Breaking the Shell: Labour Force Participation among Married Women by Ethnic Sub Groups in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Gender equality in decent work and economic decision-making are still not ensured in Sri Lanka although it ensures gender parity in both education and health care. Marriage, culture, and traditional values challenge the human right of independent economic decision making among women in developing countries. The main objective of this study is to explore the ethno-specific drivers of Labor Force Participation among married women in Sri Lanka to capture deep insights into the ethno-cultural picture of the issue. Secondary data were used from the Sri Lankan Labour Force Survey 2018 including 14,533 married females and four Binary Logistic Regression models were derived for female labour force participation among ethnic subgroups. The analysis concludes that ethnicity plays a major role in the career contribution of married females in the country. Concerning married Sinhalese women, the married women representing the Sri Lankan/Indian Tamils are more probable to join in the labour market, while married women representing the Moors are less probable to participate as they are highly intertwined to traditional and cultural boundaries. Employment and occupational sector of husband, availability, and age of children, family income, age, residential sector, province, disability, vocational training, and digital literacy are the key drivers of career contribution of married women that reflect distinctive impacts on different ethnic groups. Finally, the study proposed possible policy recommendations for encouraging Female Labour Force participation by addressing the ethno-marital issues.