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Female labor force participation and development

Author

Listed:
  • Sher Verick

    (The International Training Centre of the ILO, Italy, and IZA, Germany)

Abstract

The relationship between female labor force participation and economic development is far more complex than often portrayed in both the academic literature and policy debates. Due to various economic and social factors, such as the pattern of growth, education attainment, and social norms, trends in female labor force participation do not conform consistently with the notion of a U-shaped relationship with GDP. Beyond participation rates, policymakers need to focus on improving women’s access to quality employment.

Suggested Citation

  • Sher Verick, 2018. "Female labor force participation and development," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 1-87, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izawol:journl:2018:n:87
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Isis Gaddis & Stephan Klasen, 2014. "Economic development, structural change, and women’s labor force participation:," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(3), pages 639-681, July.
    2. repec:ilo:ilowps:483489 is not listed on IDEAS
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Lanza Queiroz, Bernardo & Lobo Alves Ferreira, Matheus, 2021. "The evolution of labor force participation and the expected length of retirement in Brazil," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 18(C).
    2. Erdemalp Ozden & Didem Guleryuz, 2022. "Optimized Machine Learning Algorithms for Investigating the Relationship Between Economic Development and Human Capital," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 60(1), pages 347-373, June.
    3. Krafft Caroline & Cheung Ruby & LaPlante Ava & Assaad Ragui & Marouani Mohamed Ali, 2023. "Are labor markets in the Middle East and North Africa recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic?," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 14(1), pages 1-68, January.
    4. Nkoumou Ngoa, Gaston Brice & Song, Jacques Simon, 2021. "Female participation in African labor markets: The role of information and communication technologies," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(9).
    5. Olivier Bargain & Jordan Loper & Roberta Ziparo, 2020. "Traditional Norms, Access to Divorce and Women’s Empowerment: Evidence from Indonesia," Working Papers hal-03258226, HAL.
    6. Chhavi Tiwari & Srinivas Goli & Anu Rammohan, 2022. "Reproductive Burden and Its Impact on Female Labor Market Outcomes in India: Evidence from Longitudinal Analyses," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(6), pages 2493-2529, December.
    7. Arjun Bedi & Tanmoy Majilla & Matthias Rieger, 2022. "Does signaling childcare support on job applications reduce the motherhood penalty?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 373-387, June.
    8. Bhalotra, Sonia & Clarke, Damian & Walther, Selma, 2022. "Women's Careers and Family Formation," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1120, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    9. Guillaume Marois & Ekaterina Zhelenkova & Balhasan Ali, 2022. "Labour Force Projections in India Until 2060 and Implications for the Demographic Dividend," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 164(1), pages 477-497, November.
    10. Rajesh Gupta & Vaibhav Bhamoriya, 2021. "‘Give Me Some Rail’: An Enquiry into Puzzle of Declining Female Labour Force Participation Rate," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 46(1), pages 7-23, February.
    11. Andreas Backhaus & Elke Loichinger, 2022. "Female Labor Force Participation in Sub‐Saharan Africa: A Cohort Analysis," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 48(2), pages 379-411, June.
    12. Faruq Umar, 2020. "Socio-Economic Implication of Political and Economic Participation of Women in Nigeria," Economy, Asian Online Journal Publishing Group, vol. 7(1), pages 1-10.
    13. Ambel,Alemayehu A. & Tesfaye,Wondimagegn Mesfin & Yonis,Manex Bule, 2022. "A Gendered Fiscal Incidence Analysis for Ethiopia : Evidence from Individual-Level Data," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10130, The World Bank.
    14. Jamelia Harris, 2023. "Opting out of public sector employment: Gender and occupational aspirations among university graduates in Sierra Leone," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(5), pages 897-914, July.
    15. Salehyar, Masoud & Masih, Mansur, 2017. "Lead-lag between female employment and economic growth: evidence from Canada," MPRA Paper 109892, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Irene Selwaness & Caroline Krafft, 2021. "The Dynamics of Family Formation and Women’s Work: What Facilitates and Hinders Female Employment in the Middle East and North Africa?," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 40(3), pages 533-587, June.
    17. Bargain, Olivier & Loper, Jordan & Ziparo, Roberta, 2022. "Traditional Norms, Access to Divorce and Women's Empowerment," IZA Discussion Papers 15374, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Manuela Stranges, 2022. "The Intergenerational Transmission of Female Labour Force Participation by Gender among Native and Immigrant Europeans: A Focus on Religion," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 774-798, December.
    19. Bidisha, Sayema Haque & Faruk, Avinno & Mahmood, Tanveer, 2020. "How Women Are Faring in Bangladeshi Labour Market?: Evidences from Labour Force Survey Data," MPRA Paper 99590, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Arora, Diksha & Braunstein, Elissa & Seguino, Stephanie, 2023. "A macro analysis of gender segregation and job quality in Latin America," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    female labor force participation; developing countries; employment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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