Women, Paid Work and Empowerment in India: A Review of Evidence and Issues

The paper is an attempt to review critically the association between women’s paid work and empowerment in India. As a prelude, the author seek to assess the extent of women’s participation in paid work during the last three decades (section two), and offer a glimpse into the nature and quality of women’s work in India (section three). A discussion on the probable causes underlying women’s participation in paid work becomes necessary (section four) so as to assess and contextualise the empowering potentials of women’s paid work (section five). An attempt will also be made to reflect on the issues arising from the assessment with a view to suggest, if necessary, possible directions for further work (section six).[CWDS OP]