Does U Feminisation Work in Female Labour Force Participation Rate? India: A Case Study

In this paper, we try to develop a simple theoretical model of joining work of a married female under different income levels; there exists a critical level of income of the family; if that is achieved, then female devotes her time at home. We investigate the standard U feminisation hypothesis for India using district-level census data for two time points (2001 and 2011) and observe an inverted U shape of female participation in workforce. Higher income and education induce female to make some trade-off between joining in workforce and staying at home, but income effect forces the female out of workforce that goes in favour of staying at home or to childcare. In our patriarchal society, female tries to stay with husband; the fear of separation from home and sociocultural stigma might explain the anti-U feminisation hypotheses in respect of female workforce participation. Our empirical findings also support the anti-U feminisation hypotheses in case of higher educated females.