Analyzing Female Employment Trends in South Asia

29 Pages Posted: 24 Feb 2020

See all articles by Fatima Najeeb

Fatima Najeeb

University of Maryland - College Park

Matias Morales

Consultant

Gladys Lopez-Acevedo

Lead Economist

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Abstract

This paper studies employment patterns and trends in South Asia to shed light on determinants of extremely low female employment rates in the region. After a comprehensive literature review, we use employment data from about one hundred censuses and surveys from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka to compare employment trends across countries over time. We work through data inconsistencies to standardize definitions of variables to compare demographic and labor market determinants: age, sector, contract type, location, and education. We find that (i) overall since 2001, women's employment participation across South Asian countries has been low and broadly unchanged; (ii) the gender employment gap emerges more clearly in middle age brackets; (iii) rural female employment is higher than urban; (iv) agriculture is the economic sector accounting for the greatest share of female employment, although this is slowly changing in some countries, and; (v) women with mid-level education tend to have lower employment rates than those with both lower and higher education.

Keywords: female labor force participation, South Asia

JEL Classification: J21, O53

Suggested Citation

Najeeb, Fatima and Morales, Matias and Lopez-Acevedo, Gladys, Analyzing Female Employment Trends in South Asia. IZA Discussion Paper No. 12956, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3542625 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3542625

Fatima Najeeb (Contact Author)

University of Maryland - College Park ( email )

College Park, MD 20742
United States

Matias Morales

Consultant

Gladys Lopez-Acevedo

Lead Economist ( email )

1818 H Street
Washington, DC 20433
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.worldbank.org/en/about/people/gladys-lopez-acevedo

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