The 'Women In Labour' Podcast: Journalist Namita Bhandare on why Indian women drop out of paid work

Since 2005, the percentage of Indian women in paid work has dropped from 35 percent to less than 24 percent come, but no one is talking about why. Till we did, and Women in Labour was born (pun intended).

A comedic take on a serious issue, the Women In Labour podcast explores a veritable feast of topics related to women, work, family, power, and everything in between. Why do Indian women do the most unpaid work in the world? What’s stopping us from finding our inner boss? Why do we preface our work emails with “I was just wondering…”? And the big one — what’s keeping us away from India’s workplaces?

We — Aditi Mittal and Christina MacGillivray — converse with a roster of amazing guests on our podcast in an attempt to answer these questions.

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Episode 1 | ‘Seriously, what’s going on?’

It’s hard to believe fewer Indian women are working now than 15 years ago. But it’s true — and Namita Bhandare was one of the first journalists to shine a light on this mind-boggling fact.

If you’re left wondering what, how, or why — this episode will examine the big picture of what impacts women in the workforce, what’s changed, and why this decline is happening.

Namita Bhandare is an award-winning journalist with nearly 30 years of reporting experience. In 2013, she became India’s first gender editor for Mint. She’s now an independent journalist writing on gender for The Hindustan Times, Mint, IndiaSpend and Foreign Policy.

Listen to the episode here.