Prof. Naila Kabeer (Gender Institute, London School of Economics)

Ms. Simeen Mahmud (Centre for Gender and Social Transformation, BRAC Institute of Governance and Development)

Prof. James Heintz (University of Massachusets)

(Funded by ESRC/DFID)

Steady rates of economic growth since the 1990s. Progress on key indicators of social development and gender equality.

Rising levels of female education, dramatic fertility decline, steady improvements in maternal mortality, closing of gender gap in under-5 mortality rates, decline in phenomenon of ‘missing women’, possible revaluation of daughters.

Also steadily rising rates of female labour force participation from 4% in the 1970s to 36% in 2010.

BUT vast majority of working women are in unpaid family labour with ‘inexplicable rise’ in unpaid family labour over past decade.

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1) Many recent studies suggest that paid work, particularly paid work outside the home, ‘empowers’ women on a range of indicators, relating to decision-making power, mobility, violence in the home, and status in the community. The 2008 Pathways survey of 5198 women in 8 districts in Bangladesh supported these finding as did the qualitative interviews carried out:

“You can tell as soon as you see a working woman. If women work and earn an income of their own, then there is a different sense about them. They have mental strength.”

So why are so many women in home-based work, particularly in unpaid family labour which has least empowerment potential?

Analysis of 2008 Pathways survey to address the following questions:

What explains women’s selection into the labour force in Bangladesh? What explains their selection into particular forms of economic activity? And what light can our findings throw on the larger issue of labour market segmentation?

The market for a woman's labor is normally demarcated both physically and functionally. The physical limits of the market for a particular woman's labor are described by a circle with a radius of 200-400 meters, with her homestead as the center of the circle….What is important is that, geographically, the market for the labor of any given women is small, and the pool of potential employers is limited by the condition that some sort of prior social relationship exist between the woman seeking work and the employer. The norms of purdah influence the distance a woman would be willing to travel to work, the distance a husband would permit his wife to travel, a woman's willingness to work for a stranger, and the receptivity of potential employers…. the psychic and more tangible costs of the job search rise quickly when a woman leaves the confines of her "circle."

Viz. a combination of ‘internalized’ and externally imposed constraints

Poverty a major driver: highest rates among poorest women

Patriarchal risk (widows, divorced and separated women)

Married women, with and without children, less likely to participate

U shaped relationship between women’s education and labour force participation

Official estimates (7 day recall): 30% Pathways (7 day recall): 67% Main difference: documentation of home-based work (paid and unpaid)

Formal/semi-formal waged work: (3%.). Made up of export garment and other factory workers, teachers NGO staff, nurses, paramedics and other health workers, insurance field workers. 30 years old; 70% married, 18% single. 1.5 children, 14% are household heads, 31% had post-secondary education; 41% from highest wealth tercile (most educated, among wealthier households and high percentage of single women)

Informal waged work: (6%) Mainly made up of paid domestic labour and agricultural/non-agricultural casual labour). 38 years old. Only 54% married, 32% widowed/divorced/separated. 30% headed own households. 2,5 children. 5% had post-secondary education, 9% from highest wealth tercile. (poorest, least educated and most likely to be female headed)

Informal self-employment outside home (4%): Mainly petty trade and services such as tuition.39 years old, 83% married women =, 9% divorced, widowed, separated, 8% are household heads, 2.4 children, only 3% with post-secondary education. 21% from highest wealth tercile

Informal self-employment within the home: (47%) Mainly livestock and poultry rearing, handicrafts etc., from which some income earned, 35 years old, , 80% marrried, 9% are household heads, 2.8 children, 5% had post- secondary education 28% from highest wealth tercile

Unpaid economic activity: (18%.) Subsistence activities, though some sales do occur. 35 years old, 65% married, 19% single, 9% are household heads, 2.9 children, 5% with post-secondary education, 42% fro highest wealth tercile

‘Economically inactive’: (22%). 37 years old, 70% widowed, 2.7 children, 10% had secondary education, 46% from highest tercile (Wealthiest, most likely to be widowed but average age)

Likelihood rises with age and then declines (common to most surveys)Female households heads (mainly widowed, divorced and separated women) have higher rates of labour force participation than women in male headed households and widows (presumably living in male headed households) have lower rates. Household wealth and education of household head associated with lower rates of female labour force participation (income effect) Employment of household head increases likelihood of female labour force participation (age effect? Older women more likely to come from households with economically inactive heads)Muslim women have higher rates of economic activity than Hindu women. Village location important. Using the more socially conservative location of Comilla as reference, there was little variation among other locations except for Kurigram, the poorest, which also had the highest levels of activity. NGO membership, access to loans, household electricity, ownership of phones and number of children under 5 had no significant association: likely to reflect inclusive definition of labour force participatoin

Very inclusive definition of labour force participation means key variations in labour market behaviour show up in types of economic activity rather than economic activity per se.

Marriage continues to depress likelihood of work outside the home, but single women now more likely to be economically active outside the home along with traditional category of divorced/widowed women.

Number of children under 5 did not affect overall participation rates but economically women who report care responsibilities are less likely to be engaged in paid work outside the home while those who report responsibility for other domestic chores less likely to be in waged work, or in work outside the home more generally, and more likely to be in self-employment and in self-employment within the home.

U shaped relationship between women’s education and labour market behaviour shows up in relation to types of work rather than economic activity per se. Those with no education and those with post-secondary education more likely to work outside the home.

We saw earlier that the number of children under 5 does not appear significantly related to selection into the labor force. However, economically women who report care responsibilities are less likely to be engaged in paid work outside the home. Those who report responsibility for other domestic chores are less likely than the rest to be in waged work, or in work outside the home more generally, and more likely to be in self-employment and in self-employment within the home.

Religiosity depresses outside work, encourages work within the home. Women who made own work decision more likely to work in self-

employment (though not necessarily within the home). Membership of microfinance reduces likelihood of wage employment/

increases self employment within the home. Access to loans has reverse effect. May be that access to loans captured by ownership of cattle and goats (primary uses of loans) which reduce likelihood of wage employment and increase likelihood of self employment. Land ownership reduced likelihood of outside employment

Head’s education and household wealth reduced likelihood of wage employment/outside employment while household wealth increased likelihood of unpaid economic activity (less need for income?)

Employed heads increases likelihood of female employment (with some correspondence between types of employment

Connectivity (ownership of phone, household electricity) increased outside/waged work.

Location matter: waged work and outside work most likely to be found in urban/peri-urban locations and dynamic rural areas. Outside employment, but not in waged work, likely to be found in two poorest districts. Most conservative district reported high levels of economic activity but in home-based self employment and unpaid economic activity.

MOST PREFERRED OCCUPATIONS Livestock/poultry rearing Tailoring Teaching Quilt-making and handicrafts LEAST PREFERRED OCCUPATIONS Domestic service Daily wage labour Begging Garment work

Reasons for high ranking of occupations Ability to within the home/to earn from home (70-85%) Respect/honour (68% teaching) Own consumption (7-17%)

Reasons for low ranking of occupations Work outside home/in others’ homes (10-21%) Hard/demanding physical labour (14-37%) Work in sun and rain (10%) Work alongside men (9% garment work) People say bad things (8-27%) People do not honour this work (5-22%) Lack of respect (22% domestic work)

Values own Family values Community values her workwork work

Formal wage 86 83 28

Informal outside 69 68 21

Informal inside 53 52 15

Unpaid family Labour 46 43 6

Inactive 38 37 - labour

Women working outside the home were more likely to face abuse at work: formal waged employment (23%); informal waged employment (28%); informal self employment outside home (15%); informal self employment within home (9%) and in unpaid productive work at home (6%).Women working outside more likely to report negative work-related health impacts: formal waged employment (30%); informal waged employment (63%); informal self employment outside home (48%); informal self employment within home (12%); and unpaid productive work at home (7%)Women working in outside work more likely to believe their work is value and that their family Women working outside the home more likely to have faced resistance to their decision Hidden costs of accessing formal sector employment: bribes and contacts Employers’ attitudes: suitable jobs for women (see also Barsoum et al about quality of private sector employment)

Asked, for instance, why women are not hired to harvest the major crops in most rural districts, employers ‘were quite clear that the reasons for job segmentation, stating explicitly that they did not believe that they gained anything from breaking with tradition. As long as male labourers are available, employers do not think it is worth hiring women. And male labourers are usually in abundant supply’

Before the loans, women used to work on other people’s fields, cutting lentils, rice, wheat. They got 20/- to 30/- takas a day. That is happening less now because so many women are getting loans, they are raising cows, goats, they can work for themselves so why should they work for someone else. If you can work for yourself, look, I am sitting here with you, could I do that if I worked for someone else? They would pay me less then. I would pull up lentils, they would give me 20/- a day, this was four years ago. Before women used to clear the irri blocks, they would stand in the water and get leeches on them. Now they don’t. Now, with the loans, they have some peace (Kabeer, 1998)

Before I used to work in people's houses to eat. I worked all day for the stomach alone, not for money. Isn’t it better to work in your own house rather than having to work in some one else's just in order to fill your stomach. You stay at home, you raise ducks and hens, you feed yourself, and you make some profit…...How many people behave well with you if you work for them for money? There is no honour in working for someone (Kabeer, 1998)

Renegotiating the boundaries between ‘inside’ and ‘outside’

Employers and employers.

Increasing supply of labour by unmarried women

Impact of education

Qualitative interviews with women from sample completed and under analysis

Completion of 2nd round of survey delayed (political turbulence)

Analysis of panel data 2016