States allowing women to work night shift a gamechanger: Labour Secretary

female labour force participation rate (LFPR) stood at 30.7 percent in 2023-24, as compared to 27 percent in 2022-23.

The recent change in state regulations laws allowing women to work at night will give provide a fillip to female participation in the workforce, labour secretary Vandana Gurnani said on July 24.

"We can’t think of faster economic growth without harnessing women’s potential… the states allowing women to work in night shifts is a gamechanger," said Gurnani at Kaam Se Kaamyaabi (from work to success)” event organised by Udaiti Foundation & Quess Corp.

Twenty-six have allowed women to work in night shifts. Only Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh haven’t made changes to their codes but the latter may soon allow women to work at night, sources told Moneycontrol earlier.

The labour ministry has set up a taskforce to formulate “actionables” to enhance women’s participation in workforce, Gurnani said.

According to Periodic Labour Force Survey, in 2023-24 (July-June), female labour force participation rate (FLFPR), the percentage of persons in the labour force (working or seeking work), stood at 30.7 percent against 27 percent in 2022-23.

The male LFPR was at 56.4 percent against 54.4 percent in 2022-23.

Gurnani stressed on the need to skill women and said that it’s one of the key issues the taskforce is looking at.

S Krishnan, secretary, ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY), said women’s workforce participation rate has to increase.

"I come from Tamil Nadu where working age population is shrinking and will shrink only going forward. Women participation in workforce is therefore a necessity, not an option," said Krishnan.

He said many blue-collar workers are now women. Citing example of Foxconn, Krishnan said the company’s plant in Tamil Nadu has about 90 percent women workers.

Lohit Bhatia, president-workforce management, Quess Corp, said the industry has to prioritise increasing wages of women workers. "In our analysis, we see if a female earns over 20,000 per month, the ability to continue with the formal job increases. Otherwise, they eventually leave the workforce."

Fewer women in workforce has been an area of concern.  Though the situation has improved in recent years, India continues to lag G20 economies as far as FLFPR goes. Several studies have said that for the Indian economy to grow, more women have to find work.