Quality of women's employment in India in ICRIER's 2026 study
India had 201 million working women in 2025, up from 104 million in 2017-18, and most of the women added in those years work for themselves or as unpaid helpers in family enterprises, according to the ICRIER report The Participation Paradox, reported by ThePrint on 3 November 2026. Rural women's average monthly wage fell to 45% of rural men's in 2025, from about 53% in 2017-18. On the quality of women's employment in India, the count went up and the terms of work went down.
This essay sets out what the ICRIER study found, what the government's own labour survey for 2025 adds, and what both mean for HR teams, editors looking for experts, event organisers and working women themselves.
In short
- The number of working women in India nearly doubled, from 104 million in 2017-18 to 201 million in 2025, by ICRIER's estimate from Periodic Labour Force Survey data.
- Rural women working on their own account rose from 13.9 million to 56 million over the same years, and unpaid family workers rose from 28.8 million to 49.3 million.
- Regular salaried jobs fell as a share of rural women's employment, from 10.5% to 9.3%, even as their number grew from 7.9 million to 13.9 million.
- Rural women earned Rs 6,596 a month on average in 2025 against Rs 14,632 for rural men, and the monthly gap grew from about Rs 4,200 to more than Rs 8,000.
- In 2025, 60% of women outside the labour force gave childcare and household commitments as their main reason for not working, against about 1% of men.
What ICRIER measured on the quality of women's employment in India
The report is The Participation Paradox: Women's Work and Time-use in India 2017-18 to 2025, by Tanu M Goyal, Shravani Prakash, Ketaki Gaikwad and Arjun Tandon of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, as reported by Business Standard on 1 November 2026. It compares the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for 2017-18 with the PLFS for 2025, and the national Time Use Surveys of 2019 and 2024.
One caveat sits under every number here. The 2025 PLFS used a redesigned, larger sample and a calendar-year reference period. The authors say comparisons with 2017-18 need care, and the government's PLFS Annual Report 2025 press note, released on 27 March 2026, says its 2025 estimates may not be strictly comparable with earlier annual reports.
With that in mind, the female worker population ratio rose from 22% to 38% over the period, by ICRIER's figures. For rural women it went from 23.7% to 44.9%, and for urban women from 18.2% to 25.9%. If you read our piece on urban women's workforce participation in 2026, the urban figure will look familiar. Urban women have moved far less than rural women.
Where the new jobs for women in India came from
The ICRIER authors put the finding in one line, quoted by ThePrint: "The quantity of female employment and its quality have moved in opposite directions." The breakdown by type of work shows why.
Rural women
Among rural women, own-account workers (people running a small enterprise or farm on their own, with no hired help) went from 13.9 million in 2017-18 to 56 million in 2025. Their share of rural women's employment doubled, from 18.6% to 37.2%, by Business Standard's account of the report. Unpaid family workers went from 28.8 million to 49.3 million.
Regular salaried jobs, the kind with a monthly pay slip, grew from 7.9 million to 13.9 million. Their share of rural women's work fell from 10.5% to 9.3%, because the other categories grew faster. The share of rural working women in the primary sector, mostly farming and animal husbandry, went up from 70.7% to 73.3%.
Urban women
In cities, women working on their own account doubled, from 6.9 million to 13.8 million, and unpaid family workers rose from 3.3 million to 6 million. Regular salaried work slipped from 52.2% to 50.9% of urban women's employment.
The government's own 2025 data points the same way at the national level. The PLFS 2025 press note shows 64.2% of women workers were self-employed in 2025, against 52% of men. Only 18.2% of women workers held regular wage or salaried jobs, against 26.5% of men.
How big is the gender wage gap in rural India in 2025
Rural women earned an average of Rs 6,596 a month in 2025 and rural men Rs 14,632, according to the ICRIER figures reported by ThePrint. That puts women at 45% of men's wage, down from around 53% in 2017-18. In rupees, the monthly gap nearly doubled, from around Rs 4,200 to more than Rs 8,000. Nominal wages rose about 65% for rural men over the period and about 41% for rural women.
In cities, women earned Rs 15,646 a month on average in 2025 and men Rs 25,565.
The government's numbers show where the pay difference comes from. In the PLFS 2025 press note, a woman in regular salaried work earned Rs 18,353 a month on average in 2025. A self-employed woman earned Rs 6,374. A self-employed man earned Rs 17,914. When most new work for women is self-employment, the average woman's income stays low even as more women earn something.
Working hours fell too. Rural women's average working week shrank from about 40 hours to 34 hours, the largest fall of any group. The study's reading, quoted by Business Standard, is that "rising participation alongside falling hours per worker implies an expansion of the workforce into increasingly marginal, low-intensity activity." The authors say the rural rise fits better with women being drawn in by necessity. Business Standard notes that the Economic Survey 2023-24 and some researchers read the same rise as a sign of new opportunity, so the cause is still argued over.
For a view of the gap at the other end of the pay scale, our piece on pay and promotion gaps in corporate India looks at salaried women in offices.
Why unpaid care work keeps women out of better jobs
ThePrint's account of the report says women spent about 320 minutes a day on unpaid domestic work against 97 minutes for men, and 144 minutes on unpaid care against 81 minutes for men, across the 2019 and 2024 Time Use Surveys. Among people who did such work, the gap in unpaid domestic work was about 223 minutes a day in 2024 and broadly unchanged, by Business Standard's account. Working women had about 18 minutes less self-care time a day than women in general in rural areas, and 31 minutes less in urban areas.
In 2025, 60% of women outside the labour force named childcare and household commitments as their main reason for not working, by ICRIER's analysis. About 1% of men said the same.
ICRIER's recommendations follow from this. The authors call for more childcare, enforcement of creche rules, paid paternity and shared parental leave, employment targets for women in production-linked incentive schemes, social protection for women in gig work, and regular time-use surveys run alongside the PLFS.
The National Commission for Women made a similar case to the Union government in October. Its 37 recommendations include extending gender-neutral childcare leave to private-sector employees, mandatory paid paternity leave across sectors, and 5 lakh creche seats by 2030, NCW chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar told PTI in an interview published on 10 November 2026. "Childcare leave is very important," she said.
What HR and D&I teams in India can take from the ICRIER data
In the PLFS 2025 earnings figures, a regular salaried job paid a woman almost three times what self-employment paid her. Every formal role an employer opens to women, and keeps open through marriage and childbirth, moves a woman into the best-paid category the data measures.
Three things in the reports sit within an employer's control. Childcare support and creche access come up in both the ICRIER and NCW recommendations. Paid leave for fathers comes up in both too. Safe workplaces are the third. In a separate PTI interview reported by ThePrint, Rahatkar said that even today there is not enough awareness of the POSH Act in the private sector, though Internal Committees exist in almost all government organisations.
Senior HR leaders are worth hearing from directly on how companies put these policies in place. Mona Cheriyan, former President and Group Head of Human Resources at Thomas Cook (India) Limited, chairs the Nomination and Remuneration Committee on the boards of Capgemini and Haldyn Glass and speaks on workplace culture and diversity and inclusion. She is available for media quotes and commentary.
For women who stepped out to care for family and want salaried work again, our guide to returning to work without starting over covers the route back.
Who to quote on women's employment in India
The ICRIER authors are the first call for this report. A story about 56 million rural women running their own farms and enterprises also needs people who work with those women.
Priya Thuvassery is Co-CEO of Chambal Media, home to the rural feminist newsroom Khabar Lahariya, where she supports first-generation creators and builds platforms for rural women. Her documentary films explore gender, ecology, memory and labour.
Sairee Chahal founded SHEROES, a platform for women with over 20 million members, and Mahila Money, a neobank for women offering productive capital.
For a wider list of speakers on gender, workplace culture and inclusion, see the Dais collection of women D&I panelists in India. Our earlier essay on why women get invited to speak less often explains how the same few names end up on every panel.
If you are planning a panel, a podcast or a story on women's work and need an expert who can speak to these numbers, request a speaker through the Dais.