Written by: Akshita Pandey, Muskan Shah, Moitrayee Das
Equality, empowerment, and opportunities have been the key concerns for several decades when talking about women in the workplace. However, there is something more pressing than those issues. Today, the issue is not whether women have the right to work, but rather whether companies can afford to continue losing them.
However, the country has made significant strides when it comes to women’s labour force participation. For instance, according to the Economic Survey 2025-26, “the PLFS-based measure of female labour force participation went up from 23.3% in 2017-18 to 41.7% in 2023-24.” The survey posits that in order to maintain the continued economic development of India into the future, female labour force participation would need to be raised to about 55% (Economic Survey, 2025). However, there is another darker truth that lies behind this positive headline. Women keep leaving their jobs not because they lack ambition or skills, but because of workplace conditions that do not cater to their needs.
A large part of public discourse persists in viewing the departure of women from work as voluntary. Marriages, having babies, and taking care of children are some of the many things that lead to women choosing to withdraw from work. The need to question such language arises from the fact that it tends to ignore structure.
A female worker who decides to stop working due to the absence of affordable childcare facilities or flexibility in work, and whose role is expected to be that of a caregiver, cannot be said to exercise full freedom. She is simply reacting to constraints imposed by the organisation and society.
One practice in particular that stands out is the idea of the “ideal worker”. An ideal worker is supposed to be constantly available, visible and able to prioritise work over everything else. Success comes not from achievement but from working long hours, being responsive all the time and having a career path without any breaks.
Presenteeism, which is the culture that prioritises the visibility of employees working rather than the quality of their work or sometimes even more, is considered one of the least studied reasons why women remain with organisations. The ones that tend to stay back late, reply to emails until very late hours, and take minimal vacations are always considered more dedicated to their job, despite not increasing their efficiency at all. Such norms make life harder for women, who still bear the brunt of household chores.
There is much more to the effects than just that on individuals. Each woman who departs from a company after gaining experience also takes along with her valuable organisational knowledge, client networks, leadership capability, and professional skills. Companies have to spend huge sums recruiting new people, training them, and bringing them up to speed. This often goes unrecorded in any diversity reports for the year but impacts organisations’ sustainability.
Work from home programs, flexible hours, and career re-entry programs are generally seen as accommodations provided to the individual rather than as improvements which help organisational effectiveness. It is well established in the research that employee well-being affects their productivity, commitment, and effectiveness. According to Kshirsagar (2019), organisational efforts towards promoting work-life balance are necessary for avoiding negative consequences for employees and organisations.
An example will show how these barriers get incorporated into procedures of the organisation. Let’s assume that there are two top-performing employees who have been working in the same organisation for one year. One of them takes a year of leave due to maternity. Another continues to work continuously. When it comes to promotion, the continuous career path is always perceived as more commitment than the career interruption of the employee even though they both work at the same level.
As pointed out by the Economic Survey 2025–26, there are some other structural obstacles which continue to keep women away from working in the Indian labour force. There is an exceedingly low proportion of 2.9 per cent of women in the Indian labour force who have attained higher education. While around 43 per cent of women participate in studies related to STEM, their involvement in such activities as a profession is much less than that (Economic Survey, 2025).
These economic implications are simply impossible to overlook. According to the World Economic Forum’s report “Global Gender Gap Report 2025,” India was ranked 131st worldwide. Although the country’s ranking may not be the deciding factor for its development, there is a clear recognition that the economy cannot reach its maximum potential if structural constraints drive qualified women away from the workforce (World Economic Forum, 2025).
Work gives people identity, meaning, self-confidence, and chances for development. Work allows people to build professional connections, assert their independence, and have some level of security. As stated by Meyers (2022), work not only helps people gain financial stability in the long run but also boosts their confidence and decreases reliance on others. Independence ultimately is all about gaining options and having control.
They become even more relevant during uncertain times. Those women who are still working tend to be well-prepared for handling situations like divorce, widowhood, sickness, or any unforeseen financial distress. On the other hand, long breaks from their career usually make it quite challenging for women to get back to work, especially when it is related to those fields where skills keep changing quickly.
In spite of this data, organisational reactions tend to stay at the level of symbolism. Corporate celebrations of International Women’s Day, production of diversity reports and mentoring programmes do not change the fact that their employees are still being judged according to criteria of presenteeism and unbroken career track record.
This solution does not involve making women more resilient. It involves a rethink of workplaces. Flexible working hours should be seen as strategic investment as opposed to compromise. Promotion should reward achievements instead of being based on constant visibility. Breaks in careers for caregiving should not hinder future leadership chances forever. Re-entry strategies, clear promotion processes and equal parenting leave should become part of organisational culture.
Women’s career paths remain negotiable compared to those of their male counterparts. The division of household chores remains imbalanced, where women end up doing the most of the chores irrespective of their work status. This means that unless the burden of caregiving shifts from being a woman’s responsibility to a collective societal obligation, organisations will continue viewing career disruptions as individual choices.
Lastly, this debate should make us think of all readers themselves. Choose one woman from your own family, office or community whose career was considered as “choice” to quit. Was it really a choice? Or perhaps it was affected by the lack of affordable daycare, inflexible promotion system, long work hours, unsafe commuting or unequal home expectations? Sometimes, it seems like a choice, but in reality, it’s a constraint presented as a choice.
The true question that remains is whether our organisations are ready to leave behind their old fashioned notions about the perfect employee and create working environments that value performance over presence. And because each time a brilliant woman has to walk away from her work environment because it refuses to change, an organisation loses much more than just an employee.
References
Clerkin, C. (2019, December 2). Women in the Workplace: What Women Want & Benefits of Women in Leadership | CCL. Center for Creative Leadership. https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/7-reasons-want-women-workplace/
Damaske, S., & Frech, A. (2026). Women’s Work Pathways Across the Life Course. PubMed. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/pmc5074082/
Economic Survey 2025-26. (2025). https://www.indiabudget.gov.in/economicsurvey/doc/Infographics%20English.pdf
Kshirsagar, S. R. (2019). WOMEN WORK LIFE BALANCE PRACTICES & ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR 21 ST CENTURY: A REVIEW. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research Review, 15(2).
Meyers, L. (2022, September 25). 11 Powerful Reasons Why Women Should Work [Review of 11 Powerful Reasons Why Women Should Work]. Meyers Financial Services, Inc. Wealth Management. https://www.meyersfinancial.com/blog/11-powerful-reasons-why-women-should-work
World Economic Forum. (2025, June 11). Global Gender Gap Report 2025. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/publications/global-gender-gap-report-2025/
Akshita Pandey is a fourth-year undergraduate student, Muskan Shah is a research assistant, and Moitrayee Das is an assistant professor of psychology at FLAME University, Pune.