Contrary to common belief, the National Capital has the lowest working women population in the country. This fact was revealed with the latest census report of Delhi —Primary Census Abstract 2011 — which also says the contribution of working women is a mere 10.6 per cent in Delhi, despite the female literacy of 80.8 per cent. The report was released on Tuesday.
Though there is a marginal rise from 2001 when it was 9.4 per cent, the contribution of working women in the city remains the least in the country. Among other States, Himachal Pradesh has the maximum working women population of 44.8 per cent while the second position was secured by Nagaland with female work participation rate of 44.7 per cent followed by Sikkim at 39.6 per cent.
In other major States like Maharashtra, Gujarat, West Bengal and Karnataka the female work participation rate was recorded at 31.1, 23.4, 18.1 and 31.9 per cent respectively.
The Census report of Delhi, released by Varsha Joshi, the Director of Census Operations. Speaking on the occasion, she said that the female workers occupied only a small number in urban (10.6 per cent) and rural (9.7 per cent) areas. Comparing this data to the figures of 2001, the number of working females has gone up in urban area by 1.3 per cent while it has declined in rural area by 0.5 per cent.
Expressing concern over the poor participation of women in work, Joshi said, “Cultural reasons or hesitation among women to disclose their working status may be responsible for such a poor rate. Some women may have been left out because of the kind of work they do. Some women are engaged in embroidery work or packaging which they do from home but do not count themselves to be a part of the working population and hence might hesitate in revealing the same,” added Joshi as she released the report.
The Census findings also indicate that with the total population of 16,787,941, the decadal growth in the city was 21.2 per cent (from 2001 to 2011). The female population growth was recorded at 24.9 per cent. Population of children in the age group 0-6 occupied 12 per cent in the total population, which has declined by 0.4 per cent from 2001.