Creating a Gender-Equitable Workforce in India

Interviews with over 6,000 women from households with low income, mapping their beliefs, motivations and preferences towards employment, and the segments most likely to take up a job.

Published by

FSG

Year

2022

Format

Link

Last reviewed

17 Aug 2026

Context

India is home to over 350 million working-age women, of which 128 million live in urban areas. Yet only 20% of working-age urban women are participating in the workforce. Increasing women's participation is beneficial for families (higher investment in children's health and education), good for business (improved attendance and work culture), and great for the country (faster GDP growth).

For this GLOW report, FSG interviewed over 6,000 women from households with low income to better understand women's beliefs, motivations and preferences towards employment. By developing a nuanced understanding of why women are being held back and what drives their choices, the report identifies segments of women with a higher propensity to be in a job, and sets out strategies to help increase workforce participation.

Key takeaways

Women want to work in jobs. Nearly 2 in 3 aspiring-to-work women prefer jobs over entrepreneurship.
Women often still need to secure permission from men to work. For 1 in 3 non-working women, the inability to secure permission, or the absence of a precedent in the community, are the main deterrents to employment.
Despite the high demand for talent in high-growth, non-traditional industries, company biases and perceived risks restrict women's participation.
Collecting and sharing the benefits of gender diversity among companies can help build the will and skill to hire and retain a gender-diverse workforce in non-traditional industries.