Women now make up 43.5% of applicants for frontline jobs in India but only 13% of job postings explicitly target them, according to the WorkIndia Rojgar Report released on Monday.
The share of women applicants rose from 40.4% a year earlier, pointing to rising interest that employer outreach has not matched. The report analysed more than 650,000 job postings and over 9.8 million applications on the blue- and grey-collar platform between April and June 2026, across 772 cities and more than 50 frontline job categories.
“For us, one of the most encouraging findings is that more women are actively looking for work. Employment can change much more than an individual’s income; it can change the economic trajectory of a family,” said Nilesh Dungarwal, co-founder and chief executive officer of WorkIndia.
He said the demand side needs to move. “But the data also tells us that employer demand has some catching up to do. If businesses can address barriers around accessibility, flexibility, safety and workplace design, women could become one of the most important sources of talent for India’s growing frontline economy,” Dungarwal said.
The applications spanned a widening range of roles. Sales drew the highest volume at over 5.6 million applications, followed by office-based roles and travel and hospitality. Women accounted for 86.6% of applications for beautician roles and 80.7% for teaching roles, reflecting an established presence in several service and care-oriented professions, even as they moved into sales, marketing and other customer-facing work.
The mismatch sits against India’s wider challenge on female labour force participation. The Economic Survey 2025-26 noted that bringing more women into paid work could lift long-term growth, projecting that women’s participation could rise to 55% by 2050 if structural barriers ease.
