Recently, a report by National Family Health Survey (NHFS) revealed that only 32 per cent of married women in India in the age group of 15 to 49 are currently working. On the other hand, a whopping 98 per cent of the married men in the same age group are employed.
This reveals that after marriage, many women are still not engaged in the organised work sector, and men continue to be the ‘breadwinners’ of the family, thus sticking to the age-old prescribed, gender roles.
While the report reveals several disparities due to gender in families, this throws life on the lack of socio-economic empowerment of married women. In fact, even though there has been an increase in this percentage since last year, it has been only a mere one per cent elevation.
To add to that, 15 per cent of women who are working are not paid at all for their labour, against only four per cent of men who aren’t. A majority of those women are between the ages 15 and 19, and it goes on declining after the age of 25.
Even those who are salaried are not paid at par with their male counterparts. In fact, 85 per cent of married women who are employed make their financial decisions jointly with their husbands. This percentage, too, has increased by three per cent in the last three years.
Only 18 per cent of employed married women make their own financial decisions, while 14 per cent have no say in the use of their own earnings.