figure 7: Trends in Regional Unemployment Rate by Gender

7 c                                                                                                                                                                         

The subsample regression estimates of β 1 s  pertaining to the north, east, west and south regions are shown in Figure 7. All regions witnessed a rise in male unemployment during the national lockdown period. On the contrary, the female unemployment dynamics differ between regions. During the national lockdown period, female unemployment rose in the west and south regions (Panels [c] and [d] in Figure 7). The north region shows an interesting anomaly (Panel [a] in Figure 7). Contrary to other regions, female unemployment dipped steeply in the north during the national lockdown period. East region alone did not 

experience any strong movements in female unemployment throughout the pandemic (Panel [b] in Figure 7).

Impact of COVID-19 on Unemployment

Section 3 discussed how the overall unemployment and unemployment gender gap witnessed structural breaks during the COVID-19 pandemic. To further investigate the gender aspect of the COVID-19 unemployment dynamics in India, we begin our empirical exercise by examining the unemployment changes during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic era. We use the following model:

where Period 1 , Period 2 , Period 3 , and Period 4  pertain to lockdown, post-lockdown, post-lockdown normalcy, and second wave time periods, respectively. Besides the overall unemployment, we also estimate Equation (4) for male and female unemployment separately. The results are shown in Table 2. We can see from Column (1) of Table 2 that the overall unemployment rate ( β 11 ) witnessed an increase of 0.066 (statistically significant at one percent level) during the lockdown period in comparison to the pre-pandemic period. This effect was primarily driven by the rise in the male unemployment that shot up by 0.082 during the lockdown period (Column [3]).

The uneven distributional effects of the post-lockdown recovery are seen from β 12 estimates. Male unemployment rose by 0.01, while female unemployment fell by 0.036 in comparison to the pre-pandemic era. The fall in female unemployment does not necessarily indicate that the overall labour conditions improved for women during this period. Equation (1) shows that the unemployment rate is driven by two components. Figure 1 validates that the female unemployment rate fell over time due to the decline in the number of unemployed females actively seeking jobs being higher than the decline in the female labour force.[5]

β 14 estimate in Column (1) indicates that the total unemployment rose by 0.019 (statistically significant at 10 percent level) during the second wave compared to the pre-pandemic period. A comparison between β 14 and β 11 estimates reveals an interesting policy highlight that the second wave’s impact on unemployment was smaller than the nationwide lockdown. Finally, the rise in unemployment during the second wave is primarily driven by male unemployment.

Table 2: Impact of COVID-19 on Unemployment

Note: *** p<0.01, ** p<0.05, and * p<0.1. The robust standard errors are in parentheses.

Unemployment Gender Gap in Urban and Rural Regions

This section delves further into the gendered impact of lockdown on the unemployment dynamics across urban and rural regions. As defined in Section 1, the unemployment gender gap measures the difference between female and male unemployment rates. To identify the effect of the first and second COVID-19 waves on the unemployment gender gap, we estimate the regression model below:

where Female is a binary variable that takes the value 1 for female unemployment and 0, otherwise.

Table 3 shows the estimation results of Equation (5). We discuss the coefficient estimates that are found to be significant. The significant β 1 coefficient reiterates that the unemployment gender gap was an existential problem in India even before the COVID-19 pandemic. The β 31 estimates reveal that the urban region dynamics drove the narrow unemployment gender gap during the lockdown period. Although the magnitude of the narrowing gap during the lockdown did not persist to the post-lockdown period ( β 32 ), rural regions experienced a narrow unemployment gender gap (marginally significant at 10%). This trend continues even in the post-lockdown normalcy period ( β 33 ) as the unemployment gender gap is narrower than the pre-pandemic level by 0.047 in the rural region. This highlights the possibility that the post-lockdown recovery process had a spillover effect on the unemployment gender gap in rural regions. Finally, β 34 estimates show that the narrowing gender gap trend persists only in the urban region during the second wave.

Table 3: Impact of COVID-19 on Unemployment across Urban and Rural Regions during the post-lockdown and post-lockdown normalcy periods.

This article analyses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic vis-à-vis the pre-pandemic period on the gender unemployment gap. Our findings indicate that the gender gap in unemployment narrowed during the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily driven by male unemployment dynamics. Interestingly, we find that female unemployment declined during the post-lockdown period. Such a decline was likely driven by women dropping out of the labour force rather than a dip in the absolute number of unemployed persons. Further, the region-wide subsample analysis finds the unemployment gender gap in urban regions to narrow across all periods of the COVID-19 era. In contrast, the rural regions witness narrowing gender gap during the post-lockdown normalcy. This indicates that the rural regions’ unemployment gender gap witnessed spillover effects from recovery associated with the economic reopening. Finally, the narrow gender gap (compared to the pre-pandemic level) is smaller during the second wave.

There is a looming uncertainty whether the impending third wave will further narrow the gender unemployment gap at the expense of increasing male unemployment and females being pushed out of the workforce. Further research is required with a more extended period of assessment and focussed on household-level data to understand the difference in the impact of COVID-19 on the gender unemployment gap across the different parts of the country and income strata.

[1] The data are not available for Jammu and Kashmir, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Sikkim. Hence, the main analysis focuses on only 26 subnational economies.

[2] The terms “state” and “subnational economy” are used interchangeably throughout the article.

[3] According to the official data, power consumption grew by 10.2% in January 2021; the highest growth rate in three months, which was indicative of higher commercial and industrial demand (Press Trust of India 2021).

[4] In order to obtain the unemployment dynamics on a quarterly basis, Equation (2) is revised to Equation (3) with dummies pertaining to quarter instead of month.

[5] This reason is also validated by CMIE who found the female labour participation in urban regions to fall to 7.2% in October 2020, the lowest since the organisation started measuring this indicator in 2016 (Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy 2020).

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