Women in
Leadership

At IWWAGE, we view women’s leadership as a critical driver of women’s economic empowerment and inclusive national development. Despite comprising nearly half the population, women remain underrepresented in decision-making roles across economic, political, and social spheres. Strengthening women’s leadership across sectors and levels is essential to ensuring that policies, institutions, and markets reflect women’s lived realities and deliver equitable outcomes.

IWWAGE’s work on women in leadership focuses on:

Advancing women’s representation in decision-making

Promoting women’s leadership across grassroots governance, entrepreneurship, corporate leadership, and policy and research institutions to strengthen inclusive growth and governance.

Addressing structural barriers to leadership

Examining gaps in mentorship, sponsorship, networks, skills, and access to resources that limit women’s upward mobility, particularly in sectors such as technology, finance, manufacturing, and the informal economy.

Strengthening leadership pathways in the informal economy

Supporting women in informal and precarious work to transition from participation to leadership through skills development, entrepreneurial support, and access to economic opportunities.

Enabling gender-transformative institutions

Highlighting how women’s leadership in public spaces and governance leads to more responsive policies on equal pay, workplace safety, maternity benefits, and family-friendly work arrangements.

Leveraging evidence for policy and practice

Drawing on IWWAGE’s extensive experience in Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) to inform policies, programmes, and institutional reforms that foster women’s agency and leadership.

Key areas of engagement include:

  • Women’s entrepreneurship
  • Local governance and political leadership
  • Leadership in finance, business, and economics
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2026
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2018

Report

Women’s Work in Select States in India: Opportunities and Challenges

  • December , 2022
  • Sona Mitra
Women comprise nearly half of the world’s working population and therefore potentially half of its labour force. Female labour force participation (FLFP) represent a women decision to be the part of labour force or part of economically inactive population. At present in nearly every country female labor force participation is lower than that of male labour force participation. Female labour force participation in South Asia is among the lowest of any developing region in the world. As per PLFS, FLFPR in rural and urban area are 27.7% and 18.6% respectively. India’s low female labour force participation excludes almost half of the potential working age population, leading to gross underutilisation of women’s talents and capabilities and remains a roadblock in reaping and distributing its demographic advantage. Women participation in labour force varies across different region. The variation is determined by an array of economic and social factors including income growth, educational attainment, marital status and other prevailing local social norms.
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Women comprise nearly half of the world’s working population and therefore potentially half of its labour force. Female labour force participation (FLFP) represent a women decision to be the part of labour force or part of economically inactive population. At present in nearly every country female labor force participation is lower than that of male labour force participation. Female labour force participation in South Asia is among the lowest of any developing region in the world. As per PLFS, FLFPR in rural and urban area are 27.7% and 18.6% respectively. India’s low female labour force participation excludes almost half of the potential working age population, leading to gross underutilisation of women’s talents and capabilities and remains a roadblock in reaping and distributing its demographic advantage. Women participation in labour force varies across different region. The variation is determined by an array of economic and social factors including income growth, educational attainment, marital status and other prevailing local social norms.
Click here
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