World Bank2014-06-252014-06-252014-02-26https://hdl.handle.net/10986/18737Since economic liberalization in the early 1990s, India has experienced high economic growth and made considerable progress in gender equality in areas such as primary education. However, it fared poorly on gender-parity in labor force participation (LFP). During the period between 1993-94 and 2011-12, female labor force participation rate (LFPR) remained consistently low as compared to male participation. More alarming is the fact that female participation rate declined steadily during the same period, particularly in rural areas. The low level along with declining trend in rural female LFP poses a serious threat of 'missing gender' in the labor force. Although economic growth added jobs for both men and women in India till 2005, Indian women lost jobs in the next seven years, while men continued to gain, thereby widening the gender gap. The actual figures in 2012 suggest that approximately 35 to 40 million women are 'missing' from the labor force, had female LFP grown at the same rate as it had between 1999 and 2005.1 This represents a troubling trend considering the potential of these women to contribute to the country's productivity. To better understand the existing situation, this report investigates gender and female labor force dynamics by drawing mostly on data from five rounds of the National Sample Survey, India, between 1993-94 and 2011-12. Key findings from the study are grouped below in three sections. First section describes the dynamics of female LFP looking at its evolution in previous two decades. The next section presents the drivers of low level of female participation and its declining trend. The last section proposes possible areas of action.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOACCESS TO LANDACCESS TO MARKETSACCESS TO SERVICESACQUISITION OF SKILLSADULT WOMENAGE CATEGORIESAGE GROUPAGGREGATE PRODUCTIVITYAGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENTALTERNATIVE EMPLOYMENTAVERAGE WAGEBARRIERS TO WOMENBASIC VALUESCASUAL WORKERSCHILD CARECHILD-BEARINGCLERKSCOLLEGE GRADUATESCREATING OPPORTUNITIESCULTURAL PRACTICESDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDISADVANTAGED GROUPSDISCRIMINATIONDRIVERSEARNINGECONOMIC EMPOWERMENTECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT OF WOMENECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIESECONOMIC POLICIESECONOMIC STATUSEDUCATION FOR GIRLSEDUCATION OF GIRLSEDUCATIONAL LEVELELDERLYEMPLOYMENT CREATIONEMPLOYMENT GENERATIONEMPLOYMENT GROWTHEMPLOYMENT GUARANTEEEMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE SCHEMEEMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIESEMPLOYMENT RATESEMPOWERMENT OF WOMENENHANCING WOMENENROLMENT OF GIRLSENROLMENT RATESEQUAL WORKEXPORT MARKETSFAMILY WORKFEMALEFEMALE EDUCATIONFEMALE LABORFEMALE LABOR FORCEFEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATIONFEMALE WORKFEMALE WORKERSFEMALESFEMINIZATION OF POVERTYFOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTGENDERGENDER ASYMMETRIESGENDER DIFFERENCESGENDER DIFFERENTIALSGENDER DISPARITIESGENDER EQUALITYGENDER GAPGENDER GAPSGENDER IDENTITIESGENDER IMBALANCESGENDER INEQUALITIESGENDER INEQUALITYGENDER ISSUESGENDER PARITYGENDER PERSPECTIVEGENDER ROLESGENDER STEREOTYPINGGENDER WAGE GAPSGROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCTGROWTH OF WOMENHEALTH OF WOMENHOMEHOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTIONHOUSEHOLD LEVELHOUSEHOLD RESPONSIBILITIESHOUSEHOLD SIZEHUMAN CAPITALHUMAN RESOURCEHUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENTHUSBANDSIMPORTANT POLICYINDIVIDUAL ·HEALTHINDUSTRIAL PRODUCTIONINFORMAL SECTORINFORMAL SECTORSINTERNATIONAL TRADEINTERVENTIONSJOB MARKETJOB OPPORTUNITIESJOBLESS GROWTHJOBSLABOR DEMANDLABOR FORCELABOR FORCE PARTICIPATIONLABOR MARKETLABOR MARKET SEGMENTATIONLABOR MARKETSLABOR REGULATIONLABOR REGULATIONSLABOR SUPPLYLABORERSLABOURLABOUR FORCELABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATIONLABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATESLAWSLEGISLATORSLEVEL OF DEVELOPMENTLEVEL OF EDUCATIONLEVELS OF EDUCATIONLITERACYLOW-INCOME COUNTRIESMALE COUNTERPARTSMALE PARTICIPATIONMARITAL STATUSMARKET WAGESMARRIED MENMARRIED WOMENMINIMUM WAGEMODERNIZATIONMUSLIM WOMENNATIONAL POLICYNATURAL RESOURCESNUMBER OF WOMENOCCUPATIONSOLD MENOPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMENPARTICIPATION OF WOMENPATTERNS OF CONSUMPTIONPOLICY IMPLICATIONSPOOR HEALTHPOOR WOMENPRIMARY EDUCATIONPRIMARY SCHOOLPRODUCTION PROCESSESPRODUCTIVITYPROGRESSPROGRESS TOWARDS GENDER EQUALITYRELIGIOUS GROUPSREMITTANCESRETURNS TO EDUCATIONRURAL AREASRURAL DEVELOPMENTRURAL EMPLOYMENTRURAL GIRLSRURAL WOMENRURAL WORKERSSALARIED WORKERSSCHOOLINGSCHOOLSSECONDARY EDUCATIONSECONDARY SCHOOLSECONDARY SCHOOL EDUCATIONSELF EMPLOYEDSELF EMPLOYED WORKERSSERVICE SECTORSERVICE SECTORSSEXSEXUAL HARASSMENTSHARE OF WORKSKILLED WOMENSKILLED WORKERSSKILLS DEVELOPMENTSOCIAL BARRIERSSOCIAL DEVELOPMENTSOCIAL GROUPSOCIAL GROUPSSOCIAL MOBILIZATIONSOCIAL NORMSSOCIAL SECURITYSOCIAL SERVICESSOCIAL STATUSSOCIETAL NORMSSPOUSESSUPPORT SERVICESSUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTSUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTHTECHNICAL EDUCATIONTEMPORARY WORKTERTIARY EDUCATIONTOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITYTRAINING INDIVIDUALTRAINING PROGRAMSUNEDUCATED WOMENUNIONSUNMARRIED MENUNMARRIED WOMENUNPAID FAMILY WORKERSURBAN AREASURBAN EMPLOYMENTURBAN POPULATIONURBAN WOMENVIOLENCEWAGE EMPLOYMENTWAGE GAPWAGE RATESWATER SUPPLYWDRWILLWOMANWOMEN IN AGRICULTUREWOMEN WORKERSWORK FORCEWORKFORCEWORKING CONDITIONSWORKING WOMENWORKING-AGE POPULATIONWORKING-AGE POPULATIONSYOUNG WOMENYOUTH10.1596/18737