A new government report from Delhi has unveiled a powerful yet paradoxical trend: women in the national capital are achieving significant milestones in higher education but continue to face substantial barriers in translating those gains into workforce participation. The data highlights a growing gender divide between academic achievement and economic engagement.
Educational Empowerment: Women Reshaping Classrooms and Campuses
The report, 'Women and Men in Delhi – 2025,' released by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, documents a consistent and strong feminization of the teaching profession across all levels of schooling. This indicates a clear preference among women for a career perceived as stable, socially acceptable, and flexible.
The numbers tell a compelling story. At the primary level, the number of female teachers per 100 male teachers surged from 363 in 2012-13 to 415 in 2024-25. This upward trajectory is mirrored at other levels:
- At the upper-primary stage, the ratio increased from 214 to 261.
- At the higher-secondary level, it rose from 152 to 168.
This educational leadership extends beyond teaching to student enrolment. For the first time in recent years, female enrolment in higher education in Delhi has crossed the halfway mark, rising from 49.08% in 2022-23 to 50.57% in 2023-24. Furthermore, data from 2021-22 shows more women are pursuing advanced degrees, with increases in the number of female students per 100 male students in MPhil, Postgraduate, Undergraduate, and diploma courses.
The Stark Workforce Reality: A Participation Crisis
This educational progress stands in sharp, troubling contrast to women's presence in Delhi's economy. The key metric of worker-population ratio reveals a deep gap. In 2023-24, only 14.2% of Delhi's women were employed, compared to 52.8% of men. This urban figure is shockingly lower than the national average of 30.7% for women.
A similar disparity is evident in the Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), which measures those working or actively seeking work. Delhi's LFPR for women was a mere 14.5% in 2023-24, less than half the national average of 31.7%. Men in Delhi recorded an LFPR of 54%, aligning with the all-India level.
Officials point to this chasm as evidence of deep-rooted structural issues. "Education is clearly empowering Delhi's women, but the labour market is not keeping pace," an official stated. "Cultural expectations, lack of safe transport, and limited job opportunities that align with women's needs remain major barriers."
Job Profiles and Rural Disparities
The nature of employment further underscores the challenges. In 2023-24, a significant 70.2% of female workers were regular wage or salaried employees, compared to 53% of male workers. Conversely, only 26.4% of women were self-employed, against 40.3% of men. This indicates women rely more on perceived stable jobs and have lower access to entrepreneurial opportunities and economic autonomy.
The situation is even more acute in rural parts of Delhi. The worker-population ratio for women here plummeted to 2.9% in 2022-23, though it saw a recovery to 11.1% in 2023-24, highlighting extreme vulnerability and suppressed employment.
Interestingly, Delhi's unemployment rate is lower than the national average for both genders (2.2% for men, 1.5% for women). This statistic, however, primarily reflects those actively looking for work, and the critically low LFPR suggests a vast pool of educated women remains outside the active labour force altogether. The report paints a clear picture: for Delhi's women, earning a degree is becoming commonplace, but earning a livelihood remains a significant challenge.
