Start
September 8, 2023 - 3:30 pm
End
September 8, 2023 - 5:00 pm
Topic: Information and communication technology and female employment in India
By:
Ritika Jain
CDS, Trivandrum
and
Tirtha Chatterjee
OP Jindal Global University, Haryana
Abstract
We revisit the issue of declining female labour force participation in India by investigating the role of information and communication (ICT) adoption. Given the background of rapidly penetrating ICT in India in the past few decades, we explore the impact of ICT ownership and use on female labour market behaviour. We use a nationally representative survey, the India Human Development Survey and estimate instrumental variable models and find that ICT adoption increases the likelihood of female employment, entry into labour market and decreases the likelihood of exit from labour market. We contrast our analysis by comparing it with male employment and find evidence of differential impact of ICT adoption. Further, the effect is limited to women with relatively higher levels of education and those belonging to relatively higher income households. We investigate the potential channels that drive our results and find that women who adopt ICT have a higher likelihood of making labour market participation decisions herself indicating better female autonomy. We also find some evidence that the use of ICT may lead to more focussed job search and more flexible work options where they spend lesser time to travel to work. Thus, ICT adoption may reduce information asymmetries in the labour market thereby improving female employment.
