India's biggest barrier for women who dream to work isn't a lack of jobs. It's unpaid care

Childcare and household responsibilities, not a lack of jobs, remain the single biggest reason women stay out of the workforce in India's largest cities, according to a new National Statistics Office (NSO) survey that reveals the persistent burden of unpaid care work and the country's enduring gender gap in employment.

The survey, covering labour market indicators across 46 Indian cities with populations exceeding one million, found that 69% of women who were outside the labour force cited childcare and household chores as the primary reason. By comparison, only 1% of men reported the same reason for not participating in the labour market.

The findings come even as India has seen a gradual rise in female labour force participation in recent years. However, at an estimated 30.7% in 2025, the country's participation rate for women remains among the lowest among major global economies.


The survey also found that just 1% of women attributed their absence from the labour force to "social reasons", although it did not elaborate on what those reasons entailed.

The burden of unpaid care work varied significantly across cities. Howrah recorded the highest share, with 83% of women outside the labour force pointing to childcare and domestic responsibilities. It was followed by Surat (81%), Pimpri Chinchwad and Bhopal (78% each), and Dhanbad (77%).

At the other end of the spectrum, the proportion was substantially lower in Coimbatore (38%), Agra (41%), Kota (57%), Hyderabad (58%), and Visakhapatnam and Srinagar (60%).

Apart from care responsibilities, 16% of women said they were not working because they were pursuing higher education, while 10% cited health or age-related reasons.

Among men who were outside the labour force, the reasons differed sharply. More than half (53%) said they were pursuing further studies, while 39% cited health and age-related factors.

The survey also suggested that women employed in India's biggest cities tend to have better-quality jobs than women in urban India overall. Around 65% of employed women in million-plus cities held salaried positions, compared with 51% across urban India. Only 3% reported being engaged in casual work, significantly lower than the 9% recorded across urban areas.

However, the gains in job quality did not translate into pay parity.

According to the survey, women in salaried employment earned an average monthly income of Rs 23,700 in million-plus cities, compared with Rs 30,700 for men—a wage gap of nearly 23%.

The disparity was even wider in cities such as Kalyan-Dombivli, Navi Mumbai and Nagpur, where women earned nearly half as much as their male counterparts. Prayagraj emerged as an exception, with women reported to be earning more than men.

The earnings gap was even more pronounced among the self-employed. Self-employed men reported average monthly earnings of Rs 33,880, more than double the Rs 16,160 earned by self-employed women.

The survey further found that workers in India's largest cities logged longer working hours than the urban average. Employees in million-plus cities worked an average of 49.5 hours a week, compared with 47.1 hours across urban India.

Among women in salaried employment, those in Rajkot recorded the longest average workweek at 51.5 hours, followed by Faridabad at 50 hours.

(With inputs from ToI)