Determinants of Female Work Participation in India

Jalandhar Pradhan, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

Female work participation is an important indicator of women autonomy, health care & decision making. It is usually determined by human capital aspects (i.e. individual specific traits & physical parameter) and structure of household.However in developing country like India female work participation (FWP ) is very low (37.4% NFHS-2 ) & it varies largely among the states.The lowest ever FWP is observed in Punjab (economically better) & highest in Hariyana.Orissa being a backward state it has been observed 27.3% FWP. This paper attempts to examine the main determinants of FWP in state of Orissa,India. The phenomenon of FWP behaviour has caught the attention of social scientist & policy maker ,who consider non working women as unproductive wastage of half the human resources.Attempts of academics to identify the constraints in the utilisation of labour power of women have been increasing. According to Killingsworth women’s work participation behaviour is dependent on the total family consumption & leisure time.Ashenfelter & Heckman 1974 have analysed the income effect of non-labor income on FWP. Blundell & Walker have highlighted the constraints in work behaviour.Family composition & age of children are crucial factors determining a mother’s market work.Some researchers have underlined the importance of the possession of physical capital & specific human capital traits ,as determinant of FWP. Various socio economic parameters not only influence the leisure time of women but their opportunities to accept market job too. Existing studies reveal that women’s work participation is considered by almost similar factors throughout the world.However work participation decision of women is different countries or regions do not respond to these variables in a uniform patterns.This is largely because region specific features & customs influence the condition and position of women in society & the economy.A women’s position in the family is an expression of the material staste that she find’s herself in (poverty,lack of education ,burden of work lack of access to credit or technology etc ).Her position signifies her socio economic standing in relation to men.Moreover ,available work opportunities, too, help determine a women’s market work behaviour.The present study is an attempt to through light upon some socio- economic variable influenceing work participation decision of women in Orissa. Objectives: Understanding the linkage of FWP with economic well being ,social well being & demographic dimension ,this paper attempts to examine the main determinants of FWP in the state of Orissa,India.The economic dimension such as the role of wage in the FWP through positive own wage substitution effects (i.e. labor supply as a function of his own wage ) & negative cross wage substitution effects (i.e. labor supply as a function of the wage earned by some other persons) has been examined.Besides this the study also give attention towards the role of school going children,role of dependency ratio,role of asset value & caste system on the FWP. Methodology: The present study based on micro level data collected from 320 women ,from two villages of Orissa.These villages are famous for their rich,traditional cottage industries sector devoted to appliqué work.The work is carried out as home based units and all the family members join hands to pool the family income .High marketability of the product has motivated the women folk to devote a major portion of their time,after the household chores,towards this work.On the other extreme households without any expertise in this craftsmanship have accepted agriculture & allied activities as their mainstay of economic life.As such work participation by women is not for a market wage, but is self employment on their own land,animal husbandry or some other productive activity contributing to the household income.Therefore though their contribution to the household income is of a significant proportion,it is often inseparable from the pool.Another group which is neither wage earning nor self employed ,is categorised as non-workers.The above thing can be analysed through the following model: Mh=ao+a1W+a2Xi+Ui Mh = no of hour per day offered for market work. W = market wage Xi = various human capital behaviour Ui = error term Work participation decision in the present study is measured by hours of market work.Since 50% of women in the sample are not working ,the dependent variable for them zero.In such cases Tobit approach is appropriate, as it takes care of the truncated dependent variable.Some studies have also adopted logit probit models for estimating dummy dependent variable.However many researcher have observed that such estimates gives almost similar results.For such cases (OLS) method of estimation is often preferred as it is easy to handle & interpret.The present study therefore uses the OLS method for estimation. Findings: As evident from the regression results,co-efficient values of age ,number of children below six years ,marital status of women & savings of the household are statistically insignificant, thus indicating that these variables do not influence the supply of market work. Wage rate has a positive impact on the supply of market force by women.This shows that the substitution effect of wage –change outweighs it’s income effects.Simultaneously an increased opportunity cost of a women’s work at home induces her to offer longer hours for market work The presence of school going children ,too positively influence female labor supply.These children demand less parental care.At times they extend a helping hand in household chores.Therefore the mother’s hours of market work supply increases with the presence of such children. Evidently education has a negative impact on market work supply ,it is quite obvious that increase in education induces women either to continue study or to go for some well paid jobs,instead of remaining in the family business. In rural Orissa market jobs are mainly available as low wage ,casual, day labor ,for which education is not necessary. The dependency ratio has a negative impact on hours of market work.On the otherhand with increase in the number of earners in the family , women find ample time for extending market work. Value of asset represents permanent wealth of the family . With increase in the asset value ,therefore, offer a market work by women is reduced, as they can afford more leisure.However in the present study increase in the asset value calls for longer hours of market work.