Women's Labour Force Participation and Socioeconomic Development: Influences of Local Context and Individual Characteristics in Brazil

Sustainable economic growth at national and global level depends on the significant participation of women in the labor force. Because women compose half of the world population in terms of human capital and labor. Despite the developments in recent years, there is still gender inequality in labor markets around the world and labor force participation rate of women is lower than men. There are many factors affecting the participation of women in the labor force in all developed and developing countries. The effect levels of these factors on the participation rate differ depending on the development levels of the countries. In this context, the role of women's education and labor force participation on development is an important issue especially for all developing country. Therefore, the aim of the study is to examine the relationship between women's labor force participation rates and economic growth in transition economies. For this purpose, the generalized method of moments, which is a dynamic panel data analysis technique, is applied in the study using data between 1995-2019. Analysis findings reveal that there is a U-shaped relationship between women's labor force participation rate and economic growth in transition economies competible with the literature. As a result, reducing gender inequality and increasing women's labor force participation rates positively affect economic growth, income inequality and social welfare, so it is great importance that policy practitioners create a comprehensive women's employment policy and ensure that women play an active role in the labor force.

The asymmetric role of crime in women's and men's labour force participation: Evidence from India

Background: In the last few decades, there has been a significant increase in women's participation in gainful employment in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This scooping review has primarily aimed at assessing the key determinants and effects of women's involvement in the labor force in SSA.
 Methods: The authors did the review based on 19 articles selected from PubMed and goggle search. The selection considered only those published in the last 15 years, conducted based on large sample from Sub-Saharan African countries, and those exclusively related to women’s Labor Force Participation (LFP). More than 80% of the reviewed studies (16 of the 19) employed a cross-sectional study design with quantitative approaches.
 Results: The review witnessed that women's labor force participation in SSA is determined by various individual, household, and community characteristics. Women with lower fertility, living in poor economic condition (low wealth quantiles), and those with above primary education were more likely to participate in gainful employment. Other demographic factors explaining why some women participate in the labor force more often than others include women's age, marital status, number of under-five children, household size, and headship. Among the community variables, living in areas with better infrastructure (transport and communication) increased the likelihood of women’s participation in gainful employment. Nearly all studies showed significant positive impacts of women's labor force participation on several domains of women's life and household well-being, such as on women's nutrition, childcare, and health service utilization.
 Conclusion: The review implies that despite concerns about some adverse impacts of women's participation in gainful employment (such as on childcare), most of the studies indicated positive effects of LFP on women's and children's health, nutrition, and overall household well-being in SSA.

This study examines whether living with other adults enables married and single mothers in New York City to enter the labor market. Multivariate analyses of data on over 8,000 households revealed that living with coresident adults increased the participation of Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Asian single mothers, and enabled all mothers of young children and all foreign-born mothers to enter the labor market. In a separate analysis of extended households, the proportions of elderly and employed coresident adults increased women 's labor force participation, while the proportion of coresident adults who reported child care/family responsibilities as their reason for not being in the labor force decreased women's paid labor activity. Our findings suggest that coresident adults serve different functions within the household, which in turn influence women's labor force decisions in various ways. In recent years attention has focused on the various ways in which families manage social and economic difficulties. One strategy that has received considerable research attention is household extension, or the incorporation of adults other than the husband and wife into the household. Incorporating other adults may benefit the household in a number of ways. Co-resident adults may contribute to the household's pool of financial resources, thereby potentially increasing the economic well-being of household members. Or they may provide domestic labor, which might enable the wife or female householder to devote more time to paid employment. Angel and Tienda (1982) argued that household extension may be an important adaptive strategy for minority families, in that additional income contributions may compensate for low earnings or sporadic unemployment. In this article we analyze the relationship between household extension and mothers' labor force participation among six racial and ethnic groups in New York City. In so doing, we largely replicate an earlier analysis by Tienda and Glass (1985) using current data from one of the nation's most diverse cities. However, we expand upon the earlier analysis in three ways: by including an indicator of the supply of child care in the household, by examining a broader array of racial/ethnic groups, and by analyzing the role that birthplace plays in influencing women's labor market behavior. DETERMINANTS OF WOMEN'S LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION Family structure has long been recognized as an important determinant of women's labor force participation. Typically, family characteristics--such as marital status, the presence of young children, and the presence of coresident adults--affect the amount of time women can spend in domestic and market activities. Including other adults in the household may ease the strain of balancing domestic and market responsibilities, especially for single mothers and mothers of young children who may have the least flexibility in devoting time to the labor market. Prior research has shown that women who live in extended households are more likely than women who do not live with coresident adults to be in the labor force, yet this relationship varies by race/ethnicity (Barry Figueroa & Melendez, 1993; Stier, 1991; Stier & Tienda, 1992; Tienda & Glass, 1985). Moreover, women's labor force behavior appears to be influenced by the specific characteristics of coresident adults. For example, as the number of coresident adults increases, married mothers' participation decreases, suggesting greater domestic burdens; by contrast, as the proportion of female coresident adults increases so does single mothers' participation, suggesting that coresident women function as surrogate domestic workers (Tienda & Glass, 1985). Living with coresident employed adults increases labor force participation among young mothers, while living with coresident nonworking adults--presumably a source of child care--depresses paid labor activity (Parish, Hao, & Hogan, 1991). …

UN and World Bank data on developing countries were used to examine variations across countries in child mortality and fertility patterns and to determine the impact of literacy and schooling, labor force participation of women, contraceptive use, availability of health services, and households headed by women on fertility rates and child mortality. The Schultz-Becker theoretical framework formed the basis of the analysis with ordinary least squares methods and extreme bounds analysis (EBA) used to test for robustness. The findings were that fertility was decreased due to women's human capital, women's labor force participation, and married women's use of contraception. The most powerful effect on fertility was contraceptive use, followed by women's labor force participation. Without contraceptive use in the model, women's literacy and school enrollments were negative and statistically significant. 66-81% of the variation in fertility rates was explained. EBA results showed the main variables as stable and consistent and, consequently, robust. Child mortality was strongly affected by women's schooling and labor force participation. Child mortality was negatively affected by availability of trained health services personnel at birth. Households headed by women had higher child mortality, but the association was weak. The main variables explained 84-89% of the variation in child mortality, and EBA results confirmed robustness. Socioeconomic improvement without attention to the health and educational needs of women would be counterproductive. Unfortunately, the structural adjustment program has resulted in the decline in health and educational services in developing countries, which severely affects low income women and households headed by women.

Housing cost and married women's labor force participation in 1980

The purpose of this research is to reveal the relationship between women’s education, women's labor force participation and national income in G20 countries. The relationships between women's education, women's labor force participation and national income were analyzed by the panel data analysis method for the G20 countries for the period 1997-2018. Stability of series were tested by Fisher ADF and Fisher PP panel root tests and the series were determined to be I (1). Pedroni (2004) was used to test the existence of cointegration relationships between the series. The series were found to be cointegrated. The long- and short-term relationships of the series were analyzed by the Panel DOLS method and it is determined that the increase of female schooling level increase the female labor force participation rate, increase of female schooling level and female labor force participation rate increase the per capita (real) national income. A two-way causality relationship was found between the ratio of women in higher education and national income per person. In addition, two-way causality relations between women's labor force participation rates and schooling rates at all levels of women were determined. In the study, it is concluded that in G20 countries, women's schooling rate increases the women's participation in the labor market and increases of women's schooling rate and female employment increase the national income per capita in countries. Article visualizations:

Some previous studies of the relationship between women's labor force participation and household income inequality indicate that the promotion of the former has an equalizing effect on the latter; other studies insist that the promotion of women's labor force participation has a widening effect on household income inequality by way of the tendency toward assortative marriage. Hence, the relationship between women's labor force participation and household income inequality is unclear in the literature. This study aims to clarify the mechanism through which the interaction between household income and marriage produces social inequality by using mathematical and simulation-based approaches. The presented findings suggest that the promotion of women's labor force participation has a temporary widening effect on household income inequality, but an attenuating effect in the long run. They also state that assortative marriage itself has no widening effect on household income inequality, but rather an accelerating effect on widening inequality. Finally, by applying the model of that mechanism to Japan, I examine changes in household income inequality in that country.

This study aims to empirically determine and analyze the role of women's participation in politics, female population growth, trade balance, and women's labor force participation in promoting economic development across 15 OIC countries during the 2006-2017 period, both in short- and long-run from an Islamic perspective. Using the Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) method, this study found that, in the short term, trade balance and women's labor force participation have promoted Islamic economic development. In contrast, women's participation has a negative effect on the economic development of OIC countries. In the long term, on the other hand, all variables have promoted Islamic economic development in OIC countries, except for the trade balance variable. These findings suggest that coordination and synergy for strengthening economic development among OIC countries need to be enhanced, focusing on women's role in politics, labor force, quality of population, and economic dimensions.JEL Classification: C33, F16, J16, O11, P48Ramdayani, S., Majid, M. S. A., & Suriani, S. (2021). Does Women's Participation in Politics Matter for Economic Development in OIC-15? An Islamic Perspective. Signifikan: Jurnal Ilmu Ekonomi, 10 (2), 209-222. https://doi.org/10.15408/sjie.v10i2.20214.

Women's participation in childcare and the workforce is currently a significant topic of scientific interest and policy significance. However, the availability of child care facilities has not kept pace with the rise in mothers with small children, especially in less developed countries. Reliable data about the correlation between Kenyan women's labour market participation and childcare expenses are lacking. Cultural barriers make it impossible to extrapolate these findings to a country like Kenya, despite some evidence from the US and Europe suggesting a positive correlation between women's labour force participation and child care expenses. Therefore, the aim of this study was to ascertain the degree to which child care expenses impact a woman's decision to engage in the workforce in Tharaka Nithi County, Kenya. The rational choice hypothesis served as the foundation for this study. According to the County Development Plan for 2018–2022, the survey reached 24,000 mothers with infants and toddlers spread over 577 daycare centres. The study employed a descriptive research method. A total of 384 participants were selected randomly to participate in the study. The quantitative information gathered from questionnaires was examined using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results showed a significant relationship between childcare expenses and women's labour force participation

The objective of this study was to identify differences in child care availability by rural-urban location for all counties in Wisconsin, and describe implications for recruitment and retention of health care workforce. We used data on licensed child care slots for young children (age <5), socio-demographic characteristics, women's and men's labor force participation, and household structure for all counties in Wisconsin in 2013 (n=72). Data came from KIDS COUNT, County Health Rankings, and the American Community Survey. We used t tests to analyze bivariate differences in child care availability and community characteristics by metropolitan, micropolitan, and non-core rural location. We then used ordinary least squares regression to analyze the relationship between geographic location and child care slots, adjusting for labor force participation and household structure. Rural counties had significantly fewer licensed child care slots per child than metropolitan and micropolitan counties. These counties also had, on average, higher rates of poverty and higher unemployment than micropolitan and metropolitan counties. The association between geographic location and child care availability remained, even after adjusting for household structure and labor force participation. The number of hours men worked and the percentage of men not working were both negatively associated with available child care slots, whereas there was not a significant relationship between women's labor force participation and child care availability. Rural areas face health care workforce shortages. Recruitment strategies to overcome shortages must move beyond individual-level incentives to focus on community context and family support, including availability of child care in rural counties.

Militarization, women's labor force participation, and gender inequality: Evidence from global data

Using Hong Kong population census and by-census data from 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006, and 2011, this study examined the trends and determinants of women's labor force participation (WLFP) in Hong Kong. It looked at the determinants of WLFP from the perspectives of availability, marketability, market demand, and new household economic theory. The results showed that the labor force participation for married women has been rising over the study period, but their availability to the labor market is still constrained by childrearing responsibilities. This is in spite of the fact that their education levels and the existence of domestic help are factors that ostensibly make it more possible for women to stay in the labor force. It also showed that other family members’ income (e.g., the husband's income) is an important factor for women's participation in the labor force, supporting the idea that the decision to stay in the labor force vs. to stay at home is a joint decision of the family. The study also implies that economic restructuring and the fluctuations in immigrant composition influence WLFP.

We examine the effect of California Paid Family Leave (CPFL) on young women's (less than 42 years of age) labor force participation and unemployment. CPFL enables workers to take at most six weeks of paid leave over a 12 month period in order to bond with new born or adopted children, or to care for sick family members or ailing parents. The policy benefits women, especially young women, since they are more prone to take such a leave. However, the effect of the policy on labor market outcomes is less clear. We apply difference-in-difference techniques to identify the effects of the CPFL legislation on young women's labor force participation and unemployment.We find that the labor force participation rate, the unemployment rate, and the duration of unemployment among young women rose in California compared to states that did not adopt paid family leave. The latter two findings regarding higher young women's unemployment and unemployment duration are unanticipated effects of the CPFL program. We utilize a unique placebo test to validate the robustness of these results.

A strong and negative Correlation between married women's labor force participation and fertility has been witnessed in Japan in past decades.Relative to empirical studies of a traditional single equation on female labor supply, there exist few econometric studies dealing explicitly with a possible interdependency between married women's labor supply and fertility behaviors in urban Japan.Using the recently published 1980 Population Census of Japan, we have estimated a simultaneous_equation model of married women's labor force participation and fertility in urban Japan.Our model shows very satisfactory results to explain the negative correlation between those variables based on a method of 2SLS.Estimated labor supply elasticities for married women with respect to their fertility rates, wife's labor earnings, and male labor earnings are -0.67,0.23, and -1.76 at the sample means, respectively.On the other hand, estimated elasticities of fertility with respect to married women's labor force participation and family income are -0.31 and 0.23, respectively.We find some of these elasticities for Japanese married women very comparable to those of married women in the United States.