New Delhi, July 1 -- In Uttar Pradesh (UP), 16 million additional women aged 15-64 had gained employment by the end of last year compared with eight years earlier. Between 2017 and 2025, as per official data, the proportion of women employed in India's most populous state surged from 13.8% to 33.4%, a striking increase in less than a decade. Correspondingly, the proportion of women who were not looking for work declined sharply from over 72% to 53% over the period.

The rise in women's employment was not driven by an increase in women's participation in household enterprises as unpaid workers, a typical source of work for women, nor by a rise in women working for a public employment guarantee scheme. Nor was it that young women were forgo...