Despite decades of rapid economic growth, rising education, and declining fertility, women in South Asia continue to face disadvantages in accessing economic opportunities. Female labour force participation (FLFP) rate in South Asia is well below all other world regions, apart from West Asia and North Africa. Education, a key determinant of FLFP, also does not explain the low participation as women’s gross enrolment rate in secondary schools has consistently gone up in South Asia. The total fertility rate has also declined in most South Asian countries but it did not lead to a rise in FLFP. Thus, a World Bank paper concludes that social norms and attitude towards gender in South Asia are strongly connected to women’s poor participation in economic activities
Lagging behind
The chart shows the female labour force participation (FLFP) rate across world regions. South Asia lags behind all other world regions except the Middle East and North Africa. In 2019, only 23.6% of women in South Asia were in the labour force, compared with around 50-60% in other regions
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Enrolment rates
The chart shows secondary school enrolment rates of females across world regions. By 2020, enrolment rates in South Asia improved drastically and were close to developing regions. However, this improvement did not lead to a rise in FLFP
Declining fertility levels
The chart shows fertility rate (the number of children that an average woman has in her lifetime) across regions. In South Asia, barring Afghanistan and Pakistan, all countries showed a significant reduction in fertility rate. This indicates that declining fertility rate have also not impacted FLFP trends
Social norms
The chart shows the results of a global survey that measured personal beliefs (blue) and social expectations (red) towards gender equality. Responses from South Asia for the statement, “Woman’s most important role is to take care of her home and children,” are among the most conservative ones and the gap between the personal beliefs and social expectations is also narrow
Source: World Bank South Asia Chief Economist’s Office
Click here to access the research paper
Also read: A step back in gender equality
