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Patna, (Bihar Times): Orissa with 26 per cent and Bihar with 16.3 per cent are the two states with the highest percentage of working women. Unlike elsewhere the rise in the number of working women somewhat reflects the backwardness of that region rather than development.
Take the figure of developed states. Only 4.7 per cent women work in Punjab while in Delhi 4.3 per cent and Haryana 3.6 per cent. But that is not the case with the North-East where 20 per cent women work. Similarly southern states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka with 39, 30.5 and 23.7 per cent respectively have larger percentage of women workers.
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At the all India level only 13 per cent of women between the age group of 18 and 59 years work. Ninety per cent of them work in the unorganised sector in difficult job environment.
Much more women work in the rural areas. Over 35 per cent work in farm sector. The study done by Invest India Incomes and Savings Survey, 2007 said that 45 per cent of the women workers earn less than Rs 50,000 a year. Of this only 26 per cent can take independent financial decisions about their incomes.
The Survey shows that relatively well-off families in both rural and urban India prefer not to let their
women work. Thus it is a compulsion rather than a choice for the women workers.
The percentage of women work force may be higher in backward states and south India. For example, in Tamil Nadu (31 per cent), Kerala (25 per cent), Karnataka (21 per cent) of the women workers come from the urban areas. But in Orissa and Bihar only 5.5 and 4.8 per cent of women workers come from urban centres. The percentage of rural work force in these two states is much higher.
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