Women’s Empowerment Through Jobs Where Women Workers Are

Limits of Reservation-Based Empowerment

• Political Reservation Debate: The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam 2026 could not pass Parliament mainly because it was linked with delimitation, despite the Women’s Reservation Act, 2023 providing 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha.
• Representation Gap: Women’s share in Parliament and most State Assemblies remains below even half of the proposed 33 per cent reservation level.
• Core Argument: Reservation may be desirable, but true empowerment requires quality education, skill development and incentives for women’s formal-sector employment.

Low Female Labour Participation and Social Constraints

• National FLFPR: India’s female labour force participation rate stood at 40 per cent in 2025 according to PLFS-MOSPI, while ILO placed it at 32.4 per cent.
• Global Comparison: India’s FLFPR remains far below Vietnam at 68.6 per cent, China at 59.1 per cent and Nigeria at 80.7 per cent.
• State-Level Variation: Bihar has 24.7 per cent FLFPR, Uttar Pradesh 32.4 per cent, Jharkhand 43.7 per cent and Odisha 47.3 per cent.
• Bihar’s Structural Problem: Bihar has a fertility rate of 2.8 against the all-India 1.9 and annual population growth of 1.43 per cent against the national 0.9 per cent.
• Girls’ Dropout Rates: Bihar records high dropout rates among girls: 8.7 per cent at primary, 25.9 per cent at secondary and 25.1 per cent at higher secondary level.

Skilling and the Case for Apparel-Led Employment

• Skill Policy Base: The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, established in 2014, now covers 38 sectors and has a 2026-27 allocation of Rs 9,886 crore.
• PMKVY Role: Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana has Rs 3,400 crore allocation and offers free skill training with certification to youth aged 18-45.
• East and Southeast Asian Lesson: Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China and Vietnam used the garment sector to move women into the formal wage economy.
• Apparel Employment Intensity: India’s apparel sector creates 153 jobs per Rs 1 crore investment, compared with 27 in automobile manufacturing and 14 in steel.
• Female Jobs Advantage: Apparel creates 55 female jobs per Rs 1 crore investment, while automobiles and steel create fewer than one female job.

Bring Garment Clusters to Labour-Surplus States

• Existing Cluster Problem: Garment clusters such as Tiruppur employ many women from Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh, but distance from families and lack of hostel facilities cause attrition and talent loss.
• Localisation Logic: Developing garment clusters in labour-supplying states can allow women to work while retaining family, community and social support.
• Policy Implication: Centre and States can incentivise commercially viable firms that train and employ women in labour-surplus states.

PM MITRA and Industrial Policy Gaps

• PM MITRA Potential: The scheme is designed to create large-scale plug-and-play textile parks with shared infrastructure.
• Regional Gap: Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha do not have a PM MITRA park; Uttar Pradesh has only one despite being India’s most populous State.
• Bihar Incentives: Bihar’s industrial policy provides training incentives up to Rs 20,000 per worker.
• Employment-Linked Support: Textile units may claim subsidy up to Rs 5,000 per month per employee or reimbursement up to 300 per cent of employer contributions to ESI and EPF.
• Core Constraint: Weak training infrastructure and poor industry alignment limit the effectiveness of these incentives.

Required Policy Shifts

• Cluster-Based Training: Training infrastructure and curriculum quality should be co-managed by industry, government and technical institutions.
• Role Division: Public money should support infrastructure and quality assurance, while firms should lead curriculum design and on-the-job skill upgrading.
• Women-Linked Incentives: Employment-linked incentives should explicitly reward women’s employment, with higher subsidy rates during the first two years when attrition and training costs are highest.
• Infrastructure Near Workers: PM MITRA parks should be opened in Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha, which supply labour to southern garment clusters.
• True Nari Shakti: Women’s empowerment requires formal jobs where women workers are, not only symbolic political reservation.