India, May 10 -- Experts feel that disproportionate unpaid domestic work responsibilities, entrenched gender norms, and difficult conditions at work are among the reasons inhibiting the growth of female employment in urban India.

Investing in the care economy is imperative to improve women's access to jobs, experts said at a workshop organized jointly by NCAER and ILO.

Participating at the Roundtable on "Advancing Female Employment in Urban India", NCAER's Prof Ratna Sahay called for formalizing part-time work which, she said, would make a "huge difference to female employment and India's economic growth".

"This means gender has to be an integral part of macroeconomic policy-making," she said.

Michiko Miyamoto, ILO's Country Director ...