Discussion Women and Work in India: Descriptive Evidence and a - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Discussion Women and Work in India: Descriptive Evidence and a Review of Potential Policies by Fletcher, Pande and Moore Farzana Afridi Indian Statistical Institute (Delhi) IPF, 2018

Main Comments • Discussion of descriptives and data • Policy recommendations – caution and suggestions

Descriptives and data: Levels vs. trends in women’s LFP Female LFPR in India (15-65 years of age) 1 1 .9 .9 .8 .8 .7 .7 .6 .6 LFPR LFPR .5 .5 .4 .4 .3 .3 .2 .2 .1 .1 0 0 Male Female Male Female 1987 1999 2011 Conf. interval 1987 1999 2011 Conf. interval (a) Rural (b) Urban Source: Afridi, Dinkelman and Mahajan (2018)

Descriptives and data: Rural vs. Urban LFP • Rural • Relatively higher level of women’s LFP • Declining trend • Urban • Low level of WLFP • Stagnancy

Descriptives and data: Women’s Labor Force Participation (Rural) Source: NSS various years (own calculations)

Descriptives and data: LFPR (UPSS): Age 25-65 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% 1987 1999 2009 Year Self-Employed Casual Salaried Policy implications can vary depending on location and sector

Descriptives and data: Married vs. unmarried women  In 2011, only 20% of rural married women in age 15-60 were in the labor force, 30 percentage points lower than for unmarried women.  While workforce participation rates amongst urban unmarried women went up by 11 ppt between 1999-2011, it has been stagnant for married women at 20% for the past thirty years. Update analysis to 2014-15 NFHS

Policy recommendations: Supply side constraints Cultural norms underlying the traditional role of men and women in the Indian households lead to: • higher elasticity of women’s relative to men’s labor supply. • non-substitutability between male and female labor in home production Policies to reduce unpaid work – technology, infrastructure, maternity benefits and child care

Policy recommendations: Demand side constraints • Policies to create good (read formal sector) jobs which women with relatively low levels of education can engage in (e.g. manufacturing) • Encourage flexible work hours, piece rate vs. hourly • Provide safe and easier physical access to work (e.g. NREGA) • Reduce gender gap in wages and earnings Classify recommendations into those that address supply and demand side constraints

Policy recommendations: Caution in interpretation • “willingness to work if made available at household ” is not an unconditional statement of lack of work • relationship between vocational training and labor force participation may not be causal • pitfalls in extending effects of political quotas to making a case for job quotas for women