Empowering Women: Exploring the Dynamics of Female Employment, Literacy and Dependency Ratio in Indian States

Abstract - The Empowerment of women is an important indicator of social development. The UN’s sustainable development goal focuses on empowering women by eliminating gender inequality and discrimination. Female’s involvement in the labour force is a crucial determinant of economic empowerment of females. This paper through extensive data analysis of 33 Indian states / Union territories, examines the impact of Female literacy and dependency ratio on the female Labour Force Participation rates. Female literacy and dependency ratio are both important factors to consider. Enhancing the education of females on one hand helps to push the females into the workforce while the dependency ratio (the ratio of children and elderly in the household) pull the females out of workforce due to care giving responsibilities of females. The findings reveal the crucial role of education in increasing the participation of females in the labour market. The paper provides few policy measures to make the education accessible to females in the country.

Female Labour force participation, Female Literacy, Care giving, Dependency ratio, Fixed Effect panel regression

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