Female Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR)

Why in news?

• The India Employment Report, 2024, released by the Institute for Human Development and the International Labour Organization, points out that key labor market indicators have improved in recent years.

Key Findings

• In India the female Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) is very low compared to the male counterparts.
• In 2023, for male LFPR was 78.5%; and for women LFPR was 37%. The world women LFPR rate is 49%, according to the World Bank figures.
• The female LFPR had been steadily declining since 2000 and touched 24.5% in 2019, before inching up, particularly in rural areas.
• Status of women employed:
• The Report shows that it is women who largely account for the increase in self-employment and unpaid family work.
• The share of regular work, which steadily increased after 2000, started declining after 2018.

Reason for poor women labor force participation

• Cultural and Social Norms: In traditional societies, gender roles may discourage women from entering or staying in the workforce. Expectations around women’s responsibilities for caregiving and homemaking limit their ability to pursue full-time employment.
• Educational Attainment: Limited access to quality education can be a barrier for women to acquire the necessary skills and qualifications for certain jobs.
• Unequal Pay: Difference between wage gap, discourage women from entering or staying in the workforce.
• Structural rigidities in India’s manufacturing and service sectors have restricted employment opportunities in the informal sector, where a substantial amount of female workforce is involved.
• Security Issues: Sexual harassment at Worlplace often hinders women participation in labor force.

Steps taken by Government

• Code on Wages, 2019: It provides that there shall be no discrimination in an establishment among employees on the ground of gender in matters relating to wages by the same employer, in respect of the same work or work of similar nature done by any employee.
• Maternity Benefit Act, 2017: It was enacted to provide improved maternity benefits and promote a healthier work environment for pregnant and nursing women.
• The Code on Occupational Safety, Health And Working Conditions (OSH), 2020: It has proposed tweaks in employment terms and conditions for women workers in the above-ground mines.
• Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK): It is a national-level organization that provides microfinance services to poor women for various livelihood activities. It supports income-generating projects and promotes women’s economic empowerment.
• National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM): NRLM focuses on creating sustainable self-employment opportunities for rural women. It provides skill training, capacity building, and financial support for women to engage in income-generating activities.
• MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act): It guarantees 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to rural households. Women’s participation in this program is encouraged, and efforts are made to ensure equitable employment opportunities.

Way Ahead

• The increase in labor force participation has come mostly in rural areas and mostly in self-employment, which means largely unpaid work.
• Interventions are needed on both the demand and supply side of the labor market to improve the condition.
• On the demand side, policies that promote labor intensive sectors (in both manufacturing and relatively higher productivity services) are needed.
• Public investment in safety and transport is also critical along with public investment in affordable child and elderly care.
• All of these types of support can enable women to work outside the home and take advantage of relatively better paying opportunities.

Honeycomb Clouds and Clean Air of Southern Ocean the Earth

Why in news?

• Recently, scientists have found the honeycomb-shaped clouds are the reason for having the cleanest air on Earth.

About the Honeycomb Clouds

• These are ‘open-cell clouds’.
• These are low, flat clouds resembling a quilt when viewed from an aeroplane, with patches of open air framed by walls of clouds.
• Honeycomb cloud networks are a regular occurrence under certain conditions in the mid-latitudes. They can form as part of a low-pressure system or cyclone.

Formation:

• It is attributed to a simple form of convection, which is the movement of air caused by warm air rising and cold air falling.
• It is the same phenomenon that occurs in a pot of boiling water.
• When the bottom plate (or in this case, the Earth’s surface) is heated up, the warm air near it rises, pushing down the cold air from above.
• These upward and downward movements, known as updrafts and downdrafts, start to form vertical ‘walls’ in the atmosphere.
• In a uniform heating scenario, these updrafts and downdrafts create hexagonal cells on the surface that resemble a honeycomb.
• However, the Earth’s oceans are not heated uniformly, resulting in open-cell clouds that don’t look perfectly hexagonal.

Role of Aerosols

• The atmosphere is a complex place where factors other than heating come into play to determine when and where clouds form.
• For instance, aerosols, which are tiny particles of dust and dirt floating in the air, serve as surfaces for water to collect on, forming cloud droplets.
• The number and size of aerosols can change the size of cloud droplets and determine whether clouds will produce rain.

Southern Ocean’s Clean Air

• The Southern Ocean’s air is considered clean due to its low levels of aerosols, fine solid particles or liquid droplets suspended in the air.
• While the lack of human activity in the region contributes to this, natural sources of fine particles, such as salt from sea spray or dust whipped up by the wind, also play a part.

The Role of Honeycomb Clouds

• Recent research has discovered that clouds and rain, particularly from open honeycomb clouds, play a crucial role in scrubbing the atmosphere clean.
• The Southern Ocean is the cloudiest place on Earth and experiences short-lived, sporadic showers like nowhere else.
• These honeycomb-like clouds, known as Mesoscale Cellular Convection (MCC) clouds, have a major role in regulating the climate.
• When a honeycomb cell is filled with clouds or ‘closed’, it appears whiter and brighter, reflecting more sunlight back to space and helping keep the Earth cool.
• Empty or ‘open’ honeycomb cells, on the other hand, let more sunlight in.

Rainfall: The Key to Clean Air

• The research showed that days with the cleanest air were associated with the presence of open honeycomb clouds.
• These clouds generate sporadic but intense rain showers, which seem to ‘wash’ the aerosol particles out of the air.

Other Reasons Behind Cleanest Air on Earth:

• Remote Location: The Southern Ocean’s remote location minimises human-induced air pollution.
• Cold Temperatures and Strong Winds: These conditions promote efficient dispersion of air pollutants.
• Lack of Large Surrounding Landmass: This limits the input of continental aerosols.
• Phytoplankton: Seasonal variation in the growth of tiny plant-like organisms called phytoplankton, which are a source of airborne sulphate particles, also influences aerosol levels.