‘If I narrow the 2017 numbers further to exclusively focus on urban populations between the ages of fifteen and fifty-nine years of age,’ I said, ‘which helps us avoid counting children and the elderly, 74.2 per cent of men were employed. The same estimate for women is 19.8 per cent. Even in states reporting the highest share of women with jobs, Sikkim and Andhra Pradesh, less than a third of urban women work for an independent income.’
