How Access to Technology Affects Women's Time Use: Survey Data from India

• In Event: Gender Inequality in South Asia & its Effects on Autonomy, Employment & Turnout

Abstract

The low—and declining—level of female labor force participation in India (FLFP) is puzzling for several reasons. Legal rights and political participation by women in India have been steadily increasing. Fertility rates have been declining at the same time that female education levels have been vastly improving. The Indian economy has experienced significant structural transformation—from one dominated by agriculture to one where services dominate. The low level of female labor force participation in India is typically explained by the U-shaped relationship between economic development and female labor supply (Goldin, 1995). When the level of agricultural technology is low, women need to work hard to cover the subsistence level of consumption, and FLFP is high. The transition from agriculture to manufacturing leads to a decline in FLFP, but the subsequent structural transformation from manufacturing to services reverses this trend and hence might explain the rising part of the U-shaped pattern. However, this does not seem to be occurring in India.

This paper examines a different causal mechanism, namely technological change, on FLFP, via its effects on women’s time use. A recent review has argued that “technological progress in the home is conducive to the development of women’s rights” (Greenwood, Guner and Vandenbroucke 2017). Technological progress in the market can also affect FLPF, either due to an increase in the general level of wages or an increase in the value of jobs that women hold.

Technology affects the household’s decisions via several channels. First, it can change the productivity of household members. Second, it can affect the resources needed to produce children. Birth control technologies (use of contraception) affect fertility; mobility technologies (private and public transportation) affect the ability of women to access workspaces. Access to piped water and sewage connections affect the time use of women directly as well as indirectly (arising from health effects). Due to technological progress, the price of intermediate goods used in household production declines, which results in households moving away from using labor in household production toward using intermediate goods. This releases women's labor—and time—from homemaking-related activities and, in turn, could increase the time available for participating in market-related activities.

However, time saved by better household technologies might instead be used on leisure or increased time with children, which might also be affected by the availability of child-care facilities. Moreover, the introduction of new technologies in the household that save time may result in increases in fertility, but over time the continued growth of productivity eventually results in declining fertility.

This paper utilizes unique survey data from 7,000 households across north India, including the results of a detailed time use questionnaire. This paper finds that access to technologies embedded in public and private goods does affect women's time use and agency. However, the impact of those technologies varies. Technologies embedded in what are generally regarded as public goods (piped water, sewage and electricity) positively impact women’s agency both inside and outside the household, while private goods (refrigerator, washing machine, mixer/grinder) and club goods (CNG for cooking) have impacts on women’s agency within the home, but few positive effects on labor market outcomes.

Authors

• Devesh Kapur, Johns Hopkins SAIS

• Apurva Bamezai, University of Pennsylvania - Center for Advanced Study of India

• Milan Vaishnav, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace