New census data shows only 10.6 percent of women in New Delhi work versus 53.1 percent of men
NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The Indian capital has the lowest number of working women compared to other major cities in the country, such as Mumbai and Bangalore, the Times of India reported on Monday.
According to data released by the Census office, only 10.6 percent of women work in New Delhi, compared to 53.1 percent of men.
India's financial capital, Mumbai, has around 18 percent of women participating in the workforce, while the country's IT city Bangalore has the highest number of working women at 25 percent, said the report.
An expert quoted in the report attributed the low figures in the capital to "an intersection of patriarchal mindsets that see the place of the woman as in the home and a genuine scramble for scarce jobs."
The 2011 data also showed an overall marginal decline in working Indian women – a fall of 0.1 percent – compared to a decade ago, despite India's economic boom, which has reportedly seen many more women taking up jobs.
The slight fall backs up a 2010 report by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) that found that women's participation in India's workforce is declining, the report said. The NSSO had recorded a 10 percent decline in working women from 2005 to 2010.
The new census data also revealed that 65 percent of working women are employed in agriculture but added that this had also declined over the past 10 years, said the report.
"Women are moving off the land and out of agriculture in large numbers but are not finding the jobs in other sectors of the economy, " Indrani Mazumdar, senior fellow and associate professor at the Centre for Women's Development Studies, was quoted as saying.
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