Labor force participation of rural women and the household’s nutrition: Panel data evidence from SAT India

Sangwan, N and Shalander, K (2021) Labor force participation of rural women and the household’s nutrition: Panel data evidence from SAT India. Food Policy (TSI), 102. pp. 1-13. ISSN 0306-9192

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Abstract

This paper investigates the role of women’s labor force participation in the household’s dietary diversity and the value of home-production. Using unique household panel data from Semi-Arid tropics of India, empirical estimations from a household fixed effects model reveal a positive significant effect of workdays of women on dietary diversity (overall and home-produced) and home-production. Our findings highlight a significant heterogeneity in the effect by type of work—paid and unpaid. The results for paid work are driven by a greater decision-making power emanating from labor force participation of women. Unpaid work, on the other hand, operates through the self-consumption of home-produced goods. We show that correcting for endogenous labor force participation of women leaves our conclusions unchanged. The results suggest that interventions boosting female labor force participation in paid activities are nutrition enhancing for the household and work towards improving women’s bargaining power within the household. Moreover, we rule out deleterious effects on health indicators of women despite increased time burden.

Item Type:	Article
Divisions:	Research Program : Innovation Systems for the Drylands (ISD)
CRP:	CGIAR Research Program on Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals (GLDC)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Labor, Bargaining, Dietary diversity, Home-production, Gender
Subjects:	Others > Semi-Arid Tropics Others > Food and Nutrition Others > Agricultural Economics Others > Gender Research
Depositing User:	Mr Arun S
Date Deposited:	22 Jun 2021 11:49
Last Modified:	22 Jun 2021 11:52
URI:	http://oar.icrisat.org/id/eprint/11843
Official URL:	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2021.102117
Projects:	UNSPECIFIED
Funders:	UNSPECIFIED
Acknowledgement:	We thank Bharat Ramaswami, Farzana Afridi, Kanika Mahajan, Monishankar Bishnu, Sonia Bhalotra and three anonymous reviewers and the editor for their valuable comments. We also thank Uma Lele, Digvijay Negi, Sugat Chaturvedi, Pranav Mimani, and participants at the ISD-MIND Seminar (Hyderabad) for their suggestions. Elias Khan Patan extended exceptional data assistance. Nikita acknowledges financial support from Jim and Wendy Ryan Endowment fund and Shalander acknowledges funding from CGIAR Research Program on Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals 1 . Longitudinal house-hold data collected with financial support from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is well acknowledged.
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