Will Market Competition Trump Gender Discrimination in India?
Empowering women to engage in productive employment is not only critical to achieving gender equality but also critical for economic growth and poverty reduction. This paper studies the pattern of female activity and gender segmentation in the Indi...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2016
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/09/26766637/market-competition-trump-gender-discrimination-india http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25059 |
| Summary: | Empowering women to engage in productive
employment is not only critical to achieving gender equality
but also critical for economic growth and poverty reduction.
This paper studies the pattern of female activity and gender
segmentation in the Indian manufacturing and services
sectors. Although the share of women entrepreneurs and
employees is larger in manufacturing than in services,
segmentation based on gender is pervasive in both sectors.
Theory, dating back to Gary Becker, suggests that
competitive reforms should reduce the extent of this
segregation. In spite of competition-inducing reforms such
as investment in Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) highways, trade
liberalization and domestic reforms that India undertook
since the turn of the century, this pattern of gender based
segmentation has not subsided over the years. Specifically,
investments in GQ upgrades are found to have 0 effects on
female activity and gender segmentation. Although there is
some evidence of a negative correlation between segmentation
among male employees and industry level trade liberalization
reforms, overall it had a very limited impact on female
participation in labor force and in reducing segmentation
among female employees. Finally, domestic reforms that
dismantled product reservations for small-scale industries
induced greater participation among women in economic
activity and are correlated with a modest decline in
segmentation among male employees. Segregation among female
employees is positively associated with these reforms. |
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