J&K failing its women, 76 % unemployed

Vikas Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 19

The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, which has only 58 per cent literacy rate among women, is also grappling with the high unemployment rate and low labour participation among women.

The claims by the successive governments as well as social organisations working for women empowerment have remained only on paper.

As per the data available with The Tribune, the overall labour participation rate in J&K is 45.72 per cent. The labour participation rate among men in J&K was 73.50 per cent between September 2019 and December 2019, while the women participation was just 12.66 per cent during the same period.

The labour participation rate (LPR) is defined as the section of working population in the age group of 16-64 years in the economy currently employed or seeking employment. People who are still undergoing studies, housewives and persons above the age of 64 years are not reckoned in the labour force. The LPR is the measure to evaluate working-age population in an economy.

Similarly, the percentage of unemployment among women in J&K is also on the higher side as compared to men. The unemployment percentage among women in the UT is 76.5 per cent, while the unemployment among men is 19.35 per cent. The overall unemployment rate in J&K is 26.53 per cent.

Whether it is in rural areas or urban areas, women are at the receiving end. In urban areas, the labour participation rate among women is just 16.96 per cent as compared to 79.69 per cent among men. The overall labour participation rate in the urban areas is 50.65 per cent. The employment opportunities are also less for women as unemployment rate is 77.73 per cent. The unemployment rate among the men in urban areas is 23.19 per cent. The overall unemployment rate in urban areas is 31.64 per cent.

The labour participation rate among women in the rural areas is meagre 10.71 per cent as compared to 70.78 per cent among men.

The unemployment rate among women in rural areas is slightly better at 74.84 per cent as compared to urban areas but the percentage is still on the higher side.

The overall labour participation rate and unemployment in rural areas is 43.51 per cent and 23.86 per cent, respectively.