Does Culture Matter or Firm? Demand for Female Labor in Three Indian Cities

Das, Maitreyi Bordia ; Mehta, Soumya Kapoor ; Zumbyte, Ieva ; Sasmal, Sanjeev ; Goyal, Sangeeta

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: EMPLOYMENT;    DISCRIMINATION;    GENDER;    FEMALE EMPLOYMENT;    FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-8736
RP-ID  :  WPS8736

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

In discussing the inordinately lowemployment of Indian women in urban areas, several studieshave argued that culture and attitudes have created a labormarket that is inherently discriminatory. The unsaidcorollary is that culture is slow and hard to change and so,women will stay out of the labor market until social changeoccurs. The empirical evidence on the role of culture isslim at best. This paper fills the void in the policyliterature, as it assesses the relative role of culture, assignified by attitudes of employers, and firmcharacteristics in hiring women. The paper is based on aunique survey of 618 firms in three of the largest cities inthe state of Madhya Pradesh (India)—Bhopal, Indore, andGwalior. Using detailed descriptive, bivariate andmultivariate analysis at the firm level, the hiring process,and attitudes toward male and female workers, the paperaddresses the issue of culture and firm characteristics,while noting that the two are not necessarily in binaryopposition. The results reinforce the conventional wisdom insome ways and are surprising in others. The most salientresult is that employer attitudes matter much less for thechance that women will be hired, than do firm and locationcharacteristics. This has significant policy implications,the most important of which is that female employment inurban India is amenable to policy intervention, and that itis not necessary to wait for culture to change.