Why Do So Few Women Work in India?
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 28 August 2018
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
India has been developing rapidly over the past few decades. But in one way, it can still be very traditional. Women are often expected to stay at home after marriage. And that means only a quarter of Indian women are in paid work, according to the World Bank. So what's behind it? The BBC's Vivienne Nunis hears from Ajit Ranade, chief economist of Aditya Birla Group, and Radhika Kumari, founder of the Pink City Rickshaw Company, a team of female rickshaw drivers overcoming cultural barriers to break into a male-dominated field.
(Picture: Pink City Rickshaw driver Pushpa in Jaipur, India. Credit: BBC)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to Business Daily from the BBC. |
| 0:09.3 | I'm Vivienne Nunes. |
| 0:13.0 | Today we're taking a closer look at one of the most |
| 0:15.5 | imbalanced labour forces in the world. |
| 0:18.3 | India, where just 27% of women have a job or a seeking work. |
| 0:23.5 | That leaves a staggering 250 million females of working age outside the labour market, |
| 0:29.9 | according to the IMF. And that number is increasing. |
| 0:34.1 | The GDP growth rate, the economy has expanded. So jobs have expanded. |
| 0:38.1 | So in light of that, the decline in the participation rate of women is quite remarkable. |
| 0:44.7 | So what's going on? |
| 0:46.1 | Why does so many women in India say no to a career? |
| 0:49.8 | And why are the numbers not showing signs of improvement? |
| 0:52.9 | The man is the head of the household. |
| 0:55.0 | He is supposed to go out into the big world, earn the money, and bring it home to look after |
| 1:01.0 | his family, his children. |
| 1:02.0 | It's the traditional sort of division of labour. |
| 1:04.0 | And we'll hear from one all-female team happy to buck the trend. |
| 1:08.0 | I really, really like it. |
| 1:12.5 | And when I'm driving, people say, look, look, there's a woman driving a rickshaw. |
| 1:17.5 | Ah, baby, I'm there's a car. |
| 1:18.8 | Business Daily from the world. |
| 1:34.8 | About 600 million or just over half India's population are under 25 years old. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.