Women’s work-related freedom of movement and paid work in three Indian states

• In Event: Work, Care Work, and Policy Design: Reimagining Labor Supports Across Contexts

Abstract

Background: Globally, factors such as marriage, fertility, unpaid care work, and social norms have been extensively studied as contributors to women’s workforce participation. The role of freedom of movement, particularly work-related freedom of movement, remains underexplored despite its integral role in affording women economic opportunities. This study investigates the relationship between women’s work-related freedom of movement and paid work in India, using primary survey data from its three most populous states: Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. India is an important context for this research since women’s freedom of movement and female workforce participation are both low, yet their association remains poorly understood. 

For decades, women’s freedom of movement in India has been assessed via the National Family Health Survey (NFHS). The NFHS offers important insight, but assesses freedom of movement broadly and not specific to work endeavors. Women may have the freedom to visit relatives and friends, a health center or marketplace, but the inability to travel for work-related purposes may significantly affect work participation. Therefore, we conceptualize and measure work-related freedom of movement, distinguishing it from other more broadly focused freedom of movement measures. Our measure focuses on work-related travel and incorporates aspects of safety in public spaces. We define work-related freedom of movement as women’s comfort in traveling alone to various work-related locations outside the home. 

Methods: We estimate linear probability regressions to examine the relationship between women’s work-related freedom of movement and participation in paid work in each state. We attempt to address sample selection using inverse-probability weighting. Additionally, we perform a robustness check using a partial identification method to mitigate endogeneity concerns in our cross-sectional data.

Results: We find that women in Bihar and Maharashtra with greater work-related freedom of movement are significantly more likely to engage in paid work. A one-unit increase in the work-related freedom of movement score is associated with a 6 percentage-point (pp.) higher probability of women engaging in paid work in Bihar. Thirty-five percent of women in Bihar reported currently working for pay, so this represents a sizable increase of 17%. In Maharashtra, a one-unit increase in women’s work-related freedom of movement is associated with a 5 pp. higher probability of current paid work. Given that the average prevalence of women’s current paid work is 30%, this too is a sizable increase of 17%. No significant finding was seen for Uttar Pradesh. We also find that marital status does not significantly moderate this relationship.

Discussion: This study highlights work-related freedom of movement as a crucial factor in expanding women's economic opportunities and inclusion in India. Our findings contribute to the growing evidence connecting women’s household bargaining power with improved health and human capital outcomes, offering valuable insights for policies aimed at increasing women’s workforce participation.

Author

• Vedavati Patwardhan, Center on Gender Equity and Health, UC San Diego
  Presenting Author