Trends in women employment in India during census 1981 to 2011

This paper analyses the trends and pattern of women's employment in India using secondary data for the time period from Census 1981 to Census 2011. The study considers all states and union territories of India as population and seven states from high per capita income states and seven states from low per capita income states are selected as sample states for the study. Female work participation rate considering as proxy for women employment; growth rates, F-test and t-test are employed for data analysis. Our results show that percentage of female workers to total worker ratio has varied considerably across the states. Andhra Pradesh having better women employment situation among the high per capita income states, contradictory Delhi have worst situation about women employment. In low per capita income states, Nagaland having better women employment situation whereas Uttar Pradesh have poorest situation. There is significant increase in women work participation rate over a period of time in rural and urban segments of India. The growth of women work participation rate in rural higher than the urban segment and rural is confined to primary sectors while in urban is confined to service sectors in the sample states.