India has successfully inspired its women to dream big, pursue studies, and earn impressive university degrees. However, the nation's economy has failed to match this progress by integrating them meaningfully into the workforce. While increasing numbers of women in higher education are often showcased as a triumph, the reality beyond campus gates tells a different, more concerning story.
The Employability Paradox: Degrees Without Doors
The latest findings are sobering. According to the Her Path, Her Power report by TeamLease Degree Apprenticeship (TLDA), only 34 to 37 percent of graduating women in India are considered employable. This glaring gap between academic achievement and labour market absorption has become a critical bottleneck for the country's economic growth. Women constitute nearly 48% of India's population but contribute a mere 18% to its GDP, highlighting a massive underutilisation of talent.
The labour market continues to favour men, offering them easier entry, while women encounter stricter scrutiny, limited career mobility, and fewer opportunities for redemption after setbacks. This creates a national paradox: rising educational qualifications among women alongside stagnant workforce participation.
Sectoral Snapshot: Where Do Women Stand?
The TLDA report breaks down the employability challenge by industry, revealing stark disparities. Healthcare emerges as a relative bright spot, with female employability between 55 and 60 percent, likely due to the sector's structured training and clear role definitions.
In contrast, other key sectors show significant shortfalls. Only about 36 percent of women graduates in IT and software are deemed job-ready. The Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) sector fares slightly better at 40 percent, while retail and sales stand at 42 percent.
Engineering remains the most exclusionary field, with female employability plunging to just 22 percent. This points to deep cracks in technical education, unwelcoming workplace cultures, and an industry unprepared to hire women at scale, possibly perpetuated by outdated stereotypes about women and technology.
The High Cost of Employment: Gaps in Pay and Power
Securing a job does not guarantee fair treatment. The TeamLease report underscores that women earn 20 to 35 percent less than men for similar roles. This pay disparity worsens at senior levels, widening to nearly 28 percent for leadership positions.
Faced with persistent discrimination, many women eventually exit the corporate pipeline. This attrition is often not due to a lack of ambition but because the system makes professional persistence excessively punitive. The data illustrates this vividly: while women hold about 31 percent of entry-level corporate roles, their representation shrinks to roughly 17 percent in executive positions. Only about 20 percent of corporate board seats are occupied by women.
This pattern is mirrored in medicine. Although more women are earning MBBS degrees, they represent only around 17 percent of practising allopathic doctors. The system is not lacking female talent; it is systematically losing it.
An Urban Conundrum and an Unfinished Story
The contradiction is particularly sharp in urban India. Despite better access to education and jobs, the Female Labour Force Participation Rate in urban areas is about 22 percent, even lower than the national average of approximately 31.7 percent. This rate remains far below the global average of nearly 50 percent.
India's real challenge is no longer educating women—data from the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) shows that battle is being won. The profound failure lies in what happens after graduation. Degrees are becoming waiting rooms instead of bridges to opportunity.
Celebrating rising enrollment is meaningless if women are subsequently sidelined in the job market. True empowerment requires remoulding hiring practices, ensuring equitable pay structures, aligning skills with market needs, and creating clear pathways to leadership.
This is not merely a social or gender issue; it is a critical economic failure. India cannot afford to produce a generation of qualified women only to lock them out of power, pay, and professional progress. Ultimately, degrees alone do not drive growth; opportunity does. Until the economy learns this lesson, India's celebrated education success story will remain profoundly unfinished and unequal.
