National Council of Applied Economic Research
Opinion: Pallavi Choudhuri
Bank account ownership took a leap over the last decade. But some of the gains stagnated during the pandemic. 2021 Global Findex data show that 78% of women reported having bank accounts. However, 64% did not withdraw any funds during the last 12 months, and 28% reported having an inactive account. Budget 2023 announced the launch of Mahila Samman Bachat Patra Yojana, a savings scheme for women.
One of the highlights at the ET Global Business Summit last week was how GoI, over the last eight years, has launched schemes that directly empower women. The flagship initiative that has direct implications for women’s access to social safety net has been the opening of bank accounts under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), allowing GoI to directly transfer cash into the beneficiaries’ bank accounts. The benefit of having a PMJDY account was most evident during the pandemic when GoI initiated cash transfers to women account-holders in the middle of the nationwide lockdown.
Data from the NCAER Delhi Coronavirus Telephone Survey conducted in June 2020, covering more than 3,400 households in Delhi-NCR, showed that female beneficiaries received the first instalment within three weeks of the declaration of lockdown. This shows the remarkable speed of delivery of cash benefits, facilitated through the Aadhaar-enabled payments system. Both below poverty line (BPL) and non-BPL households received the transfers, but some of the poorer households were excluded. These estimates are consistent with other studies using administrative data that suggest that less than half of poor households were likely to receive PMJDY transfers given the low prevalence of women PMJDY account-holders.
Bank account ownership took a leap over the last decade. But some of the gains stagnated during the pandemic. 2021 Global Findex data show that 78% of women reported having bank accounts. However, 64% did not withdraw any funds during the last 12 months, and 28% reported having an inactive account. Budget 2023 announced the launch of Mahila Samman Bachat Patra Yojana, a savings scheme for women. This has the potential to further boost women’s financial inclusion. But this is unlikely to have any effect on the poorest of the poor, especially those who remain unbanked.
Reasons can be linked to distance to the nearest bank, lack of documentation, financial illiteracy, keeping some financially excluded and being outside the purview of the social safety net. An effort needs to be made to further enhance last-mile delivery.
GoI had also launched schemes that have direct implications on women’s ‘time poverty’. Women traditionally play the role of water-bearers and firewood-collectors. Access to infrastructure, such as piped water and LPG, can significantly alleviate women’s time burden resulting from engagement in such activities. The National Sample Survey Office’s (NSSO) 2019 Time Use Survey indicated that 44% of rural households continued to collect firewood. Typically, women in households that use clean fuel, like LPG, spend less time in domestic unpaid chores, such as meal preparation time, freeing up women’s discretionary time.
Two key schemes deserve mention:
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) has been providing free LPG connections since 2016, targeting women from BPL households, expanding LPG coverage across the country. However, response data from a Lok Sabha session indicate that in 2021-22, 58% of PMUY households took four or fewer refills, likely indicating that rural households continue to use solid fuel for cooking.
GoI’s initiative of extending subsidised LPG under PMUY since May 2022 is likely to increase LPG usage, although the post-subsidy LPG price could still be too high for sustained adoption. The consumer price index (CPI) inflation for fuel and light has been hitting double digits since May 2021, with only four months in between reporting less than10% fuel inflation. Also, NCAER research shows that it is women’s paid work that provides households incentives to adopt time-saving infrastructures such as LPG.
Jal Jeevan Mission aims to provide piped water connection to all rural households by 2024. While not exclusively targeted towards women, water security has the potential to significantly improve women’s well- being by freeing up women’s time to pursue productive work.
But where are the jobs? Data from the 2020-21 Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) suggest a rise in work participation for rural women between 2019-20 and 2020-21. But much of it is in the form of distress employment in subsistence agricultural activities, in the form of self- employment and unpaid helpers. Plans for digital push in the agriculture sector, along with providing supply-side incentives for rural startups, as laid out in the budget, has the potential to convert this into an opportunity for women farmers.
But this will first require bridging the gender digital divide. Measures that directly empower women with skills training to exploit recent opportunities or provide sustainable income-generating avenues are likely to also reap greater gender dividends. According to GSMA’s (Global System for Mobile Communications) Mobile Gender Gap Report 2022, women’s mobile internet use increased from 21% to 30% between 2020 and 2021, while increasing from 42% to 45% for men, showing significant strides in bridging the digital divide.
GoI has made significant strides in empowering women. But the depth of the challenge makes this a work in progress.
The writer is senior fellow, National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER)