India wants be a developed nation by 2047 — but it has to tackle gender

When 41-year-old Nisha Kotwal was a resident trainee doctor in India’s Maharashtra state 14 years ago, her parents would call her before every shift to ask if she had reached the hospital safely.

“Telling my parents that I have reached the hospital is how they knew I was safe. The thought that the hospital was not a safe place never traversed my mind, it was like home,” the obstetrician and gynecologist said.

Over a decade later, entrenched sexism still persists in India and the country will need to tackle the obstacle to achieve its economic goals, economic experts say.

The rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor in a medical college in Kolkata earlier this month left parents and women fearing for their safety, and compelled the nation’s Supreme Court to establish a national taskforce of doctors to make suggestions on how to better ensure safety for women in the workplace.

In 2023, the labor force participation rate among women was 33% in India, up from 27% a decade prior. While that figure has been trending up incrementally, the country is still far behind the U.S., 56.5%, China, 60.5% Japan, 54.9%, and Germany, 56.5, the four economies India is trailing behind.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ambitious aims to make India a $5 trillion economy by the end of the decade, and a developed nation by 2047. Economists, however, say he’ll have trouble reaching his goals if the country doesn’t work to boost the number of women in the workforce.

“Women literacy has increased, fertility rates have gone down, urbanization is improving and the economy is growing. But these factors have [done little to increase] women’s participation in the workforce,” said Sunaina Kumar, senior fellow at Delhi-based think tank Observer Research Foundation.

Concerns over safety

Kumar believes general concerns over safety for women in public spaces has contributed to their low numbers in the workforce.

Some women are not allowed to travel far from home to attend school or training programs, proving that the fear and uncertainty of being sexually assaulted remains a big barrier, she said. “Many young women are allowed to visit nearby markets or facilities, but can’t travel from their homes because of the risk of sexual harassment.”

Some women are not allowed to travel far from home to attend school or training programs, Kumar add. Fear and uncertainty of being sexually assaulted remains a big barrier to entry when it comes to boosting women participation in the workforce.

Kumar’s remarks were echoed in a 2021 research paper by World Bank Economist Girija Borker, who reported on how female students in Delhi to attend “lower quality colleges” in order to avoid sexual harassments when traveling to and from the campus. This either meant choosing colleges near their home, or a safer route or mode of transportation.

Such limitations could…