Encouraging more women into the workplace will boost the Indian economy, according to a recent report by McKinsey Global Institute (MGI).
By bridging the gender gap, the GDP could rise by 1.4% each year, which could add Rs 46 lakh crore ($0.7 trillion) to the economy by 2025.
The Power of Parity: Advancing women’s equality in India report states that, ‘about 70 percent of the increase would come from raising India’s female labour-force participation rate from 31 percent at present to 41 percent in 2025. This would bring 68 million more women into the economy over this period.’
Currently, women’s contribution to India’s GDP stands at 17 percent, which is below the global average of 37 percent.
Rajat Gupta, Director at McKinsey & Company India said, “The Indian economy will obviously gain if we bridge the gender gap in the workplace, but this gap cannot be plugged if we don’t consider gender equality in society and change our social attitudes and unconscious bias towards women.”
MGI’s report believes that to improve women’s equality, there is a need to focus on:
- Closing gender gaps within education – particularly secondary and higher
- Increasing skills training for women
- Improving the services to relieve the burden of domestic chores, childcare and looking after the elderly
- Working to reshape attitudes with regards to women in the workplace
You can read the Power of Parity: Advancing women’s equality in India report here.
