As India advances toward its Viksit Bharat 2047 vision, one of its most overlooked strengths lies in the millions of young women from underserved communities who remain excluded from the formal workforce.
According to a report by Magic Bus India Foundation and Bain & Company (2024), India’s Female Labour Force Participation Rate (FLFPR) remains between 35% and 40%, significantly lower than the global average of 47%. To reach its developmental goal of becoming a $30 trillion economy, India needs to
As India advances toward its Viksit Bharat 2047 vision, one of its most overlooked strengths lies in the millions of young women from underserved communities who remain excluded from the formal workforce.
According to a report by Magic Bus India Foundation and Bain & Company (2024), India’s Female Labour Force Participation Rate (FLFPR) remains between 35% and 40%, significantly lower than the global average of 47%. To reach its developmental goal of becoming a $30 trillion economy, India needs to integrate nearly 145 million additional women, beyond the current growth in female labour force participation, into the workforce by 2047. Achieving this requires a gender-responsive skilling framework aligned with 21st century skilling, integrating technical training with life and employability skills, digital literacy, and leadership development, especially for individuals from underserved backgrounds.
According to a recent Mercer-Mettl report (2023), only 42.6% of Indian graduates are employable. For young women from under-resourced communities, this statistic reflects even deeper barriers, such as limited access to quality education, early marriage, caregiving responsibilities, and mobility constraints.
Beyond technical know-how, these women need 21st-century life and employability skills to empower them to succeed in the workplace. This includes communication, collaboration, adaptability, problem-solving, career management, workplace ethics, and financial literacy. They also need agency, confidence, and capacity to make informed choices, earn with dignity, and sustain livelihoods. Life skills are not just nice-to-have, they are the foundation for long-term success in the workforce.
Magic Bus India Foundation and Bain & Company’s report also indicates that nearly 45% of India’s future economic growth will depend on greater female workforce participation. For this to happen, FLFPR must rise to approximately 70% by 2047. Equipping young women with life and employability skills is not just a developmental priority; it is the linchpin of this transformation. These skills unlock pathways to meaningful work, build resilience in the face of adversity, and create a generation of confident, capable women ready to power India's economic and social progress. In empowering them, we prepare a nation for inclusive and sustained growth.
In an era where industries and job roles are evolving rapidly, technical skills alone are no longer sufficient. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs report (2025) consistently emphasises life skills like problem-solving, collaboration, and adaptability to be essential for employability.
In various community-based initiatives, a significant percentage of young women have reported increased confidence, enhanced decision-making capacity, and greater control over financial resources as key indicators of personal agency. These outcomes go beyond employment metrics; they represent pathways to social mobility and markers of generational change.
India’s future workforce strategy must move beyond short-term job placements to sustainable livelihoods marked by income growth, dignity, and upward mobility. Here is how:
- Employability skills integration: Embed workplace readiness training, such as resume writing, interview preparation, and interpersonal skills, into all skilling programmes.
- Financial literacy and entrepreneurship: Equip women to manage money, start small enterprises, and generate income streams.
- Career preparedness and mentorship: Provide structured mentorship, exposure visits, and peer networks to help women enter, stay, and grow in the workforce.
- Digital skilling and AI readiness: Introduce foundational digital skills along with awareness of emerging technologies like AI to ensure women can thrive in tech-driven sectors and future-ready roles.
While the need for increased workforce participation is universal, the challenges faced by rural and urban women differ significantly.
In rural India, women often grapple with foundational challenges such as a lack of transport, childcare, digital access, or safe workplaces. Many are engaged in informal work, without job security or income stability. Solutions here must go beyond skilling to include investments in infrastructure and supportive services like childcare and transportation.
In urban areas, the aspiration-reality gap is striking. Despite higher educational attainment, urban women frequently face skill mismatches, wage gaps, and workplace bias. Career breaks due to caregiving only worsen the scenario. These challenges demand inclusive hiring practices, re-entry programmes, and flexible, industry-aligned training pathways.
India’s demographic dividend will pay off only if young women are equipped not just to survive, but to thrive. This means prioritising life and employability skills, aligning training with market needs, and supporting women through life transitions into dignified jobs and entrepreneurial ventures.
Government initiatives such as National Rural Livelihood Mission, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Mahila Samriddhi Yojana, and the Women Entrepreneurship Platform are playing a vital role in advancing women’s economic inclusion. When combined with supportive infrastructure such as safe commuting options and female-friendly workplaces, these policies and programme create an enabling environment for young women to participate in and thrive within the formal workforce.
Every girl and young woman deserve a life of opportunity, dignity, and confidence. Unlocking their potential is not just a moral imperative, it is a sound economic strategy. As India continues to invest in initiatives like Skill India, Digital India, and Startup India, it must place underserved young women at the heart of the strategy because the future of work and the future of the nation depend on it.
This article is authored by Arun Nalavadi, chief of programmes, Livelihood, Magic Bus India Foundation.
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