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Women�s participation in economic arena abysmal

By Pranjal Bhuyan

GUWAHATI, Nov 15 � Even as the State Government continues to make tall claims about improvement in various social indicators, women�s participation in the economic arena in Assam continues to be abysmal.

As per the latest issue of Women and Men in India-2014 brought out by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the Statewise workforce participation rate of females in Assam is only 22.46 per cent, which is not only the lowest among the seven North Eastern States, but also one of the lowest across India.

The report showed that Statewise workforce participation rate in 2011 in Assam was 23.7 per cent in rural areas and only 14.9 per cent in the urban areas of the State.

Nationally, the workforce participation rate for females stood at 25.51 per cent, with female workforce participation rate at 30 per cent in urban areas on average across India and 15.4 per cent in rural areas.

Among other North Eastern States, the average figures were 44.74 per cent in Nagaland, 38.56 per cent in Manipur, 36.16 per cent in Mizoram, 35.44 per cent in Arunachal Pradesh, 32.67 per cent in Meghalaya and 23.57 per cent in Tripura.

Among all the States across India, it was highest in Himachal Pradesh at 44.82 per cent.

According to broad employment status in 2011-12, of the total female workers in Assam, 64.3 per cent in rural areas were self-employed, 17.5 per cent were earning regular wages as salaried employees, while the remaining 18.2 per cent were in casual labour.

In urban Assam, the proportion of self-employed women among the workers was 46.9 per cent, while 44.9 per cent were regular wage or salaried employees and another 8.2 per cent were engaged in casual labour.

The report added that in 2012-13, the Statewise worker population ratio in Assam was 12.2 per cent in rural areas and only 9 per cent in urban areas, the lowest in the North East.

Nationally, it was 24.8 per cent in urban areas and 14.7 per cent in rural areas.

Among all the States, it was highest in rural Himachal Pradesh at 52.4 per cent and in urban areas of Sikkim at 27.3 per cent.

The Statewise unemployment rate among females in Assam in 2011-12 was 9.2 per cent in rural Assam and 1.7 per cent in urban Assam.

The national average was 2.9 per cent in urban areas and 6.6 per cent in rural areas. The unemployment rate for females were highest in Nagaland and Tripura.

It also said that female regular wage/salaried employees received Rs 179.71 per day in rural areas of Assam and Rs 561.63 in urban areas of the State.

The CSO has been bringing out the publication Women and Men in India on a regular basis since 1995 and the latest was the 16th edition.

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