The proportion of women in the country's workforce has increased during the last three decades, but it still stood at a poor 25.68 per cent in 2001 even as there are more women workers in rural areas than in the urban centres.

The proportion of women in the workforce in 1981 was 19.67 per cent and it rose to 22.73 per cent in 1991, further rising to 25.68 per cent in 2001, according to the statistics of the Registrar General in India.

The work participation rate for women in rural areas was 30.98 per cent as compared to 11.55 per cent in the urban areas.

In rural areas, women are mainly involved as cultivators and agricultural labourers, while in the urban areas, almost 80 per cent of the women workforce was working in unorganised sectors like household industry, petty trades and services and construction activity.

In the organised sector, women workers constituted 18.4 per cent of the workforce in 2003 as compared to 18.1 per cent in the previous years.

As on March 31, 2003, there were about 49.68 lakh women workers employed in the organised sector.

However, despite improvement, the work participation rate for women continues to be substantially low in comparison to that of men.

In 2001, the work participation rate for men was 51.93 per cent, which was more than double that of their women counterparts.

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