What Works for Working Women? Unpacking the Constraints on Female Labour Force Participation in Bangladesh

Abstract

During the last five years, urban poverty reduction in Bangladesh has stagnated and, perhaps without coincidence, this has also been a period in which urban female labour force participation (FLFP) rates have also fallen. Understanding factors that constrain FLFP in urban areas is increasingly important to understanding how to ensure urban income growth and poverty reduction, as Bangladesh continues to urbanise. This paper explores factors that constrain women in slums and low-income neighbourhoods in Dhaka from engaging in the labour market and supplying their labour to wage or self-employment. It uses unique individual level data on labour market participation, time-use, norms and skills, both cognitive and non-cognitive. The data reconfirm well-known patterns about female labour force participation: that it is higher among low-income neighbourhoods and women with low education, and it is higher among younger unmarried women. The paper also highlights the correlation between soft-skills and type of work. In addition, the paper quantifies the important correlation between the need for childcare, safety in public spaces and at work.