Economic Bloom: A Progressive Empowerment of Women in Indian Economy

Abstract

India ranks the sixth position among the world’s biggest economies, based on the data from the International Monetary Fund, 2018. India is the world’s fastest growing major economy but it fails in empowering women, parallel to the pace mentioned. According to a report issued on 23 April, 2018 by the McKinsey Global Institute, women’s contribution to the country’s GDP is currently only 18%, which is one of the world’s lowest, with only 25% of India’s labor force being women. The government’s latest economic survey points out that there are 21 million “unwanted women” in the country today. This paper attempts to explore the contribution and empowerment of women in the Indian economy, after decades of independence. The Indian economy has the second largest potential in the Asia- Pacific (APAC) region from improving gender disparity. A progressive development can be cited on women empowerment in India in the past decades. Women can play bigger roles in the economic field as entrepreneurs, workers, investors and consumers. Migration is another phenomena observed in the recent years with the aim of betterment in terms of employment and economic gains. Women literacy and economic strengthening of women accelerate the economic growth of the country and are also a matter of women rights.