Childcare Support Emerges As Key To Sustaining Women’s Workforce Participation

The issue assumes significance with the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) showing that India’s female labour force participation rate for those aged 15 years and above stood at 40 per cent in 2025. The survey also found that 44.4per cent of women outside the labour force cited childcare or personal commitments in homemaking as their main reason for not participating in the workforce.

The figures suggest that increasing women’s participation in paid work may require interventions that go beyond maternity leave and focus on childcare during the early years of a child’s life.

Under the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017, establishments employing 50 or more people are required to provide crèche facilities, either separately or through a common facility within the prescribed distance. The law also provides for four visits a day by a woman employee to the crèche, including her rest interval.

However, childcare needs continue well beyond the period covered by maternity leave. Children require supervision, nutrition, healthcare and early learning while parents are at work, making the availability and quality of childcare facilities an important factor in determining whether women can return to employment and remain in the workforce.

“Accessible, affordable and quality childcare facilities can make it easier for women to return to work after childbirth and continue building their careers,” said Chirashree Ghosh, National Coordinator of the Forum for Crèches and Child Care Services (FORCES).

She said reliable childcare support could give women greater opportunities to participate in the workforce, earn independently and exercise economic choice. FORCES is working towards greater coordination among stakeholders for wider access to crèches staffed by trained childcare workers, she added.

The private sector has also begun linking childcare and women's economic participation with broader development goals.

“At the heart of our chairman, Anil Agarwal’s vision for Nand Ghar is the belief that empowering women and nurturing children go hand in hand,” said Shashi Arora, CEO, Nand Ghar.

She said the organisation’s network of more than 15,000 Nand Ghars provides children with nutrition, early learning and care, while supporting women in pursuing livelihoods, skills and economic opportunities.

Odisha has also proposed a broader Care Centre framework under its KALIKA policy. The policy covers children aged six months to six years and explicitly seeks to reduce the childcare burden on women and increase their participation in the labour force. It proposes facilities across urban, rural and tribal areas and targets women in both the formal and informal sectors.

The Odisha framework envisages childcare centres at Anganwadi centres, government offices, industrial zones, construction sites, factories, markets and other locations where women work. It also proposes facilities for women in the unorganised sector and community-based centres operated by self-help groups, NGOs and local bodies.