For similar work done, women get paid significantly lesser wages than men in rural and urban India, a report titled Women and Men In India 2022, released by the National Statistical Office notes.
The gap has only widened in rural areas in the last decade.
The report noted further that in April-June 2022, which happens to be the time of the latest survey, the wage rate for females ranged across states from just over half to 93.7 per cent of male wages in rural India and from just under half to 100.8 per cent in cities.
The Times of India noted that a wage comparison done with NSSO’s 68th round report for July 2011- June 2012 shows that the gender divide has only increased in the rural setup, whereas, in urban areas, the gap has only narrowed down in the past decade.
When it comes to Kerala, men in rural areas get a wage of Rs 842 a day. On the other hand, women in the same areas get paid Rs 434 a day. These wages are the highest among large states in the country.
The widest gender gap in wages can also be seen in other states like Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, in which female workers receive less than 60 per cent of male wages.
In the rural setup, states like Uttar Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Odisha see female rural wage rates to be under 70 per cent of the male workers.
However, in states like Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan, the wage rate gender gap is among the lowest. While males get paid Rs 400 a day, females get more than 85 per cent of male wages. In Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand, the female wage rate is 80 per cent of male wages.
The study shows further that in the urban areas of Haryana, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh, the wage rate is high and the wage gap between men and women is low.
But a comparison with 2011-12 shows that the gender gap has only increased in 11 of the 19 states. This gap has increased by more than 10 percentage points in West Bengal, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh.