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Mothers-in-law may well hold the key to job prospects of married women.
Women living in households with their unemployed mothers-in-law are 20 per cent (urban) to 30 per cent (rural) less likely to be employed compared to their peers who do not share space at home with their mother-in-laws, according to a report by the Azim Premji University that highlights strong intergenerational effect of gender norms.
“However, if the mother-in-law was present and employed herself, this is associated with a higher likelihood of women’s participation to the extent of 50 per cent (rural) to 70 per cent (urban) more than households with no mother-in-law present,” the report titled “State of Working India, 2023”, based on analysis of the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2021-22 data, said.
The report said the presence of a mother-in-law in a household may influence a woman’s employment status in two different ways. “On the one hand, it could mean sharing of childcare responsibilities allowing women to pursue paid employment. On the other hand, it may imply the presence of greater restrictions around mobility and autonomy including employment,” it added.
However, the report noted that income and gender norms may be playing a role in such situations as well. “Low-income households require additional earnings mandating all adults (men and women) to participate in employment, and norms around women’s employment may be looser when another senior female member is also employed,” it said.
The report said the husband’s income level also impacts the wife’s employment status. The PLFS data shows that in households where the husband’s earnings are high, the probability of the wife being employed is low. The fall slows down as husband’s incomes increase in rural India, while for urban areas there is a reversal beyond a certain level of income.
“As husband’s earnings keep rising, from approximately ~40,000 per month onwards, there is an increased likelihood of wives being employed. This U-shaped pattern could result from a change in norms with rising incomes or it could also be due to the fact that such husbands are matched with higher educated wives who have preferences as well as opportunities to access better paid work,” it added.
The report said in 2020-21 (pandemic year), in net terms women lost out on formal employment with a shift towards self-employment due to distress.
Compared to the April-June 2018 quarter, salaried employment for women was down a cumulative 8 percentage points according to the most recent available data (October-December 2022) while self-employment was up 14 percentage points, the report noted.
“This is a cautionary note against placing too much emphasis merely on rising work participation rates for women. If participation rises due to economic growth and rising labour demand, this has very different implications than if it rises due to falling household incomes, which force women into self-employment,” the report said.
The report said gender-based earnings disparities have reduced. In 2004, salaried women workers earned 70 per cent of what men earned. By 2017, the gap had reduced and women earned 76 per cent of what men did. “Since then the gap has remained constant till 2021-22,” it added.
