Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya highlighted on Tuesday that the female labour force participation rate in India has jumped from 23.3 per cent in 2017–18 to 40 per cent in 2025 — reflecting the increasing empowerment of women in the country.
Addressing the ‘SwigStree: Celebrating Women on the Move,’ an event organised by food delivery startup Swiggy, the minister underlined that the equitable participation of women in the workforce is both a social imperative and an economic necessity. Empowering women is central to building a Viksit Bharat, he added.
Mandaviya said, “Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has witnessed new, enabling opportunities opening up for women, leading to a transformative improvement in female employment indicators. The Female Labour Force Participation Rate has risen from 23.3 per cent in 2017–18 to 40 per cent in 2025″.
“The Female Worker Population Ratio (FWPR) has correspondingly increased from 22 per cent to nearly 39 per cent over the same period. Further, the Female Unemployment Rate (FUR) has declined from 5.6 per cent to 3.1 per cent, indicating that women who seek employment are now more successfully finding it,” he added.
The minister also stressed upon the nearly three-fold expansion in India’s social security coverage in the past decade, from 19 per cent in 2015 to over 64.3 per cent in 2025, reflecting the outcome of sustained policy action across domains like labour law reform, digital inclusion, and targeted welfare delivery.
Mandaviya also highlighted the four Labour Codes that were made effective last November, and emphasised upon the transformative reforms they introduce. He highlighted that the Code on Social Security, for the first time, formally recognises gig and platform workers. These workers, many of whom are women, now have a legal identity and access to social security, he said.
“The principle of equal pay for equal work has been enshrined in the Codes, a landmark step towards eliminating wage discrimination on the basis of gender,” he added.
The Labour Codes also provide for work-from-home provisions, maternity leave entitlements, and the establishment of crèche facilities at places of employment, measures that directly address the structural barriers that have historically prevented women from sustaining their participation in the workforce, Mandaviya pointed out.
–IANS
