Gender Equality in India by 2025 (SDG 5): India is advancing towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with Goal 5 – Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls – being an area of critical yet varied fulfillment, where gaps remain. Despite clear policy frameworks, programs and heightened awareness, structural inequity in the form of poverty, discrimination, violence and harmful social norms continues to erode gains.
This report draws on the most recent data and reports published by UN Women, UNDP, NITI Aayog and ActionAid, to examine key gaps and critically impactful multi-year programmatic responses by NGOs and development actors, before concluding with a prescriptive NGO framework to drive the acceleration of SDG 5 by 2025.
Table of Contents
Key Gaps in Gender Equality in India by 2025
Economic Participation and Employment
- India’s rate of female labour force participation increased to 41.7% in 2023–24, a substantial increase but disparities remain: whether women from rural areas participate at a rate of 47.6% while for urban women, the rate is just 25.4% (Drishti IAS).
- UNDP shows a low female workforce participation rate of 25.1% (2020–21), one of the lowest rates in South Asia, and that the slow increasing of the skilled female workforce has also lagged from 1.7% to 2.9% (2017–2020) compared to 3.5% for males (UNDP).
- The digital divide is still pronounced as to those who have, and have not used the internet, with 33.3% of women using the internet at least once (2019–2021) compared to 57.1% of men (UNDP).
Education and representation in STEM
- Higher education participation reached near equality: almost 50% of enrolled students were female (2021–22) (Drishti IAS).
- As of mid-2025, currently, 43% of the STEM graduates in India are women; this is the highest level in all major economies
Political empowerment & governance
- Female representation on corporate boards increased from 6% in 2013 to 18.3% in 2023
- India’s score for SDG 5 (NITI Aayog) has improved from 36 in 2018 to 49 in 2023-24. Improvements include the improved sex ratio, labour force, decision-making and mobile measure (NITI Aayog).
Gender-Based Violence & Safety
- Gender-based violence (GBV) is still widespread and concerning. NFHS-5 data shows that spousal violence fell slightly (31.2% to 29.3% between 2015-16 to 2019-21) but there is still social acceptance of violence
- Structural issues: the national crime rate against women increased from 57 per 100,000 in 2020 to 67 per 100,000 in 2022
- In general norms perpetuate victim-blaming and underreporting, and both healthcare and justice systems can be ineffective
Also Read: UNDP India Research on Poverty Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation
Unpaid Care Work and Time Poverty
- Unpaid care work is significant in India, with women spending an estimated 352 minutes/day on unpaid care work—all of which is multiples of what men do.
- Studies have confirmed that women spend more time doing unpaid household work primarily because of their gender norm, as opposed to the socio-economic factors that other women share in common
Intersectional Disadvantages
- Women from excluded groups, including Dalit, Adivasi, and women with disabilities, significantly face more barriers. For example, Dalit women in some states are 30–40% less likely to get antenatal care in the first trimester.
- Tribal women are frequently subject to sexual violence in their communities in conflict areas, with structural impunity.
Cultural Norms & Social Attitudes
- Cultural scripts reinforce patriarchy, ensuring dowry practices, denial of marital rape, and abuse, along with the blaming of sexual victims, persist
- Statutory responses in relation to regulation, including gender-neutral marital rape legislation, were challenged and reversed by women’s groups, anticipating the mainstreaming and therefore erasure of elements of gendered violence
NGO and UN Interventions in India
UN Women initiatives
- Gender-responsive governance: Partnered with 12+ state and central ministries to embed Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB), to develop state action plans (UN Women Asia and the Pacific).
- Violence Prevention: Provided training for 10,000+ operational staff at the One Stop Crisis Centres (OSCCs) in first response protocols for survivors; worked to promote safety in public/work spaces (UN Women Asia and the Pacific).
Economic empowerment & skills:
- Second Chance Education engaged 83,129 women (2018 – 2023).
- 12,825 women tea workers engaged in Safe Cities safe work programs (UN Women Asia and the Pacific).
Entrepreneurship & training:
- Maharashtra, Odisha, Bihar: 832 women placed into work/apprenticeships.
- 627 women started their own independent enterprise.
- 15% increase in technical institutes enrollment (Odisha).
- STEM training secured for 600+ tribal women in Madhya Pradesh (Home | UN Women Transparency Portal).
Also Read: The Role of Greenpeace India in Environmental Research and Advocacy
Gender Equality in India – UNDP’s Contributions
- Committed to digital upskilling and employment transitions for young women; behavioral science approaches nudged more equitable sharing of unpaid care work
- Enhanced women’s participation in climate actions and healthcare “value chains” (e.g., CoWIN vaccination program roles)
Gender Budgeting & Government Collaboration
- UN officials highlighted increased gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) to 6.8% of the union budget (2024–25), though implementation gaps remain due to a lack of sex-disaggregated data
Civil Society Advocacy
- AIDWA successfully challenged Fair & Lovely’s sexist advertising in 2002, leading to its withdrawal a landmark in gender-sensitive media advocacy
Prescriptive NGO Response Framework to Accelerate Gender Equality in India by 2025
To scale impact and close gaps, NGOs and civil society partners can adopt the following six-pillar framework:
A. Data & Evidence-Driven Advocacy
- Promote sex-disaggregated, intersectional data through district-level tracking (e.g., NITI’s district SDG mapping)
- Use evidence to spotlight disparities in care work, digital access, maternal health, and GBV among marginalized communities.
Action Steps:
- Partner with state governments, academia, and NITI to publish local gender dashboards.
- Support NFHS/PLFS village-level surveys focusing on intersectional identities.
B. Gender-Responsive Budgeting & Governance
- Expand GRB to subnational levels and integrate gender lenses into climate, health, employment, and education budgets.
- Ensure participatory budgeting that includes women’s collectives.
Action Steps:
- Facilitate capacity building for panchayats and municipal bodies on GRB planning.
- Embed GRB teams in gram panchayats with marginalized women representation.
C. Economic Inclusion & Digital Access
- Scale skills-to-jobs programs targeting women in non-traditional sectors (STEM, renewables, digital services).
- Address digital inequity: make accessible devices + connectivity subsidies.
Also Read: International Rescue Committee Research on Refugee and Migrant Support in India
Action Steps:
- Replicate UN Women’s successful models of apprenticeships, STEM training, and entrepreneurship across states.
- Launch “Digital Sakhi” programs to support women’s digital uptake and e-commerce participation.
D. Care Work Redistribution & Social Norms
- Roll out Behavioural Insights (BI) frameworks (UNDP’s nudge-based care sharing model) at scale to shift household-level norms.
- Advocate for affordable, community-based care (crèches, elders’ services, water provisioning) to reduce unpaid burdens.
Action Steps:
- Pilot engagement campaigns in schools and local media promoting shared care.
- Partner with Jal Jeevan Mission to highlight water access’s role in reducing women’s time poverty.
E. Violence Prevention & Safety Infrastructure
- Establish and strengthen survivor-centric services: more One Stop Centres, public spaces audits, and helplines.
- Advocate for law enforcement training and community policing on women’s safety.
Action Steps:
- Set up mobile OSC units in remote districts.
- Train local police and community bodies in trauma-informed approaches, similar to UN Women’s model.
F. Intersectional & Grassroots Representation
- Elevate leadership from Dalit, tribal, LGBTQ+, and disabled women.
- Advocate for political representation (e.g., accelerated women’s reservations), leadership among women-led SHGs.
Action Steps:
- Support feminist youth leadership (like UN Women’s FYLP) in underrepresented areas.
- Fund civic leadership trainings targeting marginalised women for Panchayat elections.
Also Read: CARE International Studies on Women Empowerment and Livelihood in Rural India
Conclusion
India has made measurable progress on SDG 5 to the extent that several indicators have advanced toward gender parity with regard to female education, labour participation, policy frameworks, and entrepreneurship but continuing patriarchal values, discriminatory norms, systemic violence, and weak implementation still block full gender equality.
NGOs and civil society need to scale up, providing more evidence-based programming, enabling participatory governance, redistributing care and domestic responsibilities, protecting and supporting survivors of GBV, and amplifying the voices of marginalized communities.
Also Read: Research by ActionAid India on Women’s Rights and Social Inclusion
By utilizing this response framework and taking informed action with urgency across districts and states, India can make substantial progress toward achieving SDG 5 by 2025 in a way that will allow the commitment to any necessary improvements to continue towards 2030.
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