Tamil Nadu to roll out Rs 1,185 crore programme to provide more jobs for women in emerging sectors

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government will soon launch the TN Women Employment and Safety programme to promote women's access to quality jobs in non-formal and emerging sectors. Aimed at creating a conducive working environment to improve women's participation in the labour force and narrow down the gender gap, the five-year (2024-2029) programme would be executed with Rs 1,185 crore assistance from the World Bank.

The programme has been designed with three key components improving labour market performance for women in emerging sectors, enhancing the delivery of enabling services to promote women's employment, and strengthening State capacities, technical partnerships and institutional structures for women's employment.

According to the 2021-2022 annual survey of industries, 6.3 lakh out of the 14.9 lakh registered women workers in the country were working in factories in Tamil Nadu. It accounts for 42 per cent of the total women workforce in the country.

However, the female labour force participation (FLFP) in the State is 43.9 per cent as against the male rate of 81.2 per cent in 2022-2023. They were employed in low-paying and unorganised sectors such as the construction industry, agriculture and pan salt.

The gender gap is wider in rural areas (28.3%) compared to urban areas (49.4%), said an official citing the periodic labour force survey carried out by the Ministry of Statics and Programme Implementation Report 2022-2023. "To achieve its vision of making Tamil Nadu a USD 1 trillion economy by 2030, women's participation in formal employment and high-quality jobs are highly crucial in contributing directly to the State's GDP," Minister for Special Implementation Udhayanidhi Stalin said in the policy note.

Under the World Bank-funded programme, the government would launch nine flagship initiatives such as Womenomics, Women Information Bank and SHENERGY to empower women in all sectors.

According to officials, the Special Implementation department would join hands with the departments of Social Welfare and Women's Empowerment, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and TN Skill Development Corporation (TNSDC) to execute their initiatives effectively at the district and State level.

Under the initiative Womenomics, the authorities would develop a state-wide quality employment plant for women. It would help women to improve their skill sets and provide more employment and entrepreneurial opportunities, besides creating a safe working atmosphere. Officials believe that the initiatives would benefit around 2 lakh students and 6,000 women entrepreneurs every year and also enhance infrastructure facilities such as creche, after-school care facilities, safe and affordable hostels for working women across all sections

It would also monitor the implementation of the initiatives through the state project management unit at the State level and the district management unit at the district level. The units were given the responsibility for the coordination and management of the programme in association with implementing institutions.