India's Census Reimagined: Women at the Forefront of Data Revolution

Census 2025 stands out for its increasing reliance on women as key data collectors, a move aimed at rectifying historical underreporting and invisibility of women in demographic data. Women enumerators play a pivotal role in engaging female respondents, ensuring sensitive and accurate capture of data relating to health, education, employment, and social status. This gender-sensitive approach addresses data deficits that have long hampered tailored policy interventions for women’s welfare.

Equipping women with training on gender sensitivity and digital tools, Census officials emphasize empowering female enumerators to build trust in communities, particularly in conservative or rural areas. Their presence is vital to capturing nuanced data involving reproductive health, unpaid care work, and gender-based disparities often overlooked in male-led surveys.

This Census exercise also aligns with the constitutional mandate for women’s political reservation, with data shaping future resource allocation, constituency delimitation, and welfare programmes. The women spearheading this mammoth enumeration symbolize a transformative step where gender equity meets technological modernization in India’s biggest data gathering mission.

Key highlights

Women enumerators central to Census 2025 for gender-sensitive data capture.

Training on gender awareness and digital census tools provided to empower female workers.

Female presence improves data accuracy on health, employment, and social indicators.

Critical for implementing women’s reservation and policy reforms based on current demographic realities.

Marks a shift toward greater female participation in India’s socio-political data landscape.

Sources: India Today, Ministry of Home Affairs, Population Foundation of India, Census of India.