Given:
- Number of women initially = 24
- Time required to complete the work = 40 days
- After 20 days, 4 more women are employed
- Work is completed 2 days before the scheduled time

To Find:
- The delay in completing the work if 4 more women were not employed

Solution:

1. Let's first find the work done by 24 women in 40 days.
- We can use the concept of man-days, where 1 man-day represents the work done by 1 person in 1 day.
- So, the work done by 24 women in 40 days = 24 * 40 = 960 man-days.

2. After 20 days, the work done by 24 women = 24 * 20 = 480 man-days.
- The remaining work to be done = Total work - Work done by 24 women = 960 - 480 = 480 man-days.

3. Now, 4 more women are employed.
- The work done by 4 women in 2 days = 4 * 2 = 8 man-days.

4. Let's assume that if 4 more women were not employed, the work would have been delayed by 'x' days.
- In 'x' days, the work done by 24 women = 24 * x man-days.
- So, the remaining work to be done in 'x' days = Total work - Work done by 24 women = 960 - 24x man-days.

5. But since 4 more women were employed, the work was completed 2 days before the scheduled time.
- The work done by 28 women (24 initial + 4 more) in 2 days = 28 * 2 = 56 man-days.

6. Now, we can equate the work done by 28 women in 2 days to the remaining work to be done in 'x' days.
- 56 man-days = 960 - 24x man-days.

7. Solving the above equation, we can find the value of 'x'.
- 56 man-days + 24x man-days = 960 man-days.
- 24x man-days = 960 man-days - 56 man-days.
- 24x man-days = 904 man-days.
- x = 904 man-days / 24 man-days.
- x = 37.67 days.

Answer:
If 4 more women were not employed, the work would have been delayed by approximately 37.67 days.