Abstract

Despite income growth, fertility decline, and educational expansion, women's labor force participation in rural India dropped precipitously over the last decade. This paper uses nationwide, individual-level data allow to explore whether random reservation of village leadership for women affected their access to suitable job opportunities, demand for participation in the labor force, and income as well as intrahousehold bargaining in the short and medium term. Political empowerment through reservation affected women's but not men's participation in public works, but also women's participation in labor markets, income, and participation in key household decisions, with a lag.

Highlights

  • Since the 1990s, India has experienced robust economic growth, declines in fertility, expansion of education, and improved access to infrastructure, all factors that are generally associated with sustained increases in female labor force participation (Klasen 2019)

  • Regressions at household- and individual-level suggest that reservation had no concurrent impact on female labor force participation but affected modalities of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) implementation, e.g. if work receipts were issued and those receiving less than the stipulated wage complained

  • There is some evidence that introduction of NREGS crowded out non-NREGS activities with a marginally significant increase in NREGS days substituting for a reduction in non-NREGS related labor supply

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Summary

Introduction

Since the 1990s, India has experienced robust economic growth, declines in fertility, expansion of education, and improved access to infrastructure, all factors that are generally associated with sustained increases in female labor force participation (Klasen 2019). Reservation of village leadership positions for women is an intervention with the potential to affect female labor force participation directly, by providing public goods desired by women (Chattopadhyay and Duflo 2004) and by expanding their ability to access workfare job opportunities (Deininger et al 2019). By providing estimates of the impact of female reservation in current and the previous election periods, we can assess longer-term effects on labor force participation, agency, demand for work, and involvement in household decision-making.

Background and institutional context
India’s declining female labor force participation
Can political reservation affect females’ labor market outcomes?
Data and econometric approach
Data and descriptive statistics
Econometric approach
Results and discussion
Impacts of reservation on female labor market participation
Heterogeneity of effects
Impact pathways
Conclusion and policy implications
Full Text
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