IERJ AUG 2020 PAPER

2007

The Case of Indian Mothers * The paper deals with female employment in developing countries. We set out a model to test our argument that, at the first stage of development, demographic and health programmes have proven to be more effective for women's position in the society than specific labour and income support policies. Our household model in the collective framework predicts that an exogenous improvement in household production technology due to demographic and health policies gives the wife the opportunity to employ her time resources more efficiently, and, by consequence, the power to choose to participate or not to the labour market. A unique, rich and representative data survey for all Indian states and rural India (NFHS-2, 1998(NFHS-2, -1999 allows us to analyse the role of Family Planning (FP), reproductive and child care programmes, for the employment probability of married women aged 15 to 49. Our results for urban and rural India show that the FP effect is significant in rural India, that is, women that have been visited by an FP public worker have a higher probability of being employed. Moreover, for rural India, we compare this effect with that one of Governmental Policies (GP) supporting household income and promoting employment. Our results show that the effect of this particular FP intervention has been more effective for women's employment than GP. This result appears to be robust across different definitions of female employment and model specifications.

IZA World of Labor, 2015

Pros Job training and wage subsidies encourage female paid employment in the formal sector. Business training increases female labor force participation and raises the income of low-earning women already in business. In low-income households, access to free or subsidized public childcare increases women's labor force participation. Child health and nutrition may improve with female paid employment if the money spent on children rises. Female paid employment improves child schooling. eleVaTOR PiTCH Engaging in paid work is generally difficult for women in developing countries. Many women work unpaid in family businesses or on farms, are engaged in low-income self-employment activities, or work in low-paid wage employment. In some countries, vocational training or grants for starting a business have been effective policy tools for supporting women's paid work. Mostly lacking, however, are job and business training programs that take into account how mothers' employment affects child welfare. Access to free or subsidized public childcare can increase women's labor force participation and improve children's well-being. auTHOR'S Main MeSSaGe Training programs in developing countries have been effective in boosting female employment and earnings. However, the impact depends on whether the programs target younger or older women, new entrants or women with labor market experience, or women in rural or urban areas, as well as other factors. Policies to enhance women's access to paid work and support their efforts to start a business should also consider any potential negative spillover effects on child well-being, since women still bear most of the burden of childcare. Integrating public provision of childcare with training programs can make it easier for women to engage in paid employment. Cons The positive effects of training and wage subsidies tend to disappear after one or two years. Business training increases profitability only in the short term and is only effective in starting subsistence businesses. The effects of childcare programs on female labor supply are not clear. When women work, children's well-being can decline, since mothers have less time for childcare. Women in poorer households are more likely to work, but their labor income is not enough to increase school attendance of children. Policies to support women's paid work Policies in developing countries to improve women's access to paid work should also consider child welfare

The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, 2019

The past three decades have seen the advent of major transformations in the Indian economy. The economy has achieved average growth rates of 5-9%, education has risen sharply for both men and women, fertility rates have declined, and infrastructure facilities, particularly access to electricity, cooking gas and piped water, have improved. All these factors are expected to reduce the demand for women's time spent in domestic chores and increase their opportunities for paid work. Paradoxically , however, the National Sample Surveys document a substantial decline in women's work participation rates (WPRs), particularly for rural women. Optimistic interpretation of these trends suggests that increasing prosperity accounts for wom-en's labour force withdrawal. For young women, rising school and college enrolment is incompatible with demands of the workforce. For both young and older women, rising prosperity allows for withdrawal from economic activities to focus on domestic duties. Pessimistic interpretations of these trends suggest that it is absence of suitable jobs rather than women's withdrawal from the labour force that accounts for declining female work participation. A third explanation focuses on increasing measurement errors in work participation data from the National Sample Surveys. This paper examines these diverse explanations using data from National Sample Surveys and India Human Development Surveys for 2004-2005 and 2011-2012 and finds that: (1) Decline in rural women's work participation recorded by National Sample Surveys may be overstated; (2) supply factors explain a relatively small proportion of the decline in women's work participation rates; (3) public policies such as improvement and transportation facilities and MGNREGS that enhance work opportunities for women are associated with increased participation by women in the work force.

International Multidisciplinary Research Journal, 2019

India has recorded declining female labour force participation rate since 2005. Between 2005 to 2017 while the economy has been growing, the decline has been recorded from 29 percent to 24 percent. In addition to this, on an average, Indian women spend 354 minutes daily on unpaid care work. In this context as part of a larger project funded by the Ford Foundation, undertaken by ICRW, this paper will present trends and analysis of women’s workforce participation based three rounds of NSS (National Sample Survey) data from India. Further the paper will present analysis of relevant civil society initiatives, government policies and schemes related to women’s work to understand enablers and barriers for women’s access to and sustainability in undertaking livelihood options. The perspective will be based on the environment in which the women works including her immediate household work which includes unpaid work (care and domestic), workplace (mobility, transport, creches and so on) and macro conditions of work (social security, occupational safety and so on). Overall the paper will map the reasons behind the decline in women’s economic participation along with institutional provisions keeping in mind the continuum of paid and unpaid work to grasp the problem better. Largely, the paper is rooted in building an understanding around Goal 5 ‘Gender Equality and Empowerment’ of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs).

India has made significant economic progress in recent decades since 1990 but the impressive economic growth has not been matched by progress towards women' s equal economic participation. Women' s participation in economic activities is important for the realization of their full economic potential which would not only enhance economic growth rate but would also make growth more inclusive. The recent sharp decline in female labour force participation (FLFP) rate in India has been a matter of debate in academic and policy spheres and as a result many studies has emerged for explaining this sharp fall in FLFP rate. The paper has undertaken a extensive literature survey in order to understand the decline in female participation in economic activities. Using data obtained from various NSS rounds and from national accounts statistics, the paper test U-shaped relationship between income level and FLFP rate using simple scatter diagram and fitting a polynomial function using MS excel software. Based on the analysis we found that U-shaped relationship doesn' t exist in India. This may be either due to the significant large impact of other determinants of FLFP rate which outweigh the effect of increased per capita income or it may be due to a low level of per capita income indicating that India has not yet moved into the rising part of U-shape curve. JEL CLASSIFICATION NUMBERS: J16, J48, O17 KEYWORD: Female labor force participation, feminization-U hypothesis, India, labour market.

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 2011

Mainstream , 2021

The paper is based on highlights from the Periodic Labour Force Surveys (PLFS) on female labour force participation. The paper has also used the quinquennial rounds of the Employment and Unemployment Surveys. Women's participation in the workforce has been continuously declining since 2004-05 though a marginal increase was reported in PLFS 2018-19 with a corresponding increase in self-employment. In this context, the paper tries to understand the employment trends for women in the productive age (15-59 age group). It also tries to probe into women's nature of employment with a focus on sectoral analysis. The relationship between education and labour market is also explored. The employment protection issues are understood through nature of contracts and access to social security. The paper also engages with women's participation in domestic duties which has been increasing in India and has a close inter-connection with paid employment .Finally, the paper engages with the issue of statistical invisibility of women's work thereby focussing on capturing women's unpaid work through time use surveys. The capturing of women's work in national accounts will contribute in working towards policy for improving female labour force participation.

The low rate of women’s labour force participation (LFPR) in India is not something new, but the decline of this LFPR is a cause for concern, unless it marks a shift away from labour participation due to the pursuit of education by the women concerned or even due to household income effects. If it is an outcome of the lack of adequate employment avenues that discourages women from seeking employment, then why is it not reflected in the male labour force participation rates as well? Amidst the declining LFPRs of women, which have been observed for all age cohorts, two of the observed trends relate to the shift away from agriculture and into non-agriculture, and a more educated workforce. While undertaking a disaggregated analysis by examining the magnitudes of change apart from the proportions and shares, this paper highlights the losses and gains in women’s employment across sectors. The gradual increase in the number of regular workers as the proportions of women engaged in self-employment and casual work decline is one clearly positive change observed more markedly in the urban areas. What consequences do these changing patterns have on the nature of work that women undertake and are these patterns reflections of a gradual but definite transformation with the potential for dynamic changes? This paper also seeks to address these questions.

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2007

The Case of Indian Mothers * The paper deals with female employment in developing countries. We set out a model to test our argument that, at the first stage of development, demographic and health programmes have proven to be more effective for women's position in the society than specific labour and income support policies. Our household model in the collective framework predicts that an exogenous improvement in household production technology due to demographic and health policies gives the wife the opportunity to employ her time resources more efficiently, and, by consequence, the power to choose to participate or not to the labour market. A unique, rich and representative data survey for all Indian states and rural India (NFHS-2, 1998(NFHS-2, -1999) ) allows us to analyse the role of Family Planning (FP), reproductive and child care programmes, for the employment probability of married women aged 15 to 49. Our results for urban and rural India show that the FP effect is significant in rural India, that is, women that have been visited by an FP public worker have a higher probability of being employed. Moreover, for rural India, we compare this effect with that one of Governmental Policies (GP) supporting household income and promoting employment. Our results show that the effect of this particular FP intervention has been more effective for women's employment than GP. This result appears to be robust across different definitions of female employment and model specifications.