decadal pattern of female main and marginal worker ... · shrinking employment opportunities for...

International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 6, Issue 6, June 2016 567 ISSN 2250-3153

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Decadal Pattern of Female Main and Marginal Worker Participation in India: A Spatial Evaluation

Ankita Borbora

Assistant Professor,Department of Economics, Dibrugarh University,Assam(India)

Abstract- This paper shows the decadal pattern of work participation rate among females in India using the evidence of thirty five states and union territories of India for three census years 1991, 2001 and 2011.This study uses the census data of female main workers and marginal workers to show the work participation. It is found that after the introduction of New Economic Policy in 1991, female the worker participates rates are declining, however pattern that is found from the evidences of the states and union territories in India reveals the difference in the work participation behaviour of female main and marginal workers. Though female main worker participation has been declined during both the decades of (2001-1991) and (2011-2001),the female marginal worker participation increased during (2011-2001). Available literature on female labour and work force participation find that declining female worker participation in World as well as in India is attributed to the increasing educational attendance of girls and effect of higher household incomes with the pace of economic development. To trace the causes of declining female worker participation and as well as of difference in the pattern of change of main and marginal workers, this paper reveals the pattern of work participation for two age groups. One is (5-19years)age group which is generally consisted of the females attending education primary to higher secondary and another is the age group of ( 20-59)years female. Though educational factor is found to be influencing in the female worker participation of (5-19) years age group and but the paper finds that in India actually the shrinking employment opportunities for female after Economic reforms are mainly contributing to the declining female work participation rate. Index Terms- Female Worker Participation Rate, Female Main Workers and Female Marginal Workers, Decadal change, Age groups of (5-19) years of female and (20-59) years of female

I. INTRODUCTION ecadal Pattern of Female Main and Marginal Work Participation in India: A Spatial Evaluation Introduction:

Women are assigned different role to part particularly in family life from their male counterpart and this difference spread to the economic, political and social life also. In almost every sphere of human functioning in India, the roles defined for women are subordinated to those defined for males, the rights for women are fewer or less emancipating than those of men, and women's obligations are more limiting than those of men, resulting in gender disparity at every level, cutting across all types of class and caste powerlessness [Malhotra et al., 2002]. Hence, the issue of empowerment of women or the rise of the power or capacity of women is much popular in today’s world. “The empowerment of women has been widely acknowledged as an important goal in international development” [Malhotra & Schuler 2006:71] Discrimination that is occurred towards women in terms of their economic possessions can be revealed from the fact that women perform two-thirds of the world’s work, receive one-tenth of its income and own less than one-hundredth of its property (Desai and Thakkar 2001:40). The World Development Report 2012 of World Bank showed the differential behaviour between women and men regarding time use. Women devote 1 to 3 hours more a day to housework than men do; 2 to 10 times the amount of time a day to care (for children, elderly, and the sick), and 1 to 4 hours less a day to market activities. Thus, women spend large part of their day’s time in economically unviable work that inhibits women’s access to paid work. Economic empowerment of women comprises economic opportunities (e.g. expanding employment and entrepreneurship, promoting decent and productive work, improving access to finance);legal status and rights(e.g. improving women’s property ,inheritance and legal rights);and voice, inclusion and participation in decision-making(e.g. developing mechanisms to enhance women’s involvement in decision-making bodies). [UNDP 2010] Thus, women’s accessibility to the economically productive work can be regarded as one of the main indicator for the economic empowerment of women. According to the Census survey, work is defined as participation in any economically productive activity with or without compensation, wages or profit and All persons engaged in 'work' are workers. Census survey of India divides workers in two main groups i.e. main and marginal workers. Those workers who had worked for the major part of the one year reference period of census(i.e. 6 months or more) are termed as main workers, while those workers who had not worked for the major part of the reference period (i.e. work for less than 6 months) are termed as marginal worker. Both main and marginal workers consist of the four main categories of workers (i.e. cultivators1, agricultural Labourers2, household industry workers3,other workers4)

1 A person is classified as cultivator if he or she is engaged in cultivation of land owned or held from Government or held from private persons or institutions for

D

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With the inception of New Economic Policy, it was expected that under the globalised economy, the situations of women in India would be better and women would get new employment opportunities. Since economic theory (Hecksher-Ohlin theorem) states that, each country produces and exports the commodity in which it uses its abundant factor intensively. Hence increased trade resulted from globalisation, should lead to the increased employment of abundant labour in the labour surplus developing country like India. The advocates of globalisation have always been of the firm view that globalisation would result in significant increases in labour intensive exports thereby promoting employment and income generation in developing countries. They put forwarded the view that larger flows of FDI would result in increased investment in Greenfield areas and would lead to accelerated direct and indirect employment and income growth in the developing countries in Washington Consensus during the 1980s. [Bhalla (2008)] There are some studies which show the positive effect of globalisation on women labour in India and argue that the employment of women during the post reform period in India is growing though not a sustained manner and not through the all the sectors of the economy. [Bhalla.(2008), Vijaya,(2014), Project Report of UNCTAD- Govt. of India- DFID Project‘Strategies and Preparedness for Trade and Globalisation in India’, Patel(2014)].There also exists ample literature which blame globalisation for increasing the level of unemployment and underemployment among women and also have given rise to many forms of discriminations in the labour market. Though some women are getting better access to the labour market but the majority are being engaged at relatively low levels of pay and skills.[Sharma(2010 )].This paper tries to show the scenario of female workers during the post reform period and to trace out the changes through the decades and the throughout the states and union territories of India. It is an effort to depict the picture of the women work participation in India during post reform period without going to analyse the factors behind the scene. Objectives: This study aims

(1) To trace the decadal changes of female main and marginal workers participation rate among states and union territories in India.

(2) To explore the cause of decadal changes in female work participation showing the age-wise differential pattern of work

participation .

Female Main and Marginal Workers Participation in the States and Union Territories of India: To depict the scenario of female work participation after the inception of Economic Reforms in 1991,the percentage of female main workers as well as female marginal workers to the total female population has been calculated in the paper. This study covers thirty five states and union territories of India using census survey data of three census years 1991, 2001 and 2011to show the decadal changes in female worker participation throughout the twenty years period.

payment in money, kind or share. Cultivation includes effective supervision or direction in cultivation. Cultivation involves ploughing, sowing, harvesting and production of cereals and millet crops such as wheat, paddy, jowar, bajra, ragi, etc., and other crops such as sugarcane, tobacco, ground-nuts, tapioca, etc., and pulses, raw jute and kindred fibre crop, cotton, cinchona and other medicinal plants, fruit growing, vegetable growing or keeping orchards or groves, etc. Cultivation does not include the following plantation crops - tea, coffee, rubber, coconut and betel-nuts (areca). (Census Survey) 2 A person who works on another person's land for wages in money or kind or share is regarded as an agricultural labourer. She or he has no risk in the cultivation, but merely works on another person's land for wages. 3 Household Industry is defined as an industry conducted by one or more members of the household at home or within the village in rural areas and only within the precincts of the house where the household lives in urban areas. 4 All workers, i.e., those who have been engaged in some economic activity during the last one year, but are not cultivators or agricultural labourers or in Household Industry, are 'Other Workers(OW)'. The type of workers that come under this category of 'OW' include all government servants, municipal employees, teachers, factory workers, plantation workers, those engaged in trade, commerce, business, transport banking, mining, construction, political or social work, priests, entertainment artists, etc

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Table 1: Region-wise female main workers participation in India

Name of the Regions

Percentage of female main workers in total female population 1991 2001 2011 Change(2001-

1991) Change(2011-2001)

India 16 15 15 -1 0 North 10 14 12 +4 -2 Delhi 7 8 10 +1 +2 Haryana 6 13 10 +7 -3 Himachal Pradesh 19 21 18 +2 -3 Jammu & Kashmir 8 6

NA -2

Punjab 3 12 9 +9 -3 Rajasthan 13 17 18 +4 +1 Uttaranchal 16 16 NA 0 Central 15 15 15

0 0

Chhattisgarh 22 19 NA -3 Madhya Pradesh 23 17 18 -6 +1 Uttar Pradesh 7 6 8 -1 +2 East 10 9 9

-1 0

Bihar 10 9 8 -1 -1 Jharkhand 10 10 NA 0 Orissa 12 9 9 -3 0 West Bengal 8 9 9 +1 0 North East 28 23 22

-5 -2

Arunachal Pradesh 36 28 27

-8 -1

Assam 13 10 11 -3 +1 Manipur 33 21 25 -12 +4 Meghalaya 31 24 23 -7 -1 Mizoram 34 32 28 -2 -4 Tripura 10 11 11 +1 0 Nagaland 37 30 31 -7 +1 Sikkim 29 26 24 -3 -2 West 19 17 18

-2 +1

Goa 17 15 17 -2 +2 Gujarat 14 15 13 +1 -2 Maharashtra 26 22 25 -4 +3 South 23 20 22

-3 +2

Andhra Pradesh 30 25 27

-5 +2

Karnataka 23 21 23 -2 +2 Kerala 13 11 12 -2 +1 Tamil Nadu 25 24 25 -1 +1 Others Union Teritorries 14 14 12

0 -2

ANDAMAN & NICOBER ISLANDS 8 10 13

+2 +3

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[Author’s calculation, Source: Census of India,1991,2001 and 2011] It is seen from the table that the female main worker participation at all India level was at 16% in 1991,while it decreased to 15% and remained it as the same in 2011 also. In case of the states consisting the North of India, female main worker participation of all the states increased during the period(2001-1991) but declined during (2011-2001) except Delhi and Rajasthan. In the Central part of India ,where the data of 1991 of Chhattisgarh is not available, in other two states Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, the female main worker participation decreased during the period of (2001-1991)while these rates marginally increased during (2011-2001).While in Chhattisgarh, the rate has decreased from 22% (2001)to 19%(2011) In case of the East, all the states Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal have experienced a declining trend. While the data of Jharkhand in 1991 is not available and the percentage of women as main worker in West Bengal increased from 8% (1991) to 9% in 2001. In case of the North Eastern States of India, on an average the percentage of FMWP decreased from a higher 28% in 1991 to 23% in 2001and again decreased by 1% during (2011-2001).During the period (2001-1991),all the North Eastern states showed a negative change except Tripura, though during (2011-2001),Assam, and Nagaland have shown positive change. In the West, during the decade (2001-1991),in Goa and Maharashtra, the female main worker participation got a negative change, while during (2011-2001),only Gujarat got a negative change. In the area of “Other Union Territories”, the FMWP in Dadra & Nagar Haveli declined in both the decades during (2001-1991) and (2011-2001) while Lakshadweep got negative change during (2001-1991). Lakshadweep, Pondicherry & Daman & Diu remained at the same level during.(2011-2001).

CHANDIGARH 10 13 14 +3 +1 D &N HAVELI 31 25 14 -6 -11 DAMAN & DIU 12 13 13 +1 0 LAKSHADWEEP 6 5 5 -1 0 PONDICHERRY 14 15 15 +1 0

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Table 2: Region-wise Female Marginal Workers Participation In India

5 In the calculation of the percentage of female marginal workers for the year 2011, both the female workers under categories “ worked for less than 3 months” and”worked for 3to 6 months” are included .

Name of the Regions

Percentage of female Marginal workers in total female Population 1991 2001 20115

(2001-1991) (2011-2001)

India 6 11 10 +5 -1 North 7 12 12 +5 0 Delhi 0 1 1 1 0 Haryana 5 14 8 +9 -6 Himachal Pradesh 15 23 26 +8 +3 Jammu & Kashmir 14 15

NA +1

Punjab 2 7 5 +5 -2 Rajasthan 14 17 18 +3 +1 Uttaranchal 11 11 NA 0 Central 7 15 14

+8 -1

Chattisgarh 18 18 N A 0 Madhya Pradesh 10 16 15 +6 -1 Uttar Pradesh 5 10 9 +5 -1 East 6 13 14

+7 +1

Bihar 5 10 11 +5 +1 Jharkhand 16 19 NA +3 Orissa 9 16 18 +7 +2 West Bengal 3 9 9 +6 0 North East 5 12 12

+7 )0


+6 +1

Assam 9 11 12 +2 +1 Manipur 6 18 15 +12 +3 Meghalaya 4 11 10 +7 -1 Mizoram 10 16 8 +6 -8 Tripura 4 10 13 +6 +3 Nagaland 1 8 13 +7 +5 Sikkim 2 12 15 +10 +3 West 8 10 7

+2 -3

Goa 4 7 5 +3 -2 Gujarat 12 13 10 +1 -3 Maharashtra 7 9 6 +2 -3 South 5 8 7

+3 -1


+6 -1

Karnataka 7 11 8 +4 -3 Kerala 3 5 6 +2 +1 Tamil Nadu 5 7 7 +2 0 Others Union Teritorries 6 5 5

-1 0

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[Author’s calculation, Source: Census of India,1991,2001 and 2011] In contrary to the declining nature of female main workers participation the female marginal workers had shown positive change during (2001-1991) except Daman & Diu. Table 2 shows that percentage of female marginal workers at all India level had increased from 6% in 1991 to 11% in 2001 and again declined by 1% in 2011. During (2011-2001), among the states comprising North,, Haryana and Punjab got negative change..In the states of Centre, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh during (2011-2001) got negative change, while Chhattisgarh was remained at the same level of female marginal worker participation. The “East” comprising Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand and West Bengal has been showing a continuous increasing trend from 6% in 1991 to 13% in 2001and again to 14% in 2011.In case of “North East”, except Meghalaya and Mizoram all other five states are showing a continuous rising trend of female marginal workers. The marginal worker participation among the females of Western states Goa, Gujarat and Maharashtra decreased during (2011-2001).Among the states of South, the participation rates Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka declined during (2011-2001). While,during (2011-2001), Andaman & NIcober Islands, D&N Haveli and Daman & Diu showed negative change. Thus, from the above statistics it should conclude that while in India, the female work participation as main workers declined, the rates of female marginal workers were showing a constant increase during (2001-1991) and also to some extent during (2011-2001). Which indicates a disappointing fact that the number of women working for comparatively less time of the year in comparison to the women working for longer part of the year was growing after the Economic Reforms. This scenario also implies one thing that though studies show that the decreasing labour force participation rate in India can be attributed to the increased educational attendance of the girls and income effect caused by higher household income. [(Bourmpoula,E.,Kapsos,S.Silberman,A.(2014);PlanningCommission,2011;DasGupta,.&Goldar.(2005);Rangajan,Seema(2011),;Vinoj(2013)etc], but if these same reasons are considered for the declining female main worker participation in India, it will not be logical, because if it would be the case the same phenomenon would be seen for the female marginal worker participation in India. Otherwise we have to assume that school going girls engage themselves in some part time works and hence marginal work participation of female does not decline. In this regard Bhagat, R.B & Das,K.C. (2008) in their study stated that the phenomenon of the rise in the growth rates of marginal workforce with the decline in main workforce during the decade 1991-2001 was occurred because of the jobs generated after the new economic policy and since most of them were of the part time nature. Similarly,for the increase female marginal worker participation in some of the developed states likePunjab, Haryana, Delhi and Chandigarh and in the lagging states like Bihar, Assam and Rajashtan and Uttara Pradesh they accounted the very faster marginal workforce growth engaged in household industry. Apart from this Wolfgang(1985),the fertility rate among the marginal workers are higher than the main workers, so this higher fertility might beone factor among females that compelled that to be attracted to work for the lesser months. To find the cause of the declining main worker participation and comparatively growing marginal worker participation during (2001-1991), this paper throws a light into the age-wise pattern and change of female worker participation. The female main and marginal workers participation rates for two age groups (5-19) years and (20-59) years. The female workers of the age of five to nineteen generally represent the primary to higher secondary level students and therefore increased educational attendance of women refers the possible decline of the female work participation within the range of 5 to 19 years of age of female workers. Bourmpoula,E., Kapsos, S. Silberman, A.(2014) in their ILO Research Paper indentifies the factors behind the sharp decline in female labour force participation in India as a whole and there they show the increased educational attendance of girls as one of the main factor for driving out a large portion of female labour force form the economy. This paper tries to find out the intensity of that education factor in affecting the female worker participation by calculating the trend of female main and marginal worker participation for (5-19) years age group.


+2 -2

CHANDIGARH 0 1 2 +1 +1 D &N HAVELI 18 13 11 -5 -2 DAMAN & DIU 11 5 2 -6 -3 LAKSHADWEEP 2 2 6 0 +4 PONDICHERRY 1 2 3 1 +1

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Female Main and Marginal Worker Participation in age group of (5-19) years Table 3 shows the region-wise female main workers participation within the female population of age group (5-19) years for the three census years of 1991,2001 and 2011.

Table 3 : Percentage of female main worker participation in the (5-19) years age group female population in India

Name of the Regions

Percentage of female main workers in the age group (5-19years) 1991 2001 2011 (2001-

1991) (2011-2001)

India 7 5 4 -2 -1 North 4 3 3 -1 0 Delhi 1 1 1 0 0 Haryana 2 3 2 +1 -1 Himachal Pradesh 8 4 3 -4 -1 Jammu & Kashmir 3 1 NA -2

Punjab 1 3 2 +2 -1 Rajasthan 8 7 5 -1 -2 Uttaranchal 4 3 NA -1 Central

7 5 4 -2 -1

Chattisgarh 7 5 NA -2 Madhya Pradesh 11 5 5 -6 0 Uttar Pradesh 3 3 2 0 -1 East 5 3 2 -2 -1

Bihar 4 3 1 -1 -2 Jharkhand 3 2 NA -1 Orissa 6 3 3 -3 0 West Bengal 4 3 2 -1 -1 11 6 4 -5 -2

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[Author’s calculation, Source: Census of India,1991,2001 and 2011 From table 3, it is seen than except the cases of Haryana, Punjab, Kerala and Chandigarh during (2001-1991) and Manipur, Goa, Andaman & Nicober Islands and Chandigarh again during (2011-2001),in all other states and union territories of India female main worker participation for the female population of age group(5-19) years shows a negative change. It indicates the thing that the education effect is working in lowering the female main worker participation. However, since the increasing number of young female population(5-19) years in the states can also lower female worker participation rate in that age group, which can mislead the interpretation. Therefore, to nullify that population effect this study has also calculated percentage share of female main worker participation from the age group (5-19)years to the total female main workers.

6 The percentage o indicate very negligible amount of number of female workers

North East Arunachal Pradesh 15 8 1 -7 -7

Assam 6 3 2 -3 -1 Manipur 10 1 5 -9 +4 Meghalaya 13 8 6 -5 -2 Mizoram 13 10 6 -3 -4 Tripura 4 3 2 -1 -1 Nagaland 12 8 6 -4 -2 Sikkim 13 10 5 -3 -5 West

8 5 5 -3 0

Goa 6 4 5 -2 +1 Gujarat 7 5 4 -2 -1 Maharashtra 11 6 6 -5 0 South

11 9 5 -2 -4

Andhra Pradesh 17 11 8 -6 -3

Karnataka 12 8 6 -4 -2 Kerala 3 4 1 +1 -3 Tamil Nadu 12 12 5 0 -7 Others Union Teritorries 6 4 3 -2 -1

ANDAMAN & NICOBER ISLANDS

1 1 2 0 +1

CHANDIGARH 1 2 3 +1 +1 D &N HAVELI 21 13 6 -8 -7 DAMAN & DIU 7 5 4 -2 -1 LAKSHADWEEP 1 06 0 0 0 PONDICHERRY 5 4 2 -1 -2

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Table 4: Percentage of female from age group (5 -19 years) to the total female main workers participation in India

Name of the Regions

Percentage of female from the age group (5-19years) to the total female main worker participation 1991 2001 2011 Change(2001-

1991) Change(2011-2001)

India 16 11 7 -5 -4 North 14 9 6 -5 -3 Delhi 5 5 4 0 -1 Haryana 15 8 6 -7 -2 Himachal Pradesh 15 6 4 -9 -2 Jammu & Kashmir 17 14 7

-3 -7

Punjab 12 8 7 -4 -1 Rajasthan 21 14 10 -7 -4 Uttaranchal 8 6 0 -2 Central 15 10 9

-5 -1

Chattisgarh 10 7 0 -3 Madhya Pradesh 16 11 8 -5 -2 Uttar Pradesh 14 10 11 -4 +1 East 17 11 8

-6 -3

Bihar 15 10 10 -5 0 Jharkhand 11 8 0 -3 Orissa 19 10 8 -9 -2 West Bengal 17 12 7 -5 -5 North East 15 11 7

-4 -4


-4 -4

Assam 17 9 7 -8 -2 Manipur 11 7 6 -4 -1 Meghalaya 16 13 9 -3 -4 Mizoram 14 11 7 -3 -4 Tripura 13 8 5 -5 -3 Nagaland 12 12 7 0 -5 Sikkim 18 15 7 -3 -8 West 14 9 8

-5 -1

Goa 11 7 6 -4 -1 Gujarat 17 11 10 -6 -1 Maharashtra 13 8 6 -5 -2 South 15 10 5

-5 -5


-4 -7

Karnataka 18 12 7 -6 -5 Kerala 7 4 2 -3 -2 Tamil Nadu 15 10 5 -5 -5 Others Union Territories 11 8 6

-3 -2


-2 0

CHANDIGARH 4 5 5 +1 0 D &N HAVELI 23 16 13 -6 -3

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[Author’s calculation, Source: Census of India,1991, 2001 and 2011] The table shows that except the cases of Uttar Pradesh and Chandigarh, all other states and union territories of India showed a drastic decline through the two decades, it supports the view that educational attendance of the girls is actually contributing to the declining female main worker participation. But it is seen that the negative change exhibited by Uttar Pradesh in the percentage of female workers to female population was only because of its overpopulation, increasing the denominator, which underestimated the result. Similarly, the education effect on the female main worker participation can be seen clearly for the state like Kerala by the percentage share of female main workers of (5-19) years to the total female main workers, where it declined from 7% in 1991 to 4% in 2001 and again to 2% in 2011. But because of the lower population of Kerala, as a percentage to the total female population they got a higher value and got a positive change during(2001-1991),In Haryana and Punjab too, there showed the positive change during(2001-1991), but as percentage share of total female main workers it is declining.. Thus , we can state that, the educational attainment of girls has become a leakage in the flow of female workers’ participation in India,. If we see the same things for the female marginal workers, we get the following table 5.

DAMAN & DIU 19 12 9 -7 -3 LAKSHADWEEP 5 1 1 -4 0 PONDICHERRY 10 7 3 -3 -4

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Table 5: Percentage of female marginal workers in the age group (5-19)years Female population in India

Name of the Regions

Percentage of female marginal workers in the age group(5-19)years in India 1991 2001 2011 Change(2001-

1991) Change(2011-2001)

India 3 6 5 +3 -1 North 4 7 6 +3 -1 Delhi 0 0 0 0 0 Haryana 2 8 3 +6 -5 Himachal Pradesh 7 13 14 +6 1 Jammu & Kashmir 9 6 NA -3 Punjab 1 3 3 +2 0 Rajasthan 8 11 9 +3 -2 Uttaranchal 5 5 NA 0 Central 4 9 6

+5 -3

Chhattisgarh 10 9 NA -1 Madhya Pradesh 6 9 6 +3 -3 Uttar Pradesh 2 7 4 +5 -3 East 3 6 6

+3 0

Bihar 2 4 4 +2 0 Jharkhand 8 8 NA 0 Orissa 5 8 8 -3 0 West Bengal 2 5 4 +3 -1 North East 3 7 6

4 -1

Arunachal Pradesh 1 6 2 +5 -4 Assam 4 6 5 +2 -1 Manipur 2 2 7 0 5 Meghalaya 2 7 5 +5 -2 Mizoram 9 15 4 +6 -11 Tripura 1 4 4 +3 0 Nagaland 0 7 14 +7 7 Sikkim 1 11 10 +10 -1 West 4 5 3

1 -2

Goa 1 3 2 +2 -1 Gujarat 6 8 5 +2 -3 Maharashtra 4 4 2 0 -2 South 2 3 3

+1 0


+3 -1

Karnataka 4 6 4 +2 -2 Kerala 1 0 1 -1 1 Tamil Nadu 2 1 2 -1 1 Others Union Territories 3 3 2

0 -1


+1 -1

CHANDIGARH 0 1 1 +1 0 D &N HAVELI 10 10 5 0 -5 DAMAN & DIU 4 2 1 -2 -1 LAKSHADWEEP 1 0 1 -1 1 PONDICHERRY 0 1 1 +1 0

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[Author’s calculation, Source: Census of India,1991, 2001 and 2011] It is surprising to see that during the decade (2001-1991), except the states of Orissa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and UTs Daman & Diu, Lakshadweep, all are showing a positive change..Only at the 21st century, it can be claimed that education factor is operating in lowering the marginal female worker participation and during (2011-2001), it has got negative change throughout the states and union territories. Thus, in case of female marginal worker participation, the effect of educational attendance of girls is not very convincing. The Table 6, which shows the share of female marginal worker participation from age group (5-19) is different from the table showing percentage of female marginal workers in the female population of 5-19 years ,since in a greater number of states share of female marginal worker are found declined. Delhi, Punjab, West Bengal, Mizoram, Tripura, Goa, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Pondicherry are the addition in the names of getting negative change in the female marginal worker participation during(2001-1991) apart from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Orissa.

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Table 6: Percentage share of (5-19) years female in the total female marginal worker participation

Name of the Regions

Percentage share of female(5-19)years in the total female marginal worker participation in India 1991 2001 2011 Change(2001-

1991) Change(2011-2001)

India 18 18 14 0 -4 North 16 17 14 1 -3 Delhi 11 1 13 -10 +12 Haryana 16 19 11 3 -8 Himachal Pradesh 15 18 14 3 -4 Jammu & Kashmir 23 14 NA -9 Punjab 18 15 15 -3 0 Rajasthan 20 25 18 5 -7 Uttaranchal 18 15 NA -3 Central 18 19 15

1 -4

Chattisgarh 20 15 NA -5 Madhya Pradesh 20 20 14 0 -6 Uttar Pradesh 16 16 16 0 0 East 18 17 13

-1 -4

Bihar 16 16 12 0 -4 Jharkhand 18 14 NA -4 Orissa 20 16 13 -4 -3 West Bengal 18 17 13 -1 -4 North East 19 25 19

6 -6

Arunachal Pradesh 19 28 22 9 -6 Assam 17 18 14 1 -4 Manipur 14 15 14 1 -1 Meghalaya 17 25 20 8 -2 Mizoram 34 33 17 -1 -6 Tripura 15 14 9 -1 -5 Nagaland 17 33 38 16 5 Sikkim 16 34 21 18 13 West 16 15 12

-1 -3

Goa 11 10 10 -1 0 Gujarat 17 18 15 1 -3 Maharashtra 19 16 12 -3 -4 South 15 10 9

-5 -1


0 -6

Karnataka 20 18 12 -2 -6 Kerala 7 1 4 -6 3 Tamil Nadu 15 2 8 -13 6 Others Union Territories 13 14 10

1 -4


5 -8

CHANDIGARH 8 16 17 8 1 D &N HAVELI 19 24 13 5 -11 DAMAN & DIU 13 13 9 0 -4 LAKSHADWEEP 13 6 5 -7 -1 PONDICHERRY 11 10 5 -1 -5

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[Author’s calculation, Source: Census of India,1991, 2001 and 2011] From both the above tables it is seen that in case of the female marginal workers neither the percentage share of population nor the percentage share of the female marginal workers are showing a continuous declining trend. The states where the (5-19) years main workers participation are declining, for the same age group the marginal workers participation is increasing. It reveals a serious cause of concerns and cause it might be an indicator of a fact that it is not the increased educational attendance of female that has been sharply affecting the female main workers’ decline, rather they are not getting the more than 6 months of work.

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Female Main and Marginal Worker Participation in the age group (20-59) years : This paper calculates the female main and marginal workers participation for the age group of (20-59) years. Analysing the pattern of the work participation of this actively worked group of population, this paper reveals the difference of the female main and marginal workers participation in that group and tries to explain the cause of this difference.

Table 7: Percentage of female main workers in the age group (20-59) years in India

Name of the Regions

Percentage of female main workers in the age group(20-59)years in India 1991 2001 2011 Change(2001-

1991) Change(2011-2001)

India 27 26 25 -1 -1 North 17 25 21 +8 -4 Delhi 14 15 16 +1 +1 Haryana 11 25 17 +14 -12 Himachal Pradesh 34 36 29 +2 -7 Jammu & Kashmir 14 10 NA -4 Punjab 5 21 14 +16 -7 Rajasthan 22 31 31 +9 0 Uttaranchal 30 27 NA -3 Central 27 28 27

+1 -1

Chhattisgarh 40 36 NA -4 Madhya Pradesh 40 32 31 -8 -1 Uttar Pradesh 14 12 13 -2 +1 East 17 16 15

-1 -1

Bihar 18 17 15 -1 -2 Jharkhand 18 18 NA 0 Orissa 20 15 15 -5 0 West Bengal 14 15 14 +1 -1 North East 51 41 39

-10 -2

Arunachal Pradesh 64 55 49 -9 -6 Assam 23 18 18 -5 0 Manipur 58 37 41 -11 +4 Meghalaya 58 46 43 -12 -3 Mizoram 64 57 47 -7 -10 Tripura 19 20 17 +1 -3 Nagaland 68 53 54 -15 +1 Sikkim 53 46 39 -7 -7 West 32 29 28

-3 -1

Goa 28 23 25 -5 +2 Gujarat 23 25 21 +2 -4 Maharashtra 45 38 40 -7 +2 South 37 32 34

-5 +2


-8 +2

Karnataka 38 35 36 -3 +1 Kerala 22 18 20 -4 +2 Tamil Nadu 39 37 37 -2 0 Others Union Territories 21 25 20

+4 -5


+28 -9

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[Author’s calculation, Source: Census of India,1991, 2001 and 2011] Since the age group (20-59) does not include the school-going girls, the declining worker participation ratio of this group indicates the point that the overall decline in the female worker participation is not attributed to only the increasing education attendance of the girls. While at all India level, during both the decades (2001-1991) and (2011-2001), the female main workers participation rate declined by 1%., the North Eastern States experienced except Tripura drastic decline of main worker participation among females. During the decade of (2011-2001) also except Nagaland and Manipur did not show any increase in the participation rates. The States of Punjab & Haryana showed large increase during the decade (2001-1991), though in the next decade (2011-2001),they showed negative change..In the same way, the union territory Andaman & NIcober Islands also experienced huge increase by 28%,but decreased during (2011-2001) by 9%Except Delhi which showed marginal increase in both the decades, no more regions of India. had shown consistent increase in the female main worker participation during post reform period. If we compare the tables 3 and &7,then will find that the states which showed positive change though by a small amount during (2001-1991) in the age group (5-19) are same as of (20-59) i.e. Punjab and Haryana..Thus, from this statistics we can refer one thing that the declining main worker participation in India does not only belong to the decline in the main worker participation rate among the educational age group of girls, the participation rates of higher age group women are also decreasing..But percentage share of (20-59) age group women to the total female main worker participation are not declining except the advanced states of Maharashtra and Gujarat and in the comparatively backward states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Uttaranchal, Andaman & Nicober Islands, Chandigarh and Lakshadweep. This decline in the female main workers participation might be the effect of higher household income as referred by many studies(Bourmpoula, Kapsos, Silberman, (2014); Rangajan,Seema(2011);Vinoj(2013) . Which shows that worker participation rates are highest among the women from poorest household,but lowest among the women living in the households with higher incomes. But for the states like Bihar, the effect of the household income for lowering the decline of female worker participation is not found very logical. Rodgers(2012) examined rural Bihar and finds that the decline in Female Labour Force Participation can be attributed to limited job opportunities outside agriculture.

CHANDIGARH 19 22 23 +3 +1 D &N HAVELI 50 42 23 -8 -19 DAMAN & DIU 20 21 20 +1 -1 LAKSHADWEEP 12 10 9 -2 -1 PONDICHERRY 24 24 23 0 -1

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Table 8: Percentage Share of female from age group (20-59 years) to the female main worker participation in India

Name of the Regions

Percentage share of female from age group(20-59 years) to the female main worker participation in India 1991 2001 2011 Change(2001-

1991) Change(2011-2001)

India 78 83 84. +5 +1 North 83 85 87 +2 +2 Delhi 93 92 92 -1 0 Haryana 81 87 88 +6 +1 Himachal Pradesh 80 86 87 +6 +1 Jammu & Kashmir 80 87 NA +7 Punjab 84 85 85 +1 0 Rajasthan 75 81 83 +6 +2 Uttaranchal 85 84 NA -1 Central 79 82 82

+5 0

Chhattisgarh 83 86 NA +3 Madhya Pradesh 78 83 83 +5 0 Uttar Pradesh 79 81 77 +2 -4 East

80 83 84

+3 +1

Bihar 80 82 80 +2 -2 Jharkhand 83 84 NA +1 Orissa 81 84 85 +3 +1 West Bengal 80 83 87 +3 +4 North East 80 83 86

+3 +3

Arunachal Pradesh 79 83 87 +4 +4 Assam 80 85 86 +5 +1 Manipur 82 85 86 +3 +1 Meghalaya 79 81 84 +2 +3 Mizoram 81 84 87 +3 +3 Tripura 82 85 88 +3 +3 Nagaland 79 81 84 +2 +3 Sikkim 78 80 87 +2 +7 West 82 86 85

+4 -1

Goa 85 88 88 +3 0 Gujarat 79 85 83 +4 -2 Maharashtra 82 84 83 +2 -1 South 80 84

87 +4 +3


0 +4

Karnataka 76 83 85 +7 +2 Kerala 77 91 92 +14 +1 Tamil Nadu 88 83 86 -5 +3 Others Union Territories 86 89

91 +3 +2


+1 -1

CHANDIGARH 95 93 92 -2 -1 D &N HAVELI 74 80 83 +6 +3 DAMAN & DIU 75 82 87 +7 +5 LAKSHADWEEP 93 98 97 +5 -1 PONDICHERRY 85 87 92 +2 +5

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[Author’s calculation, Source: Census of India,1991, 2001 and 2011] As expected, though the female main worker participation of (20-59) age group female population has gone down some extent, but the share of main workers to total female main workers from this age group has increased in almost all of the regions. Where the exceptional cases are Delhi experiencing decline by 1%,Tamil Nadu by 5% and Chandigarh by 2% during (2001-1991) and in the decade (2011-2001),Uttaranchal experiencing decline by 1%,Uttar Pradesh by 4%,Bihar by 2%,Gujarat by 2% and Maharashtra, Andaman & Nicober Islands, Chandigarh and Lakshadweep, all by 1%.

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Table 9:Percentage of female marginal workers in the age group(20-59)years Female population in India

Name of the Regions

Percentage of female marginal workers participation in the total female population(20-59)yrs in India 1991 2001 2011 Change(2001-

1991) Change(2011-2001)

India 10 17 16 +7 -1 North 13 19 17

+6 -2

Delhi 0 2 1 +2 -1 Haryana 9 22 13 +13 -9 Himachal Pradesh 26 33 36 +7 +3 Jammu & Kashmir 23 22

NA -1

Punjab 3 10 7 +7 -3 Rajasthan 25 26 28 +1 +2 Uttaranchal 17 16 NA -1 Central 12 24 23

+12 -1

Chattisgarh 28 29 NA +1 Madhya Pradesh 16 26 23 +10 -3 Uttar Pradesh 9 18 15 +9 -3 East 9 21 23

+12 +2

Bihar 9 18 19 +9 +1 Jharkhand 28 32 NA +4 Orissa 14 25 27 +11 +2 West Bengal 5 15 14 +10 -1 North East 8 18 17

+10 -1


+9 +2

Assam 17 18 18 +1 0 Manipur 11 28 22 +17 -6 Meghalaya 8 19 16 +11 -3 Mizoram 13 20 12 +7 -8 Tripura 7 17 20 +10 +3 Nagaland 1 12 16 +11 +4 Sikkim 3 16 21 +13 +5 West 12 15 10

+3 -5

Goa 6 11 8 +5 -3 Gujarat 20 20 15 0 -5 Maharashtra 10 13 8 +3 -5 South 8 13 11

+5 -2


+7 -1

Karnataka 11 16 12 +5 -4 Kerala 5 8 9 +3 +1 Tamil Nadu 7 12 10 +5 -2 Others Union Territories 9 9 7

0 -2


+15 -8

CHANDIGARH 0 2 2 +2 0 D &N HAVELI 29 20 17 -9 -3 DAMAN & DIU 20 9 3 -11 -6

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Table 9 shows that in the marginal workers participation at all India level during (2001-1991),the percentage of female marginal workers in the age group(20-59) shows increase of 7%,while in the next decade (2011-2001), it declined by 1% . In the states of North also, during the decade (2001-1991),they got positive change, but at (2011-2001),the rates declined except the states of Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. In the Central and Western states also, the female marginal worker participation in the age group (20-59) declined after 2001,while the states of East exhibited an increasing decadal change both during (2001-1991) and (2011-2001) except the case of West Bengal where the rate declined by 1% in 2011. The female marginal worker participation also declined for some of the North –Eastern states (Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram).The female marginal workers declined in Western states of India during(2011-2001) and in the states of ‘South’ also, except Kerala, all show negative change during this decade..It is the case for Union territories also except Lakshadweep. This table also shows that while the number of female marginal workers in this age group is higher in the states of North, Central and North –East India, in comparison to that the rates are lower in West and South India and in the union territories also. As in the case of the (5-19) years age group, in this age group also the female marginal worker has not declined during (2001-1991) in contrary to the declining behaviour of female main worker participation. It means the number of women worked for lesser time of a year during the first decade after reform (2001-1991) were more, though the number of female workers worked for more than 6 months in a year were declined. Gradually after 2001,shrinking job opportunities of India might be condemned the marginal worker participation also.

LAKSHADWEEP 3 4 9 +1 +5 PONDICHERRY 2 4 4 +2 0

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Table 10: Percentage share of female marginal workers from the age group(20-59)years in total female marginal worker participation India

Name of the Regions

Percentage share of female(20-59)years in the total female marginal worker participation in India 1991 2001 2011 Change(2001-

1991) Change(2011-2001)

India 77 76 78 -1 +2 North

80

75 76

-5 +1

Delhi 85 81 81 -4 0 Haryana 79 75 81 -4 +6 Himachal Pradesh 78 74 75 -4 +1 Jammu & Kashmir 72 72

NA 0

Punjab 76 78 76 +2 -2 Rajasthan 76 69 75 -7 +6 Uttaranchal 73 74 NA +1 Central 76 74 76

-2 +2

Chattisgarh 74 77 NA +3 Madhya Pradesh 74 73 77 -1 +4 Uttar Pradesh 77 76 73 -1 -3 East 77 78 79

+1 +1

Bihar 79 78 78 -1 0 Jharkhand 77 78 NA +1 Orissa 76 78 79 +2 +1 West Bengal 77 79 82 +2 +3 North East 76 69 75

+3 +6


-8 +8

Assam 79 77 80 -2 +3 Manipur 79 78 79 -1 +1 Meghalaya 78 70 74 -8 +4 Mizoram 59 60 76 +1 +16 Tripura 80 79 85 -1 +6 Nagaland 78 63 57 -15 -6 Sikkim 78 60 72 -18 +12 West 78 78 79

0 +1

Goa 82 82 82 0 0 Gujarat 79 77 78 -2 +1 Maharashtra 74 74 77 0 +3 South 81

82 82

+1 0


-7 +3

Karnataka 75 76 80 +1 +4 Kerala

85 91 87

+6 -4

Tamil Nadu 80

87 82

+7 -5

Others Union Territories 83 80 85

-3 +5

ANDAMAN & NICOBER 85 75 86

0 11

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Table 10 shows the percentage share of female from age group (20-59) years in the total female marginal worker participation shows somewhat different result from the table 9 showing the percentage of female marginal workers in the age group of (20-59) years of female population. Firsly the share of marginal workers from this age group to the total female marginal workers is almost at the more or less same level for all the states and union territories of India. The share of marginal worker from this age group to the total female marginal workers declined by 1% during (2001-1991) and increased by 2% during(2001-2001) being the contrary to the findings of table 9. Only the states of Punjab, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are different in this regard, which shows t positive change during(2001-1991) and negative change during (2011-2001).

ISLANDS CHANDIGARH 89 81 79 -8 -2 D &N HAVELI 76 71 81 -5 +10 DAMAN & DIU 82 80 83 -2 +3 LAKSHADWEEP 83 90 93 +7 +3 PONDICHERRY 83 82 87 -1 +5

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II. CONCLUSION Authors like Olsen et al.(2006),Choudhury (2011) and Neff,et al.(2012) have argued that social and cultural barriers in a predominantly patriarchal society like India can explain women’s work choices. That is why having comparatively liberal societies,tribal states showed a very good performance regarding work participation from 1991.But in these states also, with the introduction of New Economic Policy the participation rates gradually declines. A comparison between male and female employment by occupation shows that female employment growth between 1994 and 2010 largely took place in occupations that were not growing at all and Less than 19% of the new employment opportunities generated in India’s 10 fastest growing occupations were taken up by women [Bourmpoula,E., Kapsos, S. Silberman, A.(2014,). A large body of literature is devoted to quantifying the role of education and income in explaining the decline in female LFPR in rural areas, including studies by Choudhury(2011),Himanshu(2011),Rangarajan, et.al (2011), Kannan et.al(2012),Neff et.al (2012), Abraham (2013) and Klasen and Peters(2013) . Across the process of economic development, the adult women labour force participation rate is U- shaped.When incomes are extremely low and when certain types of agriculture dominate,women are in the labour force to a great extent. As income rises,often because of an expansion of the market or the introduction of the new technology, women labour force participation rates fall. [Goldin,2014].But if we see the trend of the female worker participation of India, then we get the idea that In India that increasing educational attendance and higher household income are not the cause of declining main as well marginal worker participation in India. Rather it is the result of the low employment opportunities for women.There is evidence that available employment opportunities ...... for women have declkinedOne reason is that employment generation has not kept up with the rise in the working-age population,due to increased competition with men for scarce jobs and an increasing reluctance of women to take up informal(and partly remunerated ) work. Another possibility is that industrial and occupational segregation may be hindering an increase in female employment,that is if industries and and occupations that are experiencing job growth tend to be male dominated, women would be less likely to be benefitted from overall job gains and may remain out of the work force given the limited opportunities. (Chowdhury,2011)

REFERENCES [1] Bourmpoula,E., Kapsos, S. Silberman, A.(2014, August).Why is female labour force participation declining so sharply in India? ILO Research Paper No. 10.

Geneva:International Labour Organization. Retrieved 15 July 2015, from http://www.ilo.org/global/research/papers/WCMS_250977/lang--en/index.htm [2] Bhagat, R.B & Das,K.C. (2008) Levels, Trends and Structure of Workforce in India: Census Based Study 1981-2001, International Institute for Population

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No.0313,The World Bank [8] Himanshu(2011) “Employment Trends in India:A Re-examination”Economic & political Weekly,September accessed at www.epw.in [9] Kannan,K.P. and Raveendran,G.(2012),Counting and Profiling the Missing Labour Force,Economic and Political Weekly ,February accessed at www.epw.in [10] Lincove,J.(2008) Growth,Girls’ Education and Female Labour:A Longitudinal Analysis, The Journal of Developing Areas, Vol.41, No.2,p.(45-68) [11] Manmen,K., Paxion,C.(2000),Women’s Work and Economic Development, Journal of Economic Perspectives,Vol.14, No.4,p.141-164 [12] Malhotra A., Schüler S.R. and Boender C, 2002:, ‘Measuring Women’s Empowerment as a Variable in International Development’, Unpublished paper prepared

for the World Bank,World Bank, Gender and Development Group, Washington DC http://hdr.undp.org/docs/network/hdr_net/GDI_GEM_Measuring_Womens_Empowerment.pdf

[13] Malhotra,A.,Schuler S.R. 2006:71Women’s Empowerment as a Variable in International Development in D.Narayan (ed) Measuring Empowerment: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives, New Delhi:Oxford University Press,pp.71-88

[14] Rangarajan,C., Kaul,P.I.& Seema(2011) “Where is the missing Labour force?”Economic & Political Weekly,Vol 46, No.39,pp.68-72 [15] Vinoj.A.(2013) “ Missing labour force or defeminization of labour force in India? Working Paper 452,Centre for Development Studies,Retrieved 17 July,2015

from http://cds.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/wp452.pdf [16] Bhalla,G.S.(2008) Globalisation and EmploymentTrends in India, The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Vol. 51, No. 1 [17] ChoudhuryNational Productivity Council :Impact of Trade and Globalisation on Gender in India, Project Report of UNCTAD- Govt. of India- DFID

Project‘Strategies and Preparedness for Trade and Globalisation in India’.supported by Ministry of Women and Child Development(MWCD) accessed at www.unctadindia.org/.../53048362.pdf on 16th May,2016

[18] Neff,D,Sen,K & Kling,U.(2012),”The Puzzling Decline in Rural Women’s Labour Force Participation in India: A Reexamination”,German Institute of Global and Area Studies,Working Paper,196,May

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[21] Rodger,J(2012),Labour Force Participation in Rural Bihar :A Thirty Year Perspective Based on Village Surveys, Institute of Human Development, New Delhi [22] .Sharma,A.( 2010 )Impact of Globalisation on the women of Assam, National Commission For Women,New Delhi

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[23] UNDP (2010). Human Development Report. New York: Oxford University Press. [24] Vijaya,K.( 2014 )The Impact of Globalisation on the Role of Women in the Economy:A Case Study of India with Special Focus on Tamilnadu, SOCIAL

SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES, Proceedings of 4th International Symposium, SEUSL accessed electronically at www.seu.ac.lk/researchandpublications/.../The%20Impact%20of%20Globalisation.pdf on 13th May.2016

[25] Wolfgang, F.(1985)An Economic Analysis of Female Work Participation, Education, and Fertility: Theory andEmpirical Evidence for the Federal Republic of Germany, Journal of Labor Economics, Vol. 3, No. 1, Part 2: Trends in Women's Work,

AUTHORS First Author – Ankita Borbora, Assistant Professor,Department of Economics, Dibrugarh University,Assam(India) Email [email protected]

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