What Explains the Declining Female Labour Force Participation Ratio?

Posted by Vijay Shankar | Aug 15, 2017 | Working Papers | 0 |

It is often argued that female labour force participation is declining in India due to rising incomes that allow more women to stay at home, which is the preferred household choice in a predominantly patriarchal society. However, this column contends that the trend is mainly explained by a scarcity of suitable jobs opportunities outside of farming and close to place of residence.

Murgai-What-explains-the-decline-in-female-labour-force-participation-in-India

About The Author

Vijay Shankar

P.S. Vijayshankar is a founder member of Samaj Pragati Sahayog (SPS), an NGO based in Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh. He received his M. Phil. from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. His areas of interest are water resource management, sustainable agriculture and strengthening of community-based and self-reliant people's institutions. Vijayshankar has co-authored the book, India's Drylands: Tribal Societies and Development through Environmental Regeneration (OUP, 1998); and co-edited Water: Growing Understanding, Emerging Perspectives (Orient Blackswan, 2016). He has been a Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Advanced Study of India (CASI), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA, in February-March 2011.