Women Workers in India : Why So Few Among So Many?

This paper examines the determinants of female labor force participation in India, against thebackdrop of India having one of the lowest participation rates for women among peercountries. Using extensive Indian household survey data, we model the labor forceparticipation choices of women, conditional on demographic characteristics and education, aswell as looking at the influence of state-level labor market flexibility and other state policies.Our main finding is that a number of policy initiatives can help boost female economicparticipation in the states of India, including increased labor market flexibility, investment ininfrastructure, and enhanced social spending.