65% of working women are self-employed: Report

Female hiring trends: Self-employed women constitute the largest portion of the working female workforce, according to a study by Careernet.

The talent solutions provider came up with ‘The State of Women’s Employment in India’ for 2023, wherein around 37 per cent (25.6 crores) are actively working/employed in a population of 69.2 crore women.

The proportion of working women is split across different categories, with salaried employees at 17 per cent, self-employed at 65 per cent, and contractual or daily wage employees at 18 per cent.

Female salaried employees are more in urban areas, with the rural-urban distribution indicating 2.7 crore in cities and towns as opposed to 1.6 crore women in rural areas.

In terms of cities where hiring for women went up, Hyderabad emerged at the top with 34 per cent, followed by Pune at 33 per cent and Chennai at 29 per cent.

Notably, hiring in Delhi NCR for women went down 2 per cent since 2022, standing at 20 per cent in 2023.

Women's representation in the workforce, notably, has gone up by 2-5 per cent in 2023 as compared to 2022, which demonstrates a significant shift across junior professional and executive boards.

In terms of the age group which is hired the most, the highest proportion of women recruited by organisations is among freshers. 

As a matter of fact, 40 per cent of college hires placed in companies last year were women.

Female candidates with 0-3 years and 3-7 years of experience comprised of 20-25 per cent of the total hires in their respective bands, as per the study.

Women hiring at mid-managerial level remained the same for the last 2 years at 23 per cent.

This number was lowest for women placed in senior-level positions at 17 per cent, trailing behind lower experience levels. 

Sectors hiring women the most include the BFSI sector within GICs or GCCs, which went up from 40 per cent in 2022 to 43 per cent in 2023. 

Startups also hired more women in 2023 at 30 per cent, as against 22 per cent in the 2022 period.

Number of females in Domestic BFSI was also at 25 per cent in 2023, marginally higher than 24 per cent in 2022.  For Domestic Enterprise, the number  was at 30 per cent in 2023, higher than the 28 per cent in 2022. 

The pay gap for women has also narrowed, with a decrease to approximately 20 per cent in 2023 from 30 per cent in the previous year, depicting a positive shift towards equitable  salary practices.