The female labour force participation of India was gauges at 32.68 % as per the recent data (2023) and the figure can be traced back to following reasons:

• SOCIAL REASONS include traditional role expectations enforcing the patriarchal division of labour where the foremost duty of a women is the reproductive function . while women in low and lower middle income group families can still be seen working out of necessity, women in middle and higher income group are often discouraged from stepping out to work.
• ECONOMIC REASONS: child bearing and rearing along with care for elderly has become an expensive affair. and hence many women have to give upon their career trajectory opting for less demanding jobs or quitting as sharply pointed out by Claudia Goldin using the expressions such as “greedy workplace”, “mommy tracking” etc.
• CULTURAL REASONS: in majority regions, even in the 21st century the matrix of asset and liability stands tall where the male child is invested in as an asset and the female child is brought up as a liability. led by the “paraya dhan” mentality the parents chose to pay dowry over the university education compromising the chances of females in a competitive job seeking arena.
• INSTITUTIONAL REASONS: include lack of appreciation for maternity benefits act, lack of post pregnancy infrastructure at workplace such as creche facility, feeding pods etc which acts as inhibitor for lactating mothers.

however various initiatives taken by ministry of social justice and empowerment  under the umbrella scheme of mission shakti such as palna:the creche facility, sakhi niwas: working women hostels etc along with institutional initiatives such as KIRAN scheme can be seen as a ray of hope to bring women at a if not equal than a reasonable footing with men in the labour force. as Vajpayee said- a nation cannot move ahead leaving half its population behind!’