The sharp rise in rural women’s participation in India’s workforce over the past six years has not translated into better employment opportunities, with a growing proportion of women engaged in unpaid family labour and insecure forms of self-employment, according to a new Oxfam study reported by Business Standard.

The study found that the labour force participation rate among rural women nearly doubled from 24.6% in 2017-18 to 47.6% in 2023-24, marking one of the steepest increases globally. However, this expansion has not been accompanied by a corresponding rise in paid employment, raising questions about the nature of the work women are entering.

Instead, the increase has largely been driven by a shift towards self-employment, a category that includes both independent economic activity and unpaid work in family enterprises. The proportion of rural women workers classified as self-employed rose from 57% in 2017-18 to 72.2% in 2023-24. Of these, 59% were unpaid helpers in family enterprises, the Oxfam analysis found.

The share of women in salaried employment fell from 11% to 8% during the same period, while the proportion engaged in casual labour declined from 32% to 20%, according to Business Standard.

These figures suggest that the rise in women's workforce participation has largely occurred outside employment arrangements that offer regular wages and greater security.

“In other words, women have moved into work, they have moved out of the categories that typically come with a wage, a contract, or any security, and into unpaid or precarious own-account roles,” said the Oxfam analysis.

The study also raised concerns about the implications of recent changes to rural employment policy. Women previously accounted for 54% of the person-days generated under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which has now been replaced by the VB-GRAM-G Act.

“Unlike the old demand-driven guarantee, the new scheme rations work to specific seasons, shifts 40 per cent of the wage bill onto states — many of them fiscally stressed — and requires twice-daily geo-tagged photo uploads through a mobile app, a barrier for women with limited digital access and skill,” said the analysis.

The findings add to growing concerns that the increase in female labour force participation may not necessarily indicate improved economic conditions or greater financial independence for women.

Research published in the Economic and Political Weekly has similarly examined the expansion of unpaid family work and the relationship between women's employment patterns and household economic conditions.

Studies of rural communities have also suggested that economic hardship can be a significant factor behind rising female workforce participation. Research conducted over several decades in Palanpur found that women were more likely to leave paid work when household economic conditions improved, while financial difficulties pushed more women into employment.

A more recent study examining two villages in Tamil Nadu reached a similar conclusion, finding that women's participation in work tended to increase during periods of economic distress and decline when household conditions improved.

Taken together, these findings challenge the assumption that a higher female labour force participation rate necessarily reflects progress in women's economic empowerment.

The nature of employment, access to paid work and the availability of secure livelihoods remain crucial to understanding whether the increase represents genuine economic advancement or a growing dependence on women's labour to cope with financial hardship.