Will Market Competition Trump Gender Discrimination in India?
Empowering women to engage in productive employment is not only critical to achieving gender equality but also critical for economic growth and poverty reduction. This paper studies the pattern of female activity and gender segmentation in the Indi...
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2016
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/09/26766637/market-competition-trump-gender-discrimination-india http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25059 |
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okr-10986-250592021-04-23T14:04:28Z Will Market Competition Trump Gender Discrimination in India? Ghani, Ejaz Goswami, Arti Grover Kerr, Sari Kerr, William trade liberalization de-reservation manufacturing services segmentation discrimination competition gender inequality female labor force participation Empowering women to engage in productive employment is not only critical to achieving gender equality but also critical for economic growth and poverty reduction. This paper studies the pattern of female activity and gender segmentation in the Indian manufacturing and services sectors. Although the share of women entrepreneurs and employees is larger in manufacturing than in services, segmentation based on gender is pervasive in both sectors. Theory, dating back to Gary Becker, suggests that competitive reforms should reduce the extent of this segregation. In spite of competition-inducing reforms such as investment in Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) highways, trade liberalization and domestic reforms that India undertook since the turn of the century, this pattern of gender based segmentation has not subsided over the years. Specifically, investments in GQ upgrades are found to have 0 effects on female activity and gender segmentation. Although there is some evidence of a negative correlation between segmentation among male employees and industry level trade liberalization reforms, overall it had a very limited impact on female participation in labor force and in reducing segmentation among female employees. Finally, domestic reforms that dismantled product reservations for small-scale industries induced greater participation among women in economic activity and are correlated with a modest decline in segmentation among male employees. Segregation among female employees is positively associated with these reforms. 2016-09-13T15:38:05Z 2016-09-13T15:38:05Z 2016-09 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/09/26766637/market-competition-trump-gender-discrimination-india http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25059 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 7814 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper South Asia India |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English en_US |
| topic |
trade liberalization de-reservation manufacturing services segmentation discrimination competition gender inequality female labor force participation |
| spellingShingle |
trade liberalization de-reservation manufacturing services segmentation discrimination competition gender inequality female labor force participation Ghani, Ejaz Goswami, Arti Grover Kerr, Sari Kerr, William Will Market Competition Trump Gender Discrimination in India? |
| geographic_facet |
South Asia India |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;No. 7814 |
| description |
Empowering women to engage in productive
employment is not only critical to achieving gender equality
but also critical for economic growth and poverty reduction.
This paper studies the pattern of female activity and gender
segmentation in the Indian manufacturing and services
sectors. Although the share of women entrepreneurs and
employees is larger in manufacturing than in services,
segmentation based on gender is pervasive in both sectors.
Theory, dating back to Gary Becker, suggests that
competitive reforms should reduce the extent of this
segregation. In spite of competition-inducing reforms such
as investment in Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) highways, trade
liberalization and domestic reforms that India undertook
since the turn of the century, this pattern of gender based
segmentation has not subsided over the years. Specifically,
investments in GQ upgrades are found to have 0 effects on
female activity and gender segmentation. Although there is
some evidence of a negative correlation between segmentation
among male employees and industry level trade liberalization
reforms, overall it had a very limited impact on female
participation in labor force and in reducing segmentation
among female employees. Finally, domestic reforms that
dismantled product reservations for small-scale industries
induced greater participation among women in economic
activity and are correlated with a modest decline in
segmentation among male employees. Segregation among female
employees is positively associated with these reforms. |
| format |
Working Paper |
| author |
Ghani, Ejaz Goswami, Arti Grover Kerr, Sari Kerr, William |
| author_facet |
Ghani, Ejaz Goswami, Arti Grover Kerr, Sari Kerr, William |
| author_sort |
Ghani, Ejaz |
| title |
Will Market Competition Trump Gender Discrimination in India? |
| title_short |
Will Market Competition Trump Gender Discrimination in India? |
| title_full |
Will Market Competition Trump Gender Discrimination in India? |
| title_fullStr |
Will Market Competition Trump Gender Discrimination in India? |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Will Market Competition Trump Gender Discrimination in India? |
| title_sort |
will market competition trump gender discrimination in india? |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2016 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/09/26766637/market-competition-trump-gender-discrimination-india http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25059 |
| _version_ |
1764458271148605440 |