Female Participation Rates in Rural India

While the data on female participation rates in urban India are more reliable, one cannot ingore the issue of women’s work and employment in rural India. This paper discusses some of the issues related to female participation rates in rural India.

Section I of the paper presents the alternative estimates of female participation rates for the period 1961-81. The problems of data collection with respect to women workers and the errors that may be inherent in estimates of female participation rates are highlighted. Section II attempts to analyse inter-state differences in female participation rates and to identify the possible causal factors underlying these differences.