Choice constraint and the gender dynamics of labour markets in West Bengal

这项研究项目解决了CALL规范中的第一个首要研究问题：决定进入和摆脱贫困的途径的因素，人们如何体验这些因素，以及政策在创造可持续脱贫途径方面的作用。其前提是认识到，运转良好的劳动力市场是实现可持续减贫的关键体制渠道。从性别角度来看，它们也具有重要意义。有大量证据表明，劳动力市场机会中的性别平等对家庭成员的生存、福祉和人力资本有积极影响。如果这些机会与正常和合理的高薪工作有关，它们就会加强妇女在家庭和社区中的作用和讨价还价的能力。这项研究项目的动机是以下谜题：印度经济近年来经历了极其强劲的经济增长率。与此同时，生育率下降，教育水平上升，包括女性教育。这些变化与世界大部分地区妇女劳动参与率的提高有关。然而，在印度，女性劳动力参与率不仅保持在较低水平，而且近年来还有所下降。此外，妇女继续集中从事比男子更有限的劳动力市场活动。我们研究的目的是通过对西孟加拉邦劳动力市场性别动态的详细案例研究，更好地了解印度妇女参与劳动力市场的障碍。我们建议使用跨学科框架，借鉴对劳动力市场行为的经济学和社会学解释，并仔细结合定量和定性方法，以确定这些障碍以及可以做些什么来克服这些障碍。将记录一些政策案例研究，以提供可帮助克服特别影响较贫穷妇女的障碍的措施的更具体例子。选择西孟加拉邦作为我们的案例研究反映了一些考虑。首先，它代表了在国家层面上构成谜题的趋势。西孟加拉邦是印度增长率最高的地区之一，生育率大幅下降，女性受教育程度不断提高，但仍报告女性劳动力参与率极低，近年来进一步下降。因此，它提供了一个非常适当的背景，在其中探讨妇女参与劳动力的障碍以及可能有助于克服这些障碍的方法。其次，我们建议利用邻国孟加拉国正在进行的关于劳动力市场性别动态的类似研究，设计西孟加拉邦研究，作为一个更大的比较项目的一部分。这两个孟加拉人不仅在地理上毗邻，他们曾经是同一政治实体的一部分，他们有共同的民族语言特征和相似的文化规范，包括关于妇女参与劳动力的规范。尽管自1947年分治以来，这两个国家的政策体制有了很大的不同，但它们在最近几年都经历了强劲的增长率和不断下降的贫困率。然而，尽管西孟加拉邦的女性劳动力参与率一直很低，而且还在下降，但自20世纪70年代以来，孟加拉国的女性劳动力参与率一直在稳步上升，目前的水平高于西孟加拉邦。虽然西孟加拉邦的研究将构成一个独立的研究项目，探讨妇女参与劳动力的障碍，但我们认为，有机会与孟加拉国进行比较，将使我们能够更好地了解在性别礼仪规范相似但政策制度不同的背景下，在塑造妇女劳动力市场行为方面文化规范和经济动机之间的相互作用。

This research project addresses the first overarching research question in the call specification: the factors which shape pathways into and out of poverty, how people experience these factors and the role of policy in creating sustained routes out of poverty. It is premised on the recognition that well-functioning labour markets are a key institutional channel through which the sustainable reduction of poverty can be achieved. They are also significant from a gender perspective. There is a substantial body of evidence to suggest that gender equality in labour market opportunities has a positive impact on survival, wellbeing and human capital of family members. And where these opportunities relate to regular and reasonably well paid work, they enhance women's agency and bargaining power within family and community. This research project is motivated by the following puzzle: The Indian economy has experienced extremely strong rates of economic growth in recent years. This has been accompanied by declining rates of fertility and rising levels of education, including female education. These are changes that have been associated with an increase in women's labour force participation rates in much of the world. Yet women's labour force participation has not only remained low in the Indian context, but has declined in recent years. Moreover, women continued to be concentrated in a more limited range of labour market activities than men. The objective of our research is gain a better understanding of the barriers to women's labour force participation in the Indian context through a detailed case study of the gender dynamics of labour markets in the state of West Bengal. We propose to use an interdisciplinary framework which draws on economic and sociological explanations of labour market behaviour and the careful combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to identify these barriers and what can be done to overcome them. A number of policy case studies will be documented to provide more specific examples of measures that can help to overcome barriers that particularly affect poorer women. The selection of West Bengal as our case study reflects a number of considerations. First of all, it typifies the trends that make up the puzzle at the national level. West Bengal has one of the highest rates of growth in India, significant declines in fertility and rising levels of female education but continues to report extremely low rates of female labour force participation which have declined further in recent years. It therefore provides a very appropriate context in which to explore the barriers to women's labour force participation and what might help to overcome them. Secondly, we propose to take advantage of a similar study on the gender dynamics of labour markets on-going in neighbouring Bangladesh to design the West Bengal study as part of a larger comparative project. The two Bengals are not only geographically contiguous, they were once part of the same political entity, they have a shared ethno-linguistic identity and similar cultural norms, including norms regarding women's labour force participation. And while their policy regimes have diverged considerably since their partition in 1947, both have experienced strong growth rates in recent year and declining rates of poverty. Yet while female labour force participation rates in West Bengal have been low and declining, those in Bangladesh have risen steadily since the 1970s to levels now higher than those in West Bengal. While the West Bengal study will constitute a stand-along research project into the barriers to women's labour force participation, we believe that the opportunity to carry out a comparison with Bangladesh will allow us to better understand the interaction between cultural norms and economic motivations in shaping women's labour market behaviour in contexts with similar norms of gender propriety but diverging policy regimes.