The numbers are stark - for the first time in India's recent history, not only was there a decline in the female labour participation rate, but also a shrinking of the total number of women in the workforce.

Nearly 20 million Indian women quit work between 2004-05 to 2011-12
The labour force participation rate for women of working age declined from 42% in 1993-94 to 31% in 2011-12
Some 53% of the total drop - the largest chunk - happened among women aged 15-24 and living in villages
In rural areas, the female labour force participation rate dropped from 49% to 37.8% between 2004-05 and 2009-10
While more than 24 million men joined the work force between 2004-5 to 2009-10, the number of women in the the work force dropped by 21.7 million

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