Women in labour market

There are a number of studies on labour market and employment of Bangladesh but very few of these focus on the dynamics of female labour market participation in Bangladesh. A research of this kind warrants attention for several reasons. First, as the empirics go, women's participation in the labour market has been increasing over time. The socio-economic implications of this change needs to be examined through a closer lens. Second, a closer look at the determinants of the participation in the market might indicate to important policy implications.
Given the caveats, Simeen Mahumud and Sayema Haque Bidisha have produced a document on female labour market participation in Bangladesh. We shall heavily draw from their observations contained in "Structural Change and Dynamics of Labour Markets in Bangladesh". As far as knowledge on the dynamics of labour market is concerned, this is an important document produced by South Asian Network on Economic Modelling (SANEM), edited by eminent economist Selim Raihan.
The authors kick off the discussion with a note of appreciation on Bangladesh's progress so far: sustained economic growth at 6-7 per cent per annum, fairly rapid demographic transition leading to steep fall in fertility levels and mortality rates etc. "An accompanying feature of these socio economic trends has been the rising participation of women in labour market, with female labour force participation expanding from 8 per cent in the mid-1980s to 30 per cent in 2010.….While rising female labour force participation in Bangladesh denotes progress for women in a relatively conservative society, and has significant implications for economic growth and poverty alleviation of the country, there remains critical aspects that need examination". 
First, disparity is distilled in labour force participation (LFP) when women's participation is relatively low to men's despite the fact that women attach value to their independently earned income. Second, unlike men, women are 'locked' in fewer activities that offer lower hours of work and lower remuneration. "Often women have little choice but to contribute as unpaid labour to the family enterprise." Third, and related to the first, increase in formal school enrolment, better health and lower burden of child bearing are not translating into secure full time employment. This possibly indicates that the expanding participation is supply driven rather than demand driven. 
The researchers are of the view that women's participation in labour market depends on three sets of factors: individual market endowments (age and education); household situation (marital status, presence of children); and characteristics of the household head (sex, education, occupation). In fact, the last factor determines the extent to which the norms of the 'female home maker' and 'female seclusion' are adhered to within the family. It has been shown that women aged 25-44 years has the highest LFP rates followed by younger women aged 15-24 years, while older women (45+) has the lowest rates. "The relationship between LFP rates and age was an inverted in 2010, with LFP rates of the youngest women (15-24) years) being higher than that of older women (45+). In 2010, currently married women had higher LFP rates (38 per cent) compared to either single women or widowed/separated/ divorced women. Over the years, the LFP rate increased most visibly among married women". With respect to education, the highest LFP rate in 2010 was among women with a gradation degree and above followed by women having 6-9 years of schooling. Thus, the earlier U shaped relationship with lowest participation rates among women having secondary education or with SSC/HSC degrees, had given way to a more complex relationship in 2010. By and large, younger women of 15-25 years were entering the labour market at a faster pace than older ones but the greater increase in LFP was for married women in the prime working age group (25-44 years).
Simeen Mahmud and Sayema estimate the determinants of LFP of women are influenced by a volley of socio-economic and demographic factors. Using a probit/logit, they observe that education has strong positive impact on labour market participation. Another crucial determinant appears to be, and against men's, is child bearing and subsequently care activities. The presence of younger children of less than 6 years acts as a deterrent to participation. In fact, children under 6 years reduce participation by about 4 per cent.  On the other hand, the coefficient of total number of children in the household increases participation. This could be due to the fact that greater number of children force household members to go out for eking out a living.  Higher family income has a negative impact on LFP of females, and reduces the probability of participation of women in labour market by around 7.0 per cent. Regression results also show that if the head of a household has higher education (university degree), then that reduces the probability of participation of women of that household. As regards occupation of household head, a self-employed household head as opposed to wage employed one increases participation probability of women residing in that household significantly. Finally, wage has a strong positive impact on participation decision. This should not sound surprising given the fact that substitution effect of labour supply, be it for male or female, tends to outweigh the income effect up to a certain level of wage. 
Finally, the researchers point at few policy implications. Rising female LFP, whatever the route, can be growth enhancing as more women are in productive activities, and also it means demographic dividend is being reaped.  By and large, women's participation in labour force should increase not only to empower women but also to add to economic growth.
Abdul Bayes is a former Professor of Economics at Jahangirnagar University and currently Chair, Department of Economics and Social Science (ESS), BRAC University. [email protected]/
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