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Caste, Female Labor Supply and the Gender Wage Gap in India: Boserup Revisited

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  • Kanika, Mahajan
  • Ramaswami, Bharat

Abstract

The gender wage gap is notable not just for its persistence and ubiquity but also for its variation across regions. A natural question is how greater work participation by women matters to female wages and the gender wage gap. Within India, a seeming paradox is that gender differentials in agricultural wage are the largest in southern regions of India that are otherwise favorable to women. Boserup (1970) hypothesized that this is due to greater labor force participation by women in these regions. This is not obvious as greater female labor supply could depress male wage as well. Other factors also need to be controlled for in the analyses. This paper undertakes a formal test of the Boserup proposition. We find that differences in female labor supply are able to explain 55 percent of the gender wage gap between northern and southern states of India.

Suggested Citation

  • Kanika, Mahajan & Ramaswami, Bharat, 2015. "Caste, Female Labor Supply and the Gender Wage Gap in India: Boserup Revisited," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 212218, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:iaae15:212218
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.212218
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    Keywords

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    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
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J43 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Agricultural Labor Markets
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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