Send message to Author

Paper short abstract:

My study is a comparative study of FLPR in India and China and how FLPR is related to female enrollment in tertiary education. Both India and China saw rapid growth after economic reforms and have seen increase in female educational levels, but their FLPR trajectories remain troubling.

Paper long abstract:

Standard economic theory suggests that as countries reach a particular level of growth, FLPR rises. However, two of the fastest-growing countries in the world have shown very different FLPR trends. China has been witnessing a fall in the FLPR while India, after a declining FLPR between 1994 and 2004, has seen a sudden rise in the FLPR from 2018 onwards. This sudden rise in the FLPR in India has been attributed to “distress". The fall in female LFPR in China, on the other hand, has been attributed to changing birth policies and the increasing role of women in care work. Despite miracle growth that started with economic reforms, the trajectories of FLPR in the two countries remain troubling.

I attempt to understand the relationship between FLPR and women’s enrollment in tertiary education in both India and China, using World Bank data from 1990-2023. The relationship between education and FLPR is a crucial one. Past findings have found that education has a positive effect on FLPR. However, my analysis shows that China shows a negative relationship between the two while India represents an inverted U-relationship between the two variables. Such relationships have other implications. Social norms are crucial in both countries along with the burden of unpaid work. In India, availability of non-farm jobs amidst its “jobless growth” determines women’s labour market decisions. In China, rural-urban dichotomies are important. Through a comparison between India and China, I attempt to understand where women are placed amidst miracle growth and decent educational attainment.