Female Work Force Participation and Women Empowerment in Haryana

India is known as a country of diversity regarding the social, cultural and wide geographical variations. In the north and north-west part of the country, the strong patriarchal norms and the male dominance based social structure are the important constructs. Patriarchal social setup adversely affects the women’s social and economic wellbeing and hence in that social structure women are considered as second level citizen. Work participation rate of women has directly linked to the development of society or household. Haryana is one of the developed states of India, still being ahead in economic prosperity, much lagged behind in gender-based equality and male dominance in all dimensions of life. The position of women in the Haryana is no better than the other states of India. Haryana state has the great difference among the male-female sex ratio which is a serious concern for social science research as a demographic problem for the state. Now women are requiring for their holistic empowerment and that will take care of them for an enabling process that must lead to their economic as well as social transformation. Hence, the objective of the paper is to address the role of sex ratio, women literacy and her work participation in the process of their empowerment with special attention to the gender perspective. The study used the data from Census of India from 1991 to 2011. This paper will examine the regional disparity of sex ratio, literacy rate and female work participation and the improvement of empowerment of women in the state of Haryana. This paper will suggest the idea for focusing much intensively on the issues of women empowerment through enhancement of her education, workforce participation and social participation with people participation and holistic approach.

Authors:

• Dinabandhu Mahata
• Amit Kumar
• Ambarish Kumar Rai

Keywords:

• Sex ratio
• literacy rate
• workforce participation rate
• women empowerment
• Haryana.

References:

[1] Mammen, K., Christina Paxson. (2000). Women’s Work and Economic Development, The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 14 (4): 141–164.
[2] United Nations. (2000). Millennium declaration, New York: United Nations.
[3] Tsai, W.-J., Liu, J.-T., Chou, S.-Y., Thornton, R., (2009). Does educational expansion encourage female workforce participation? A study of the 1968 reform in Taiwan, Economic of Educational Review, 28, 750-758. doi:10.1016/j.econedurev.2008.03.006
[4] Collver, A., Langlois, E. (1962). ‘The Female Labour Force in Metropolitan Areas: An International Comparison’, Economic Development and Cultural Change, 10(4): 367-385.
[5] Sharma, A., Saha, S., (2015). Female Employment Trends in India: A Disaggregated Analysis, The NEHU Journal, 13(2), July-December, 17-30.
[6] Ackah, C., Ahiadeke, C., Fenny. A.P. (2009). Determinants of Female Labour Force: Poverty Research Group, Economic and Social Research Council.
[7] Gulati, L. (1975). “Female Work Participation- A Study of Inter State Differences” Economic and Political Weekly, 10(1&2), January 11.
[8] Dholakia, R.H., Dholakia, J. (1978). “Inter-State Variations in Female Labour Force Participation Rates”, The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, January.
[9] Bardhan, P.K. (1979). “Labour Supply Functions in Poor Agrarian Economy,” American Economic Review, 69(1), 73-83.
[10] Dasgupta, P. (2005). “Female Labour Supply in Rural India – An Econometric Analysis,” Working Paper Series, No. E / 265 / 2005, Institute of Economic Growth, New Delhi.
[11] Rai, A. K., Bhattacharjee, S. (2016). Does Development Lead to Narrowing the Gap in Maternal Health Care Utilization among Social Groups? The Evidences of Haryana, International Academic Journal of Social Sciences, 3(8): 149-158.
[12] Basu, Alaka M. (1992). Culture, the Status of Women, and Demographic Behaviour: Illustrated with the Case of India. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
[13] Jejeebhoy, S. J. (2000). “Women’s autonomy in rural India: Its dimensions, eterminants, and the influence of context. “ In Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Processes: Moving Beyond Cairo. Eds. Harriet Presser and Gita Sen. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[14] Visaria, L. (1996). Regional variation in female autonomy and fertility and contraception in India. In Girls’ Schooling. Women’s Autonomy and Fertility Change in South Asia. Eds. Roger Jeffery and Alaka M. Basu. New Delhi: Sage Publications.
[15] Registrar General of India. (1991). Registrar General of India (RGI), Census of India.
[16] Registrar General of India. (2001). Registrar General of India (RGI), Census of India.
[17] Registrar General of India. (2011). Registrar General of India (RGI), Census of India.
[18] Harris, B., Watson, E. (1987). "The Sex Ratio in South Asia," in Janet H. Monsen and Janet Townsend, eds., Geography of Gender in the Third World, Albany: State University of NY Press.
[19] McCabe, James L. and Mark R. Rosenzweig. (1976). Female Employment Creation and Family Size, in Ronald G. Ridker, ed., Population and Development, Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press.
[20] Wolf, W. C., Fligstein, N. D. (1979). Sex and authority in the workplace: the causes of sexual inequality. American Sociological Review, 44:235-252.
[21] Hanson, S., Johnston, I. (1985). “Gender Differences In Work Trip Length: Explanations and Implications”, Urban Geography, 6(3): 193–219.
[22] Erdoganaras, F., Yuksel, U. D., Tamer, N. G. (2013). Job Search And Occupational Gender Segregation In The Informal Labour Market: The Case of Beypazari, Turkey, Gazi University Journal of Science, 1(2):31-47.
[23] England, K. V. L., (1993). “Suburban Pink Collar Ghettos: The Spatial Entrapment Of Women?”, Annals of The Association of American Geographers, 83(2): 225–42
[24] Singell, L., Lillydahl, J. (1986). An Empirical Analysis Of The Commute To Work Patterns Of Males And Females In Two-Earner Households, Urban Studies, 23(2): 119–129
[25] Johnston-Anumonwo, I. (1988). “The Journey to Work and Occupational Segregation of Women”, Urban Geography, 9(2):138–54.