Publication: Improving the Measurement of Rural Women's Employment: Global Momentum and Survey Research Priorities
Date
2019-05
ISSN
Published
2019-05
Author(s)
Abstract
Rural economies are in transition around
the world; in many countries, improved technology and
linkages across sectors have expanded access to markets and
accelerated production for some farmers. At the same time,
rural areas globally are facing a growing base of landless
and smallholder farmers, out-migration to urban areas, and
persistence of low-skilled, informal, and seasonal jobs
where women are often heavily concentrated. Recent global
initiatives are examining programs that can effectively
raise rural incomes, including how addressing shortfalls in
wome's hours worked and earnings can raise rural
productivity and growth. But well-designed policies to
address these issues require improved counting of
individuals' employment, accounting for the complexity
of measuring rural women's labor force participation,
as well as data on social, economic, and institutional
constraints that women face in seeking better economic
opportunities. Using recent rounds of the Ethiopia, Malawi,
Nigeria, and Uganda Living Standards and Measurement
Study-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture, as well as findings
from recent country pilots conducted by the International
Labour Organization, this paper discusses best practices and
issues to consider when examining rural women's
employment in socioeconomic surveys, as well as a survey
research agenda to improve measurement.
Citation
“Koolwal, Gayatri B.; Koolwal, Gayatri. 2019. Improving the Measurement of Rural Women's Employment: Global Momentum and Survey Research Priorities. Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8840. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31665 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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