The gender wage gap in India basically means as the term itself suggests, it is the difference in the job earnings between women and men in his or her employment and market.
According to surveys, In the year 2013, the gender wage gap in India was estimated to be about 24.81%.
Furthermore, when after doing an analysation of the actual level of participation of females in the economy field, the report places India as one of the really bottom 10 countries on the big list. So, along with the fact of unequal pay between men and women, there is an unequal representation of participation because even when women constitute almost half of the total population of India. (about 48% of the total), but their representation in the work field force representation of only about one-fourth of the total participation.
Is Gender Wage Gap a Myth?
For some reason, the gender wage gap is somehow considered to be a myth by the conservatives and economists, as it does not always take into consideration of the total work hours and also the various working industry of the particular individual. And it would only be fair to take into consideration both the participation and the working field to maintain a good representation of the actual difference.
Is it very often when we do talk about the unpaid or underpaid work that women are continuing to do, which assist the economy and never actually gets accounted for?
You would be surprised to know that "According to the Oxfam report, globally, the amount of unpaid work done by women is worth 43-times Apple’s annual turnover." No matter how unbelievable it may seem but it is a fact.
What does the Oxfam Report Say?
In India, the amount of unpaid work done by women while looking after their homes and children is actually worth 3.1% of the country’s total GDP. Women spend about 312 minutes every day in urban areas and 291 minutes per day in rural areas on doing such unpaid care work. While in comparison, men spend only about 29 minutes in urban areas and 32 minutes in rural areas on unpaid care work, isn't it a huge difference if considered on a daily basis??
The international rights group released a report before the start of the Annual meeting of World Economic Forum (WEF) in Swiss ski resort town, which also said how women and girls are the hardest hit by hugely rising economic inequality, in India too. Not something to be proud of!
Oxfam has also said that inequality in India has a “female face” , where women are already less likely to have a paid work compared to that of men, even among the richest list there are only nine women in the country’s list of119-member billionaires club, and that's a really less compared to men.
Even the paid work that women do can only bring them less earnings as compared to that of men mostly in rural due to the already existing wage gap in India and therefore households that mostly rely on female wage earners tend to be most poorer, which actually refers to the country’s gender wage gap at 34%.
Seriously, how often do we actually talk about the unpaid work that women are still doing, which is sustaining the economy but never gets in consideration ? How far have we actually progressed in terms of equal pay for both men and women’s labour?
Even in a metropolitan city like Mumbai, women in India earn 19% less compared to that of men, which reflects the huge gender wage gap in the country.
The latest data provided from the online career sites and recruitment answer provider shows that the current gender wage gap in India stands at 19%, where men (Rs 242.49) earned Rs 46.19 more compared to that of women (Rs 196.3).
Oxfam also said that in India we do have many laws that deals with the violence of rights against women but the actual challenge comes in the implementation, and that's also due to a our male-centric society.
However, also to mention that in relative terms, the gender wage-gap has actually come down to some extent during the last 10 years as compared to the previous years. But the harsh fact that inspite of all the protest and raising voice somehow gender wage-gap still exists and also the average female wage rate is still in less than 3/4th of average male wage rate in rural part of India is really a matter of huge concern.
Including rights about equality in every aspect won't count unless it's actually is implemented in our daily life.
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Hi, I'm Nonisha Das from Coochbehar. I'm currently pursuing B.A Hons in English literature. I love reading novels. And, I want to make a positive impact on our society with whatever I will be doing in future. My hobbies include singing, painting and traveling.
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