Can Female Political Representation Impact Female Labour Force Participation Rate? A Study across Indian States using Fixed Effect Panel Data Model

Despite much impetus on economic growth, educational expansion, health and infrastructural development, women participation in labour force market is not improving. Women participation in politics, leadership positions, national parliaments and local government, judiciary and police force is very essential for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The said target is clearly mentioned as SDG 5.5 which entails-"Ensure women's full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life". In India, percentage of female elected representatives in parliament rose from 9.0% in 1999 (13th Lok Sabha general elections) to 14.4% in 2019 (17th Lok Sabha general elections) as per the statistical reports published by the Election Commission of India. Thus, the paper tries to study the relationship between women in parliament (MP) and female labour force participation rates (FLPR) using panel data across Indian states for the period 1999 to 2019. The objective of the paper is to empirically examine the relationship between female (elected) political representation and FLPR, using fixed effect panel data model across 15 Indian states excluding Union Territories (UTs), North-Eastern States (NEs), Delhi, Goa, and Jammu & Kashmir (J&K). The panel data is created by taking data of female elected candidates of different states from the statistical reports of general elections published by Election Commission of India and that of FLPR is extracted from various rounds of National Statistical Office (NSO) and Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) reports, respectively. The empirical results suggest that higher political representation of women is associated with favourable female labour outcomes. Our result implies that Female Political Representation (FPR) has a positive and significant effect on FLPR under fixed effect model. However, the random effect model suggests net state domestic product (NSDP) per capita has a negative and significant effect on FLPR, while, Fixed effect model suggests that female literacy rate has a negative and significant effect on FLPR which are consistent with the established literature.