What Explains Uneven Female Labor Force Participation Levels and Trends in Developing Countries?

Rapid fertility decline, a strong expansion of female education, and favorable economic conditions should have promoted female labor force participation in developing countries. Yet trends in female labor force participation rates (FLFP) have been quite heterogeneous, rising strongly in Latin Americ...

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Main Author:	Klasen, Stephan
Format:	Journal Article
Published:	Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank 2021
Subjects:	LABOR FORCE FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION GENDER FEMALE EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMAN EDUCATED WOMEN
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35082

id	okr-10986-35082
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-350822021-04-23T14:02:15Z What Explains Uneven Female Labor Force Participation Levels and Trends in Developing Countries? Klasen, Stephan LABOR FORCE FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION GENDER FEMALE EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMAN EDUCATED WOMEN Rapid fertility decline, a strong expansion of female education, and favorable economic conditions should have promoted female labor force participation in developing countries. Yet trends in female labor force participation rates (FLFP) have been quite heterogeneous, rising strongly in Latin America and stagnating in many other regions, while improvements were modest in the Middle East and female participation even fell in South Asia. These trends are inconsistent with secular theories such as the feminization U hypothesis but point to an interplay of initial conditions, economic structure, structural change, and persistent gender norms and values. We find that differences in levels are heavily affected by historical differences in economic structure that circumscribe women's economic opportunities still today. Shocks can bring about drastic changes, with the experience of socialism being the most important shock to women's labor force participation. Trends are heavily affected by how much women's labor force participation depends on their household's economic conditions, how jobs deemed appropriate for more educated women are growing relative to the supply of more educated women, whether growth strategies are promoting female employment, and to what extent women are able to break down occupational barriers within the sectors where women predominantly work. 2021-02-01T20:20:31Z 2021-02-01T20:20:31Z 2019-08 Journal Article World Bank Research Observer 1564-6971 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35082 CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Journal Article
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
topic	LABOR FORCE FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION GENDER FEMALE EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMAN EDUCATED WOMEN
spellingShingle	LABOR FORCE FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION GENDER FEMALE EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMAN EDUCATED WOMEN Klasen, Stephan What Explains Uneven Female Labor Force Participation Levels and Trends in Developing Countries?
description	Rapid fertility decline, a strong expansion of female education, and favorable economic conditions should have promoted female labor force participation in developing countries. Yet trends in female labor force participation rates (FLFP) have been quite heterogeneous, rising strongly in Latin America and stagnating in many other regions, while improvements were modest in the Middle East and female participation even fell in South Asia. These trends are inconsistent with secular theories such as the feminization U hypothesis but point to an interplay of initial conditions, economic structure, structural change, and persistent gender norms and values. We find that differences in levels are heavily affected by historical differences in economic structure that circumscribe women's economic opportunities still today. Shocks can bring about drastic changes, with the experience of socialism being the most important shock to women's labor force participation. Trends are heavily affected by how much women's labor force participation depends on their household's economic conditions, how jobs deemed appropriate for more educated women are growing relative to the supply of more educated women, whether growth strategies are promoting female employment, and to what extent women are able to break down occupational barriers within the sectors where women predominantly work.
format	Journal Article
author	Klasen, Stephan
author_facet	Klasen, Stephan
author_sort	Klasen, Stephan
title	What Explains Uneven Female Labor Force Participation Levels and Trends in Developing Countries?
title_short	What Explains Uneven Female Labor Force Participation Levels and Trends in Developing Countries?
title_full	What Explains Uneven Female Labor Force Participation Levels and Trends in Developing Countries?
title_fullStr	What Explains Uneven Female Labor Force Participation Levels and Trends in Developing Countries?
title_full_unstemmed	What Explains Uneven Female Labor Force Participation Levels and Trends in Developing Countries?
title_sort	what explains uneven female labor force participation levels and trends in developing countries?
publisher	Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank
publishDate	2021
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35082
_version_	1764482287361064960

What Explains Uneven Female Labor Force Participation Levels and Trends in Developing Countries?

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