Women’s Labor force Participation in Sri Lanka: An Inquiry into the Factors Influencing Women’s Participation in the Labor Market

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to identify the contributory factors that obstruct women from entering the labor market at the micro level. The study was based mainly on the mixed method approach. A sample survey method was employed to collect data in order to achieve the main objective while data generated by Quarterly Labor Force Surveys were employed to achieve the other objective. As analysis revealed involvement in household activities is the major factor common to all three sectors. Other factors that were identified were engagement in studies, voluntarily abstaining from working in order to enjoy leisure, sufficiently high level of household income to preclude the need for an additional income, bad environment in the work place, unfavorable working conditions, socio-cultural constraints, physical illness/disability, having retired, low wages, family decision, lack of employment opportunities, low education level, backward attitudes, lack of awareness about the employment opportunities and lack of skills to cope with available opportunities. Among these, the first three are common to the urban and rural sectors while the last four factors are specific to the estate sector.