Register with us

Archives

Understanding the Market Landscape and Enterprise Readiness for Women-led Home-based Businesses

Women entrepreneurs contribute to the Indian economy in terms of GDP and employment. Despite this, they face gender specific barriers in labour force participation, such as, market, mobility, time, and credit constraints. These factors have been the driving forces behind the emergence of home-based businesses led by women especially in the informal sector. As a part of IWWAGE’s strategic vision to facilitate women’s economic empowerment through an evidence-based approach, Part 1 of the study aims to map the market landscape for home-based handicraft and handloom enterprises led by women, and assess their readiness. The subsequent study (Part 2) will look to answer critical questions related to credit access, and alternatives to existing credit scoring mechanisms.

To capture a granular perspective on the state of market access and supply chain linkages, 800 home-based women entrepreneurs were surveyed across Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. The study sheds light on the need for two approaches when designing policy interventions for improving the market landscape of female entrepreneurs. The first is the need for a facilitative and enabling ecosystem for home-based entrepreneurs because the market landscape itself lacks structure and formality with significant variations across the two states. Second, women entrepreneurs should not be approached as a singular segment but instead, need to be segmented according to their nuanced needs and strengths. A targeted approach through looking at personas or the type of entrepreneurs could be a great beginning. Based on insights from the survey, a diagnostic policy framework ‘Business Readiness Scorecard for Women (WBRS)’ has been developed to identify priority areas for intervention.

 

Impact of Covid-19 On Working Women

The Indian economy has been plunged into severe economic uncertainties created by the global pandemic COVID-19. At the same time, there are also discussions on how the eruption, the spread and the aftermath of the novel virus will affect women. The numbers of women at work, their sustenance at the workplace, their pay, their career graph was already a matter of grave concern and a much-discussed global issue. Now, in light of the COVID-19 scenario, the following questions become imperative to address: Are we foreseeing worse days ahead? What has been the impact of COVID-19 on working women, both in urban and rural areas? Which are the sectors where women have become dispensable? How do we ensure that women are not further marginalised in these unprecedented times? To answer these questions, one must start by analysing the data and underlying trends of women’s employment in India, including in sectors where they tend to be employed. We also need to scrutinise the long run repercussions the economic fallout of the pandemic will have on gender equality, both during different phases of the lockdown and thereafter. This note attempts to deliberate upon the aforesaid issues and reflects on some measures that can help bring about recovery and resilience for women.

Making a Gender Responsive Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme

The pandemic and subsequent lockdown measures in India have taken a toll on all aspects of life, particularly on livelihoods. While job losses have been observed in both rural and urban sectors, recent figures show that there has been an increase in creation of non-salaried jobs in rural areas, but generation of wage employment in the urban sector has remained a challenge. Over 21 million salaried jobs have been lost in India (out of a base of 86 million overall salaried jobs) between April and August 2020. This evidence points to the fact that urban livelihoods have taken a huge hit due to the COVID-19 crisis, and the ability of the urban sector to create new jobs to compensate for these losses is currently under a cloud. Women have been disproportionately affected by job losses. A recent report tracking the pandemic’s influence on informal work in India suggests that more women were out of work post-lockdown compared to men. Given the largely positive effects of MGNREGA on women workers, many policy experts have recommended designing and implementing an urban employment guarantee programme to alleviate the problems faced especially by urban women workers, particularly those in the informal economy. Recognising such a need for support in urban areas, various state governments have stepped in with their own urban employment guarantee schemes. The details of these schemes are provided in the brief.

Strengthening Socio-Economic Rights of Women in the Informal Economy: The SEWA Approach in West Bengal and Jharkhand

Women working in India’s informal sector face several vulnerabilities and are often denied decent working conditions and wages. This further exacerbates inequities and pushes them towards high risk poverty. The situation is worse for women belonging to socially disadvantaged castes and communities. Evidence from India and other contexts shows that the working poor in the informal economy, particularly women, need to organise themselves to overcome the structural disadvantages they face. Organisation gives these otherwise marginalised workers the power of solidarity and a platform to be seen and heard by decision makers with the power to affect their lives.

Since 1972, the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) is working as an organisation of poor women workers and a movement to create better alternatives. SEWA is currently operative in many states across the country and has a membership base of nearly 2 million women workers in the informal economy, comprising domestic workers, street vendors, agricultural workers, construction labourers, salt workers, beedi and papad rollers and such other vulnerable categories. SEWA’s programme in Jharkhand and West Bengal aims to increase the collective bargaining strength of women, particularly those working as agricultural workers, domestic workers and construction labourers (in the former state) and female beedi rollers in West Bengal. The programme aims to improve women’s access to and understanding of basic services, such as health and sanitation, and also increase their ability to demand local accountability through nurturing of grassroots leadership. The study tries to understand the impact that various components of its programme have had on informal women workers in Jharkhand and West Bengal. The women included in the study were predominantly engaged in beedi rolling, domestic work, construction work, agriculture and street vending.

 

Impact of Covid-19 on Urban Poor in Industrial Clusters

As agriculture continues to offer diminishing work opportunities, the future of women’s employment in India lies in expanding access to jobs in manufacturing and services. This project investigates the profile, barriers, and aspirations of women workers in urban industrial landscapes, particularly in Delhi NCR, where small-scale sectors like garments and footwear attract large numbers of low-skilled migrants. By examining the types of opportunities available, how women enter industrial employment, and the policies shaping their experiences, the study aims to deepen understanding of stagnating female participation in these sectors.

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, a phone survey was conducted among low-income households in these industrial clusters to assess the impact of the lockdown on livelihoods and well-being, with a focus on gendered experiences. Findings revealed widespread job losses, especially among male wage and casual labourers, with average daily earnings dropping by 77 per cent. Women reported significantly higher levels of psychological distress than men, driven by financial insecurity and inadequate government support. While food and grocery assistance was the most common form of relief, many still reported insufficient essentials and job losses perceived as increasingly permanent. These insights call for more targeted and gender-responsive industrial and urban employment policies.

Nudging Households to increase the usage of Clean Fuel

Indoor air pollution, particularly from cooking with solid fuels, poses a severe public health risk, with women disproportionately bearing the burden. This project, based in rural Madhya Pradesh, investigates how targeted health communication and information on LPG subsidies can influence a shift towards cleaner cooking practices. Villages were randomly assigned to receive different interventions: health awareness alone, health awareness with information on the LPG subsidy programme, or no intervention (control). The combined campaign resulted in a 6% annual increase in LPG refill purchases, a 14% rise in monthly consumption, and a 320% boost in self-reported induction stove usage. While the ‘health only’ group did not show an increase in LPG use, there was improved adoption of safety measures such as smoke outlets or separate kitchens. These findings suggest that both awareness and financial accessibility are critical in enabling consistent clean fuel usage. Despite the significant expansion of LPG access under the Government of India’s Ujjwala Yojana scheme, sustained use remains limited due to low awareness about subsidy benefits and the health risks of solid fuels. This study underscores the importance of integrated communication and policy design in advancing cleaner, safer household energy use.

Women in Agriculture

Over the past two decades, India has seen a dramatic rise in agricultural mechanisation, particularly through the widespread adoption of tractors. While this technological progress has improved productivity, it has also led to a significant decline in rural farm employment-most notably among women. This study investigates how mechanisation, especially in tilling, has contributed to the fall in female agricultural labour.

The analysis finds that a 1 percentage point increase in the mechanisation of tilling operations reduces female labour per hectare by 0.7 per cent. This decline stems largely from a reduction in the need for weeding-an activity traditionally undertaken by women-as tilling quality improves. Between 1999 and 2011, a 32 percentage point rise in mechanisation explains around 22 per cent of the 30 per cent drop in women’s employment in agriculture during the same period.

The research underscores that when the production process is sequential and tasks are gendered-as in Indian agriculture-technological change can disproportionately affect women’s livelihoods. Since men have historically undertaken the more power-intensive tasks like deep tilling, they are better positioned to benefit from mechanisation. Meanwhile, women, who perform precision-based tasks such as weeding and sowing, are often displaced.

Soil composition also plays a role: regions with loamy soils, which require deeper tilling, are more likely to adopt mechanised tools. These structural dynamics-both technological and environmental-compound the challenges rural women face in maintaining agricultural employment. The findings highlight the need for gender-sensitive policy design that anticipates and mitigates the unintended consequences of agricultural modernisation.

Digital Solutions for SHGs in Chhattisgarh – The COVID-19 Pandemic: Project Modifications and Learnings

Women’s collectives like self-help groups (SHGs) have long played a transformative role in empowering women across India. Building on this potential, IWWAGE an initiative of LEAD at Krea University is partnering with the State Rural Livelihoods Mission (SRLM) Chhattisgarh and Haqdarshak Empowerment Solutions (HESPL) to train SHG members on using the **Haqdarshak** mobile application. This innovative tool helps citizens access information on over 200 central and state government welfare schemes.

Trained SHG women, known as *Haqdarshikas*, earn a livelihood by offering doorstep services to their communities, enabling access to welfare entitlements for a small fee. The project adopts a sustainable, entrepreneurial model while enhancing digital literacy and economic participation among rural women.

Alongside implementation, IWWAGE and LEAD are conducting an impact and process evaluation of the Haqdarshak model. This includes assessing adaptations made during the COVID-19 pandemic, changes in program delivery for different training cohorts, and evolving evaluation methods.

This learning note captures early implementation insights and outlines how the model is evolving to remain effective in changing contexts.

Making a Gender Responsive Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme

The COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted urban livelihoods in India, with over 21 million salaried jobs lost between April and August 2020. Women, particularly those in the informal sector, faced disproportionate job losses, further compounding their already low participation in the labour force.

Sectors employing large numbers of women-such as domestic work, construction, and beauty services-were among the hardest hit. Even in the formal economy, women in temporary or part-time roles were more vulnerable to layoffs and lacked access to social security.

The crisis has highlighted the urgent need for an urban employment guarantee programme, akin to MGNREGA, which has shown positive outcomes for women in rural areas. Several states have already taken the lead in piloting such schemes. These efforts present a crucial opportunity to design gender-responsive urban employment programmes that support women’s livelihoods, build resilience, and boost overall economic recovery.

Digital Solutions for SHGs in Chhattisgarh

Government entitlements are often the primary source of social protection for poor households. With the aim of increasing information about and uptake of government entitlements, and with the support of the State Rural Livelihoods Mission (SRLM) in the state of Chhattisgarh, IWWAGE – an initiative of LEAD at Krea University and Haqdarshak Empowerment Solutions Private Limited (HESPL),is implementing a project on promoting government entitlements through women self-help group (SHG) members as agents. Within this project, self-help group (SHG) members are trained on a digital application called Haqdarshak. The digital tool, Haqdarshak, is an innovative mobile application developed by HESPL. The application provides a ready reference of more than 200 central and state government welfare schemes and programmes, their benefits, eligibility criteria, documents required, and the application process for each scheme. These SHG women members, known as Haqdarshikas, in turn go door to door to households within their communities to provide information and enable households to apply for these government programmes, for a small fee.

The research team at IWWAGE – an initiative of LEAD at Krea University, conducted a survey of 411 Haqdarshikas in September and October 2020 to understand factors that influence retention and drop-out from the programme. This cohort of Haqdarshikas received training between August 2019 to February 2020. The survey also delved into the impact of COVID-19 on the work of the Haqdarshikas.