Skip to main content

Gujarat's 8% females employable; it's 31% in Rajasthan, 17% in West Bengal, 15% in UP

By Rajiv Shah
A new Government of India (GoI)-supported report, prepared by Wheebox, an online talent assessment company, in alliance with the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has found that just about 8% of Gujarat’s female workforce is employable in as against 31% in Rajasthan, 23% in Andhra Pradesh, 21% in Karnataka and 20% in Telangana.
Even the so-called Bimaru state Uttar Pradesh with 16% employable female workforce ranks better than Gujarat, finds the report, which gives details of top ten states. Maharashtra’s 18%, West Bengal’s 17% , Haryana’s 15% and Tamil Nadu’s 11% female workforce is found to be employable in industries, says “India Skills Report 2017”, whose academic partner is GoI’s All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
Prepared in order to tell industry leaders where to get the male and female talent they have been needing in order to keep their enterprises running, the report claims to be based on a sample size of 5.6 lakh final students cutting across different disciplines in 29 Indian states and seven union territories. Though it is a special section of females, interestingly, the report does not say what is its female sample size.
Further, the report does not find any of Gujarat’s cities in the top 10 cities with employable female workforce. Here, Kolkata tops the list at 73.13%, followed by New Delhi 65.96%, Udaipur 62.18%, Dhule 64.54%, Pune at 60.08%, Tonk 57.87%, Sholapur 55.39%, Tipurpati 54.51, Hyderabad 52.77%, Mysore 51.83%, and Nashik 49.17%.
Pointing out that Bengaluru at 45% and Lucknow 39% have employable female workforce, the report states, while colleges located in Tier 1 cities provide better exposure to students, what is noteworthy is that “even with limited resources and average education facilities the youth in tier 2 and tier 3 cities is empowered and is performing better than its peer.”
Pointing out that “Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan are the top states preferred by females, whereas Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh are the top states preferred by males”, the report says, “With nearly 80% of the employable female population coming from tier 2 and tier 3 cities, their preference is cities like Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad etc.”, which is not surprising.
The report states, “Sectorwise data show that, of 11 the sectors covered as part of the survey, hardly half of the sectors have 30% of their workforce as women”, adding, “38% of post graduate women are job market ready, whereas in case of graduation, this percentage is 45%, but these numbers do not find uniform reflection in the hiring strategy.”
The report says, “Women constitute more than 50% of the workforce in Sectors like E-commerce and Retail, manufacturing and engineering have less than 25% of females in their workforce whereas for Sectors like BFSI and BFS, BPO, ITES this percentage is restricted to 25.”

Comments

Anonymous said…
Gujarati males are earning more, they don’t like to send their wives for work. In the passed out graduates searching for jobs, females numbers overlooked because the culture is different. Women in India go for work (other than agriculture and animal husbandry in villages) only when the family is in crisis. It is our happiness index.
Anonymous said…
Shame

TRENDING

The golden crop: How turmeric is transforming women's lives in tribal India

By Vikas Meshram*   When the lush green fields of turmeric sway in the tribal belt of southern Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat, it is not merely a spice crop — it is the golden glow of self-reliance. In villages where even basic spices once had to be bought from the market, the very soil today is yielding a prosperity that has transformed the lives of thousands of families. At the heart of this transformation is the initiative of Vaagdhara, which has linked turmeric with livelihoods, nutrition, and village self-governance — gram swaraj.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah  Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Beyond the election manifesto: Why climate is now a kitchen table issue

By Vikas Meshram*  March has long been a month of gentle transition, the period when winter softly retreats and a mild warmth signals nature’s renewal. Yet, in recent years, this dependable rhythm has been disrupted. This year, since the beginning of March, temperatures across vast swathes of the country have shattered previous records, soaring to between 35 and 40 degrees Celsius in some regions. This is not a mere fluctuation in the weather; it is a serious and alarming indicator of climate change .

As India logs historic emissions drop, expert warns govt against 'policy blunders'

By A Representative   In a significant development that underscores the rapid transformation of India's energy landscape, new data reveals the country recorded its largest drop in power sector emissions in 2025. However, a top power sector analyst has urged the Union Government to view this "silver lining" as a stark warning against continuing to invest in new coal, large hydro, and nuclear projects, which he argues could become "redundant" stranded assets.

The selective memory of a violent city: Uttam Nagar and the invisible victims of Delhi

By Sunil Kumar*  Hundreds of murders take place in Delhi every year, yet only a few incidents become topics of nationwide discussion. The question is: why does this happen? Today, the incident in Uttam Nagar has become the centre of national debate. A 26-year-old man, Tarun Kumar, was killed following a dispute that reportedly began after a balloon hit a small child. In several colonies of Delhi, slogans such as “Jai Shri Ram” and “Vande Mataram” are being raised while demanding the death penalty for Tarun’s killers. As a result, nearly 50,000 residents of Hastsal JJ Colony are now living in what resembles a state of confinement. 

NGO Arunoday’s journey of support and struggle: Standing firm with the distressed

By Bharat Dogra    It was a situation of acute distress. Nearly ten thousand people returning to their villages during the COVID-19 pandemic had gathered at the border of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh near Kanha. Exhausted after walking long distances with little or no food, they were desperate for relief. Yet entry could not be granted without completing essential records and complying with pandemic rules.  

How wars are undermining climate promises even as accelerating global warming

By N.S. Venkataraman*     Since 1995, global climate conferences have convened annually, with the 29th Conference of Parties (COP29) held in November 2024. These gatherings attract world leaders and generate extensive media coverage, raising hopes of decisive strategies to address the climate emergency. Yet, despite lofty promises and ambitious targets, the crisis remains unabated.  

Fresh citizenship framework suggested amidst electoral roll concerns

By Kathyayini Chamaraj  The ongoing exercise of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has raised serious concerns about the potential disenfranchisement of large numbers of citizens. In many instances, people are being asked to produce retrospective documents to establish their citizenship—documents that many genuine citizens are unable to provide. The challenge before policymakers is to identify prospective amendments to the Citizenship Act that would ensure that no legitimate citizen is excluded either from citizenship or from the electoral roll.