New Delhi, Mar 11 (IANS): The number of women opting for freelancing jobs in India doubled over the past year, jumping from 4 per cent in February 2023 to 8 per cent in February 2024, a new report showed on Monday.

According to the talent management platform foundit (formerly Monster jobs), this exponential increase can be attributed to the convenience that the gig economy or the freelancing industry offers to participants.

There has also been a 56 per cent increase in jobs for women candidates in February this year when compared to February last year.

"Female workers play a major role in the success of a company. They are proven to be hard-working and creative," said Sekhar Garisa, CEO, foundit, a Quess company.

"Female leaders often demonstrate transformational leadership qualities, and having more women in a team promotes diversity and inclusion in the workplace," he added.

Moreover, the report revealed that the IT/Computers-Software sector leads in offering opportunities to women, comprising 36 per cent of its workforce.

The Recruitment/Staffing/RPO sector (24 per cent) has the second-highest share of women in the workforce, followed by the Banking, Financial, Services, and Insurance (BFSI) sector (23 per cent).

The participation of women in the workforce has been positive and steady across the metro cities of Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Pune.

In addition, the report suggested that there has been a noteworthy increase in leadership opportunities for women, with 9 per cent of job postings specifically targeted towards leadership positions in February this year.