For many years, women have often been loaded with tons of responsibilities before fulfilling their dreams. This may have made their pace of development slower as compared to men, around the world. Before the pandemic struck, women had to look after their family also before leaving for office; juggle down some domestic chores, get ready, prepare for the office work beforehand and then leave in a haste. But now, the scenario has changed for the Indian women workforce.

The work opportunities for women have increased since the pandemic. More so because the paradigm of work ecosystems has changed at a large level now. The new concept of ‘work from home’ has brought in more hybrid models to work.

Due to this, the women workforce have two-way benefits now:

• They can sit at home and continue to work from there without having to do household chores before going to the office.

• They have a handsome salary coming at hand without having to go out.

This way they can manage both the work and home, look after themselves, moms can pay attention to their kids as well (because of online classrooms), and they could take the assistance of domestic help also for household chores.

The work models have now become more flexible & friendly, as the women do not have to move in herds now. They can attend personal/group online meetings. Also, the fear of sexual harassment at the workplace is now negligible due to the shifting of work systems.

The first time any country had adopted gender quotas to encourage gender diversity was in India, in 2013. It was necessary to imply quotas because in India many women were educated than before but they were hesitant to join the workforce due to cultural norms and beliefs. But ever since the quota has been implied and the pandemic has encouraged work-from-home opportunities, more & more women are being directed towards employment.

Adding to this, India also approved 26 weeks of paid maternity leave in 2017, which is also an encouragement factor.

The pandemic has proven that working remotely could be as effective as working in the office. This has encouraged more women to enter the market and prove their abilities which were on the break or never started due to responsibilities, caregiving, etc.

Another point to be mentioned here is that more job portals have opened up in the current pandemic situation to boost work from home paradigm. These job portals allow companies to recruit workers for entry-level jobs or jobs of higher positions. Due to this, both the recruiter & the worker have gained access to each other which they could never find before. The number of women showing keen interest in exploring these job opportunities has risen by 89% in 2021. These job hubs provide the chance to work from home, considering that women don’t have to relocate to any other place during the pandemic. Even the sectors of jobs are widely diverse, ranging from finance to technology.

Women in India are quite blessed than those in the West, as the pandemic caused the loss of jobs for women more than it did for men. However, in India, because of having family support and cheap domestic labor available, the women have been financially stable. Although no one likes losing their job but having family & relatives nearby doesn’t cause that much strain.

In conclusion, most of the women workforce is enjoying the home office they have so that they can finish their office duties and do a bit of gardening, cleaning, playing with their pets, or spending time with their kids later. They are now able to use their time more effectively by improving their skills and what they love because they have more 'me-time at hand. 

Cheers!