National Girl Child Day: How Skilling Can Unlock Rural Girls' Potential

Women and girls constitute nearly half of India’s population and, therefore, half of its unrealised potential, including economic. Yet for millions, the pathway to opportunity is curtailed early, not by a lack of ability or ambition, but by the disproportionate burden of unpaid domestic work.

Asked to become caregivers before they can be students, many girls spend their formative years running households or working in fields. As a result, their world often contracts to the boundaries of home, where aspiration quietly gives way to survival.

The data is humbling. According to UNICEF, adolescent girls in South Asia are nearly three times more likely than boys to be out of school, employment, or training.

In India specifically, less than 40% of women are part of the workforce - not for want of talent, but for lack of opportunity.

While formal education is the ultimate equaliser, it is a gradual solution. For those who have already dropped out, skilling offers a faster, high-impact path to economic agency.

But this requires a bolder reimagining: we must move beyond traditional home-based crafts and enable girls to enter modern service sectors and technical occupations.

Majula's Story

Through my decade of work with rural communities in Maharashtra, I have witnessed this transformation firsthand through stories like that of Majula.

In the tribal village of Kumshet in Raigad, Majula’s childhood ended abruptly when she was married at 15. By class 10, she was already trapped in a battle for divorce - a burden far too heavy for such young shoulders. 

Rather than letting her circumstances define her, Majula chose to reshape her future - and her family’s. Born to parents who work as daily-wage labourers, she took a decisive step by training as a General Duty Assistant. \

Today, Majula works as a skilled professional in a reputed hospital. Within just a year, she has transformed her family’s living standards, earning ₹14,000 a month and demonstrating remarkable discipline by saving ₹5,000 every month. Moreover, she inspired three more girls in her village to turn to skilling. 

The reason young girls can follow Majula’s lead is that skilling shatters structural barriers. By meeting a girl at her doorstep, we democratize opportunity.

It delivers more than a trade; it builds digital fluency, financial literacy, and the confidence to lead. These are not just "soft skills"—they are the hard tools of agency required to navigate a modern economy.

Economic and digital empowerment

Beyond individual careers, the backbone of rural resilience lies in the collective power of Self-Help Groups (SHGs). This movement is being supercharged by the JAM trinity (Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, and Mobile), placing a bank in the palm of every woman’s hand.

With over 10 crore women mobilised into 91 lakh SHGs, the smartphone is now a vital business tool. However, the ubiquity of UPI brings new challenges; without training in digital hygiene and protection against fraud, empowerment can become vulnerability.

True enterprise training must evolve. When women master the "digital ledger" and navigate supply chains, SHGs move from subsistence to scalable enterprises.

India’s path to global leadership runs through its villages. The economic math is clear: the World Bank suggests that bridging the gender gap could significantly amplify our GDP.

Investing in the rural girl child is the most strategic investment we can make in the resilient, $5 trillion economy we aspire to be. The tools are ready, the talent is waiting; it is time we brought the future to her doorstep.

By Zarina Screwvala, Co-Founder, Swades Foundation | Views expressed by the author are their own.