The coronavirus pandemic has left everyone stranded at their homes with nowhere outside to step. Even those little strolls in fresh mornings and calm evenings seem a distant possibility. The living place has become a whole working world with all systems decked up at home, and minimum necessity to step outside. But thanks to technology, everything is now possible at the click of a button or screen. From ordering basic groceries and food online to totally working online through a home office, everything from decently simple to twistingly complicated has become super easy. Technology was already in the developing stages of going virtual, but the pandemic has triggered advancements and pushed boundaries for us to survive and function smoothly without physically having to facilitate all this. Earlier, working from home or workations were very rare and mostly done if travelling from home was difficult or tedious. Today, working from home is the norm and people have got accustomed to this way of working. Albeit the comfort of doing everything without the effort of getting dressed in those uncomfortable formal dresses and travelling hours to work everyday, a few professionals think that bringing the workplace home has disrupted work-life balance and life has become more mundane, without any weekend chilling, fun activities at the workplace, social interaction and bonding or office parties. Only work and total lockdown have made the outgoing squad’s lives frustrating and outright boring. But fret not they say, because social media and entertainment platforms picked the right opportunity to bring back the fun in the routine lives of fun-loving people. They did it simple and big – give people the motivation and platform to showcase what they are good at, bring out the talent and innovation and publicize it through the right medium in the right way. Earlier, people hadn’t even pondered over if their pastime interests and mini-gigs could garner such appreciation and popularity over the internet. But the lockdown made internet stars out of next door neighbours. And not just the popularity that comes with it, people have actually started enjoying the process of being involved in doing something they like with such passion and happiness. It keeps them busy for the day and also serves as a welcome change from office work and stress. This has actually brought out the creativity of content creators who would otherwise have continued with their routine weekdays and weekends. Confinement has encouraged people to try out something which interests them – anything decent and simple good, and refreshing too. Typical 9 to 5 people have found something new and interesting to look forward to after work. What had been believed strictly professional once has become fun and exciting. From comedians to content creators, memers, lifestyle coaches, fashion trendsetters, culinary experts, motivation leaders, creative minds and bloggers, we have a whole set of feel-good people to watch perform, enjoy and seize the day, being at home. Trying out funny dance or comedy videos, innovating sustainable fashion with homely items, revamping the simple abode into a nice and cool place, preparing chef-style dishes at home are just some of the trends that have taken the attention of the millennials. And it’s true, they find satisfaction and solace in trying out these new things, posting their daily activities online. The attitude of people towards the definition of a fulfilling day has changed, too. Today, they believe that if they’ve had a happy time, it’s a day spent well, rather than running behind goals and the constant need of accomplishing something by the end of the day, and losing their calm and composure in the process. And they are right! In the end, all that counts is how much one has enjoyed thoroughly rather than what he/she has achieved. The lockdown has sure made normal life tumultuous to some extent, but if we look at the positive side of things, we are actually thriving well in tough times, and we’ve got to keep it up and strong till we overcome this situation testing our limits, and we will surely do it with the same ease and elegance as gracefully as we have come this far! 

Participation of women as the economically productive workforce:

53 percent of all the fresh graduates in India, in the year 2018-2019 were women. As per All India Survey of Higher education, the enrolment of women for higher education has increased to 49 percent in 2018 to 2019 as against 44 percent in the year 2011 to 2012 This is indeed is a clear indicator that India has made considerable progress in women education. Yet this pool of women talent transforming into the driving workforce is distressingly less. India’s Female Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) was 20.8 percent in 2019, as per data from the World Bank.

India has seen a steep decline in Female Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), It has fallen to 20.8 percent in 2019 as against 30.27 percent in 1990.India’s Female LFPR is very less

The fact that such a large pool of literate, qualified and talented women workforce is still aloof in the effort to boost economy is a clear indication to analyse how to judiciously harvest this talent or rather what might be the causes that women participation in the workforce is so low.

There might be two chief causes of this dwindling Female LFPR –

1. Societal Norms
2. Difficulties faced by women to enter and retain in the labour market

In some communities, women face a lot of resistance to work and participate in the workforce. This resistance is mainly due to societal taboo about women working outside the house. In addition to this the women might be subjected to take care of the household responsibly. Many women find it difficult to harmonize the trade off between family responsibilities and work. The unpaid house work and parenting are still seen as a woman’s primary duty while men are entitled as the bread winners of the family. This might be a chief cause which discourage women to participate in the labour pool.

Women with lower family incomes are subjected to forced labour due to financial pressures while a few women drop out once the income is stable. While few educated women in India still face mismatch in the opportunities and exposure provided to them based on their talent and skill set. Other concerns are safety at work place, security of tenure- owing to maternal leaves, the pay parity, maintaining work and household balance and societal pressure.

Regardless of the countless barrier women have faced to participate and retain in the workforce, women have found their way out and reached the pinnacle of their career. May these women be the torch bearers and inspire the future generations and create opportunities for them. For India cannot afford the productivity loss by missing out such a large chunk of women workforce. New laws, policies and change in societal outlook are kindling the spark for necessary transformation to include more and more women in productive workforce. But we still have a long way to go and encourage women participation as much as we can. And as they say, charity begins at home! Let us start by empowering ourselves and many more future generations to come, not for the sake of feminism or gender equality, but to lead a fulfilling, independent and exemplary life.