India faces a striking paradox: despite being the world’s fastest-growing major economy, a large share of its women remain outside the workforce. The country continues to rank near the bottom of the Global Gender Gap Index. What makes this gap even more ironic is that women’s educational attainment has steadily
improved, reflected in rising Gross Enrolment Ratios and the Gender Parity
Index. But economic progress has not translated into economic opportunity for women.

Since 2008, services have powered much of the Indian economy. In cities, these service-sector jobs have been more welcoming to women, offering better pay and some degree of social security. Yet these opportunities remain limited. These sectors remain elitist, with narrow entry points that exclude a large majority of women due to skill mismatches. Other sectors continue to be poorly paid or unsafe, discouraging women from joining. Added to this is the heavy load of unpaid household and care work, career breaks forced by motherhood, and social norms that keep women stuck at the bottom of the job ladder.

Another paradox marks rural India: rising incomes and economic growth often push women back into domestic spaces in the name of honour and social status.

In contrast, Bangladesh has consistently outperformed India on women’s economic participation. Much of this success comes from its ready-made garments industry, which opened the doors of factories to women across towns and villages. Importantly, men were willing to share workspaces with women across both rural and urban areas, making female employment socially acceptable on a large scale. Another key factor has been the easy access to microcredit for women. Small loans helped women start businesses and take up home-based work, allowing them to earn without directly challenging restrictive social norms.

This contrast between India and Bangladesh fits a well-known pattern called the U-shaped curve of women’s work. In the early stages of economic growth, women’s participation rises as more jobs become available. Bangladesh is still in this phase. India, however, appears stuck in the middle stage. Here, rising incomes lead to fewer women working. Moving out of this phase requires more than job creation — it demands sustained efforts to keep women in the workforce and to challenge the norms that push them out.

Even Bangladesh’s progress has its limits. Women there are concentrated in a few industries and are often stuck in lower-level roles, with limited job security and wage equality. Their presence is visible, but their upward mobility remains restricted.

For India, the most important lesson lies in addressing its ‘missing middle’. Nearly 38% of Indian women have completed secondary education, yet remain outside the labour force because their skills do not match available jobs. With the right support and industry connections, their entry into low-skilled sectors, as seen in Bangladesh, could slowly change how society views women’s work.

India’s next step must be to make manufacturing more open and accessible to women. Alongside this, the care economy presents a powerful opportunity. This sector offers a double benefit: women are likely to make up much of the workforce, while working women also stand to gain from these services as they struggle to balance paid work with unpaid care responsibilities.

The government has a role to play. Bridging the gap between education and employment through skill training and vocational programmes is essential.

Meaningful change will come only when women are present across all sectors of the economy in critical numbers and roles that offer dignity and growth. As women’s presence in the workforce becomes routine rather than exceptional, social attitudes will begin to change. This gradual transformation is central to the idea of a social democracy and welfare State that India seeks to uphold.

Sheetal Prasad is Assistant Professor, Amity University, Noida