More women are leaving their homes than ever before to hunt for jobs in India's overcrowded employment market, the first government study of its kind released in New Delhi showed.
The Union labour ministry, which offers placement services, gave figures showing the total number of female job-seekers soared by 18 percent to 10.65 million in 2002 from 9.03 million in 1997.
The percentage of educated female job-hunters among the total number of educated job-seekers in India rose to 74.6 percent in 2002 from 72.6 percent a decade ago, it said.
"Of India's total 29.66 million job-seekers, educated women numbered 26.8 percent or 7.9 million in 2002, up from 5.7 million a decade ago," the government study said.
Kerala had the most female job-seekers in 2002 with 2.08 million, followed by Tamil Nadu with 1.85 million, the study said.
However, the ministry conceded that only 26,700 women, including 19,800 who were educated, secured jobs in 2002 through state-run employment centres, which mostly offer jobs in the government sector.
The number of female parliamentarians, meanwhile, shrunk by 5 more to 44 in the 545-seat Lok Sabha following April-May national elections.
-- AFP
